It's The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)

Song available on Document.

That's great, it starts with an earthquake, birds and
snakes, an aeroplane 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, 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 heart bleed 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.
It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine.

Six o'clock - TV hour. 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 the end of the world as we know it.
It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine.

The other night I dreamt of knives, continental
drift divide. 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 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 and I feel
fine...fine...

(It's time I had some time alone)


I wrote the words to 'End Of The World' as I sung it. When they showed me that song in the studio I just said, 'It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine'. I wanted it to be the most bombastic vocal that I could possibly mutter. Something that would completely overwhelm you and drip off your shoulders and stick in your hair like bubblegum.
Michael Stipe 1987

The words come from everywhere. I'm extremely aware of everything around me, wheter I am in a sleeping state, awake, dream-state or just day-to-day life. I take an enormous amount of stuff in. There's a part in 'It's The End Of The World As We Know It' that came from a dream where I was at Lester Bang's birthday party, and I was the only person there whose initials weren't L.B. So there was Lenny Bruce, Leonid Brezhnev, Leonard Bernstein... It was weird. So that ended up in the song, along with a lot of stuff I'd seen when I was flipping TV channels like I was a giant 20 by 30 foot video screen. It's like a collection of streams of consciousness. But a lot of the time it isn't wilful obscurity on my part, a lot of the songs are very obvious. People just don't listen properly.
Michael Stipe 1987

Quotes collected from 'R.E.M. - In Their Own Words' by Peter Hogan

Lyrics are based on fans interpretations and are not official.

All R.E.M. originals written by Bill Berry, Peter Buck, Mike Mills and Michael Stipe.

Here you can share your own comments, notes or annotations for It's The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine):
What's your name?
What's your email?



This just is the world's best song...hands down!!!!!!! There is no song I love more!


By Caitlin THEIR BEST LIVE SONG! BAR NONE!


By Gareth this is such a cooooooooooooolllllllllllllllllllllll song
don't ya think


By MATTY When I saw them for the first time in 1995 on the Monster tour, at Polaris Amphitheater north of Columbus, Ohio, I was sitting in the very last row, just outside the covered seats. It was a packed house, and a great concert. I remember they played this song as the last song of the encore. Right in the middle of the song it started to rain. A really cool ending to a great concert.


By Doug What a song guaranteed to make anyone who listens to it smile!!! i love it


By KriS This is probably my favourate REM song and that is not an easy contest to win. It's loud, has a grate tune and takes ages to lern how to sing and first you half to work out what thelirics are. FANTASTIC


By John Although I love the song have you ever tried dancing to it? IMPOSSIBLE!!!!!!!Rachel


By rachel just great song!


By Arek Wow! Awesome song! Matched in it's greatness only by The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite, Everybdy hHurts, and Shiny Happy People. Amazing!!!
P,S Stipey Rules!


By Morgaine This is one of the best songs I've heard in years. If they released this song now I think it would be a hit again.


By Timbo This song got me into R.E.M., since I heard it I had to buy Document- and then I bought all the other albums after- I'll always remember the day I bought it! I love it!


By Kara i love this song!


By REM girl THIS SONG IS BEAUTIFUL. I AM A POET WHO LOVES THIS FREE STYLE OF EXPRESSION. I LOVE THE VIDEO WITH THEDOG, ALSO. THIS SONG REALLY RELEASES THE ENDOPHINES TOO! I AM A U2 FAN, WHO LOVES REM A CLOSE SECOND. WAY TO GO MR. STIPE SUE S


By sue swatling