It's Not The End Of The World?

Hasn't been commented on, eh? Well, I love this song personally and I think its about fearing the end of all things (literally or metaphorically) but not right now. "Yet as our hair turns gray/Everything is far from A.O.K./At least it's not the end of the world?" The question mark shows the doubt there.

This may be overlong and messy but I'd appreciate if someone read it and commented it :D

First of all, this is a kick ass song both lyrically and musically, by an underrated band. As for the meaning, it's pretty obvious that it's partly about the fear and stress of becoming old. I think the singer is an observer while he tells a tale of an aging man, and possibly his wife too. The first two phrases describe the feeling of losing youth, strength, virility and becoming sad of this observation. Our anonymous character first discovers that his physique is not the way it used to be ( he falls asleep 'before the end of the day') then secondly he's at a party having fun he feels that his mind is still young but the surrounding world doesn't think that way. Hence, the taxi comes to take him away, while he's in no hurry. Now this surrounding environment could be his friends or wife. In the beginning the singer asked "why?" why do you start to worry? Next the singer points out in his optimistic way that no matter how old they get (their hair is not yet white) there's still beauty in the world "stars still...". And then comes the chorus telling it's not the end of the world,
we'll come back to it later. The next phrase "we could.." is bit of a word play but I think the meaning goes deeper this time: the singer describes a part of his philosophy. How he sees the world. He thinks that when a man is at peace with himself, then there is no need express negative feelings outwards. Yet he doesn't act like a monk, he acts as a person who can joke about these things, because he knows the true matter of the phenomen, he is not afraid of it (ie. getting old). Then he tries to tell someone thru examples what he thinks. I like to think this phrase as a situation where the wife suddenly is hit with the realization that, yes they're getting old. Hair is turning grey. And the singer, either chuckles in the backround and thinks the words (we could.. let's make..) or as an omniscient being in this song speaks with the mouth of the aging man. Basicly he's telling her that you shouldn't worry, you shouldn't feel afraid and you should let go your 'hate' (I think this means fear as well, and all the negative feelings). "we're only old once" is a funny line because the singer feels that we exist only once so it doesn't matter whether you're young or old at the time (so we should make a difference and live how we feel). The last phrase is partly explained above but I take it as a sad observation of the world by the omniscient singer: "yet" - in spite of all my teachings when their hair turns grey - when they fully realize this fact, then "everything is far from being OK" - there is the breakdown. Still the singer makes it a bit of a joke saying: "At least, it's not the end of the world". He compares this little personal crise to the biggest threat possible. And by this comparison, he is only trying to tell the same thing as always: you shouldn't worry, "gardening is the most important thing in the life. And even that is not important".

"It's a romantic song about growing old: a very melodic string-laden song. The video's a montage of mushroom clouds and explosions. There's a story of a farmer outside Nagasaki who, when the bomb went off and he didn't know what it was, thought it was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen. He had no concept that it was a danger to him. It sounds a bit bleak on paper but I think it's one of the most seductive songs on the album."

Which album is this on?

Rings Around the World.

Best single from the album.