It's the End of the World as We Know It Lyrics
Birds and snakes, an airplane
And Lenny Bruce is not afraid
Eye of a hurricane, listen to yourself churn
World serves its own needs
Dummy, serve your own needs
Feed it off an aux speak, grunt, no, strength, no
Ladder start to clatter with fear fight down height
Wire in a fire, representing seven games
A government for hire and a combat site
Left of west and coming in a hurry
With the furies breathing down your neck
Team by team reporters baffled, trumped, tethered, cropped
Look at that low playing! Fine, then
Uh oh, overflow, population, common food, but it'll do
Save yourself, serve yourself
World serves its own needs
Listen to your heartbeat, dummy
With the rapture and the revered and the right, right
You vitriolic, patriotic, slam, fight, bright light, feeling pretty psyched
It's the end of the world as we know it
It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine
Don't get caught in foreign towers
Slash and burn, return, listen to yourself churn
Locking in, uniforming, book burning, blood letting
Every motive escalate, automotive incinerate
Light a candle, light a votive, step down, step down
Watch your heel crush, crushed, uh-oh
This means no fear, cavalier, renegade steer clear!
A tournament, tournament, a tournament of lies
Offer me solutions, offer me alternatives and I decline
It's the end of the world as we know it
(It's time I had some time alone)
It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine
It's the end of the world as we know it
(It's time I had some time alone)
It's the end of the world as we know it
(It's time I had some time alone)
It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine
Mountains sit in a line, Leonard Bernstein!
Leonid Brezhnev, Lenny Bruce, and Lester Bangs
Birthday party, cheesecake, jelly bean, boom!
You symbiotic, patriotic, slam book neck, right? Right
(It's time I had some time alone)
It's the end of the world as we know it
(It's time I had some time alone)
It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine
(It's time I had some time alone)
It's the end of the world as we know it
It's the end of the world as we know it
It's the end of the world as we know it
(It's time I had some time alone) and I feel fine
It's the end of the world as we know it
(It's time I had some time alone)
It's the end of the world as we know it
(It's time I had some time alone)
It's the end of the world as we know it
(It's time I had some time alone) and I feel fine
It's the end of the world as we know it
(It's time I had some time alone)
It's the end of the world as we know it
(It's time I had some time alone)
It's the end of the world as we know it
(It's time I had some time alone) and I feel fine
This song is written about a policy debate tournament. The line "it's the end of the world as we know it" refers to the habit of high school and college debaters to claim that any course of action agree upon in the debate round will lead to nuclear war or some other catastrophe that will cause the end of the world. The "and I feel fine" reflects that everyone realizes that this is just an extra curricular activity that doesn't really matter.
The line "listen to yourself churn" is another slang word for spewing, the act of debaters reading and making their arguments as quickly as possible to keep within the time limit. The line "world serves its own needs, dummy serve your own needs" reflects the attitude of debaters, especially high school debaters who will argue anything, even slightly morally reprehensible arguments if these arguments serve their purpose.
The "team by team" line also refers to the debate teams.
The most obvious reference to a debate tournament if the line "A tournament, a tournament, a tournament of lies", cause thst's all debate tourny's really are.
Admittedly there are some non-debate references in there, but considering that Michael Stipe debated, the song makes sense when looked at in this context.
Strawberry, yours makes the most sense of all these posts, esp if Stipe was a debater as you say, wasn't aware ... guess that's in bio?
Strawberry, yours makes the most sense of all these posts, esp if Stipe was a debater as you say, wasn't aware ... guess that's in bio?
Yup, this is correct. Although I had heard that he wasn't a debater, but that he went to a tournament to watch and that this song was the result. Either way, it's about a tourney!
Yup, this is correct. Although I had heard that he wasn't a debater, but that he went to a tournament to watch and that this song was the result. Either way, it's about a tourney!
@strawberry81 -- yes, this is correct (mostly). as a former high school competitive policy debater on the national circuit, i can confirm. (i cannot verify that Stipe was a debater, but that's of no moment.) the lyrics follow the form -- and micro-machine-gun speed spew -- of modern policy debate in high school. "team by team" and "tournament" and "end of the world" impacts and "offer me solutions, offer me alternatives' mimic the jargon of debate, whether of old-school policy style or the postmodern kritik. and after each debate round, i felt fine...
@strawberry81 -- yes, this is correct (mostly). as a former high school competitive policy debater on the national circuit, i can confirm. (i cannot verify that Stipe was a debater, but that's of no moment.) the lyrics follow the form -- and micro-machine-gun speed spew -- of modern policy debate in high school. "team by team" and "tournament" and "end of the world" impacts and "offer me solutions, offer me alternatives' mimic the jargon of debate, whether of old-school policy style or the postmodern kritik. and after each debate round, i felt fine
whenever I try to sing this song it takes my breath away. literally.
How do we create songs on this website
How do we create songs on this website
okay people, this should be pretty obvious but i'm going to point it out anyway. By saying, "it's the end of the world as we know it," the "as we know it part" is pretty important. it doesn't actually mean some guy is going to use a "laser" to blow up the earth. things are changing all the time and sometimes it can be pretty overwhelming. this song is pretty much about taking what's happening and just making the best of it. but most of the song is just kinda random...
At my summer camp, when this song is played, you grab the hands of the two people nearest you and huge human chains are formed. These chains then sprint across a huge grassy area, weaving in and among themselves.
It's pure chaos, and yet it's pure fun. That's what the song is about to me. Everything around you is disorder, and you can't help but revel in the chaos.
Every once in a while, you need to just take a step back and laugh at the world around you.
i think the song is about all the chaos in the world and how everyone seems to get used to it (thats why they feel fine).
like "the news" by jack johnson
like "the news" by jack johnson
In agreement with the debate reference. All the lyrics clearly describe policy debate-where participants 'spew' arguements at top speed.
i was absolutely amazed to what people seemed to think about this song. this songis so obviously about everything being fucked up and messed and everything that can go wrong is going wrong. but even though all this shit is happening the narrator dosent care. this song likely has to do with how the media is constantly empasing all these bad things happening and how your supposed to be paranoid and then after hereing the media saying all these things you just dont care.
This song is about all those catastrophists who are endlessly proclaiming that the end of the world is nigh. It lists off all the possible ends of the world that people fear (corrupt government, co2 emmisions, boom burning regimes, continental drift) but he feels fine because it doesn't seem to be happening and the truth is it won't. Thats what this song is about
I love this song but it's really hard to sing since it goes so fast. But I don't understand why a song gets banned that is not written about 9/11. Do people actually think that by banning certain songs that we'll shield kids from eevrything else that's scary in the world?
But this song is great.
@anthony_mckee nope it only keeps their eyes closed until they finally do see it for themselves and then they have mental breakdowns cause they can't handle it. But live it from early on and you start to go through it like it's nothing new. Old news.
@anthony_mckee nope it only keeps their eyes closed until they finally do see it for themselves and then they have mental breakdowns cause they can't handle it. But live it from early on and you start to go through it like it's nothing new. Old news.
while some of this song is about a dream michael stipe had about a birthday party where all the guests had the initials l.b. i think it's also about just doing your own thing and trying to be okay on your own despite the ridiculous and sometimes atrocious things that go on in the world.