DOCUMENT: IT'S THE END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT (AND I FEEL FINE)

This is easily the band's most infamous song.  I remember I first heard and saw this song on MTV. The video, if you don't know, is an abandoned and ripped apart trailer with random crap a young kid is sifting through.  What he's looking for is a place to rock out and play with his board.  I was immediately hooked.  While this isn't the song that first grabbed my attention it is the one that pointed to their brilliance.  It's a fairly simple song musically.
  Lyrically, it is a mash up of ideas and words from Michael Stipe's writing mind.  Discarded lyrics, snippets of memory, etc.  Almost impossible to sing with numerous overlapping lyrics, the vocal line seems seamless.  This stream of consciousness is a semi tribute to Patti Smith, as well as marking Stipe as more of a poet than a lyricist.  He has attempted to write more stream of consciousness lyrics since, but nothing quite succeeds as well. 
  A couple of notes:  Vitrionic and Cinerate are not words.  In his rush, I believe he is going for vitriolic and incinerate.  You try to say automotive incinerate that fast.  Also, Lenny Bruce is mentioned twice ... speaking of stream of consciousness.  The Lester Bangs reference is an actual party Stipe went to for the journalist in which there were cheesecake and jelly beans, plus Stipe had a dream that he was at a party with a number of folks with the initials L.B.



IT’S THE END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT (AND I FEEL FINE)

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, don’t misserve your own needs
Feed it up a knock, speed, grunt no, strength
The ladder structure clatter with fear, fight, down, height
Wire in a fire, represented seven games
In a government for hire in a combat site
Left her wasn’t coming in a hurry with the furies breathing down your neck
Team my team reporters baffled, trump, tethered crop
Look at that low plane
Fine then
Uh oh, overflow of population, common through but it’ll do
Save yourself, serve yourself, world serves its own needs
Listen to your heart bleed
Don't meet with the rapture and the reverent in 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 tower
Slice and burn, return, listen to yourself churn
Lock it in uniform in book burning, blood letting
Every motive escalate, automotive cinerate
Light a candle, light up boy to step down, step down, watch your heel crush, crush
Uh oh, this means no fear, cavalier, renegade steer and clear
A tournament, a 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
(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

I feel fine …
Me
Me

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

The other night I drifted nice, 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, bug neck, right?
Right.

It’s the end of the world as we know it
(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 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
(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)


This song is great fun to play if you do it right.  Plug in and have a blast.  There is definitely an emphasis on the bending of the 5th fret of the b string, if you don't add that, the song becomes bland.  It makes the song.

IT’S THE END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT (AND I FEEL FINE)

Verse (Acoustic)

e|-3---3------1---0---|

B|-3---3------3---1---|

G|-0---0------3---2---|

D|-0---2------3---2---|

A|-2---3-x4---1---0---|

E|-3---0------1---0---|

Verse (Electric)

e|-3-3---0-0-0-0---0-0--0-0------0---0---|

B|-3-3---0-0-0-0---0-0--0--0-----6---5---|

G|-0-0---4-4-4-0---0-0--0---0----7---x---|

D|-0-0---5-5-5-5---5-5--5--------8---7---|

A|-2-2---0-0-0-0---0-3h-3---x4---8---7---|

E|-3-3---0-0-0-0---0-0--0--------0---0---|

Chorus (Acoustic)

e|-3---2---0---2--------3---2---0---0--|

B|-3---3---1---3--------3---3---1---1--|

G|-0---2---2---2--------0---2---2---0--|

D|-0---0---2---0--------0---0---2---2--|

A|-2-------0-------x2---2-------0---3--|

E|-3-------0------------3-------0---0--|

Chorus (Electric)

e|-3---0---0------0-----|

B|-3---5---5------5b!---|

G|-0---7---x------5-----|

D|-0---7---7------0-----|

A|-2---0---7---x3-0-----|

E|-3---0---0------0-----|

Break

e|-3---0----3---1---1-1-1-1-1-1---|

B|-3---5----3---1---1-1-1-1-1-1---|

G|-0---5----0---2---2-2-2-2-2-2---|

D|-0---0----0---3---3-3-3-3-3-3---|

A|-2---0-x2-2---3---3-3-3-3-3-3---|

E|-3---0----3---1---1-0-1-0-1-0---|