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Posted on 09/03/2025 7:11:55 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Michael Stipe finally put to rest a nearly four-decade-long struggle to understand just what he's singing in R.E.M.'s 1987 song "It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)."
As fans of the song — the second single from R.E.M.'s first Top 10 and gold-selling album, Document — know, the famously incomprehensible singer fires off a string of verses that for years could only be discerned in small portions: "World serves its own needs," "Slash and burn, return, listen to yourself churn," "Leonard Bernstein!" R.E.M. rarely reprinted their lyrics in any form.
Over the past few days, Stipe clarified on Bluesky some of the song's most misunderstood lyrics, and it began with a Simpsons meme.
In the meme, Homer Simpson claims he can sing all the lyrics to "It's the End of the World as We Know It," only to be told, "No you can't, Mr. Simpson. No one can."
Stipe shared the image with a two-word reply: " I can."
Two days later, he proceeded to follow up his boast with proof, laying out two of the formerly unintelligible lyrics, noting "It's 'Left of west and coming in a hurry with the Furies breathing down your neck'" and "It’s 'Team by team reporters, baffled, trumped, tethered, cropped, Look at that low playing, fine, then'."
As with the rest of the song's quickly delivered verses, the words appear to be randomly tossed together, with no set destination in mind.
What's the Story Behind R.E.M.'s 'It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)'?
In a 1992 interview with Q, Stipe said of "It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)," "The words come from everywhere. I'm extremely aware of everything around me, whether I am in a sleeping state, awake, dream-state or just in day-to-day life, so that ended up in the song along with a lot of stuff I'd seen when I was flipping TV channels.
Watch R.E.M.'s Video for 'It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)'
"It's a collection of streams of consciousness," he concluded.
The song reached No. 69 in the U.S. following its release as a single in late 1987.
Homer Simpson covered the song in a 2001 episode of The Simpsons titled "Homer the Moe."
Watch Homer Simpson Cover 'It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)'
The episode featured the voices of R.E.M. members.
What Has R.E.M. Been Up to Lately?
While R.E.M. broke up in 2011 after 31 years and 15 albums, the original quartet has performed together a few times since then.
Their most recent reunion was in February, when Stipe, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills and drummer Bill Berry played a few songs with an R.E.M. cover band in their hometown of Athens, Georgia.
They also got together in 2024 for their induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. It was the first time the original members played together since 2007. Berry left the band in 1997 following a brain aneurysm suffered onstage in 1995.
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Next they tell me is Sting isn’t really a pool hall ace.
Kurt Cobain
I've seen them twice, once in Athens, once in Statesboro.
Some friends in a band at UNC (Northern Colorado, NOT North Carolina) did a good cover of this song.
Before Stipe came up with the lyrics to ITEOTWAWKI in under an hour, Buck picked up a mandolin and came up with the riff in five minutes.
Have no idea of the product of the commercial.
It sure is a very catchy no sensinsicle song.
I liked the line "exhuming my car keys"
Cocteau Twins lyrics are the true mystery.
That no one really cares about probably.
Freegards
“LEONARD BERNSTEIN!”
CC
That one you could understand. And Leonid Brezhnev.
Joseph or Eugene my car keys?
I love the Cocteau Twins. Its like listening to music in a foreign language.
Stipe shared the image with a two-word reply: " I can."
No one can sing the lyrics to Pearl Jam's Yellow Ledbetter.
Indeed.
Mostly these days, I remember the song from the beginning of Independence Day movie.
"Make me fries."
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