Michael Stipe of R.E.M. Finally Reveals What He’s Actually Singing on ‘It’s the End of the World As We Know It’
- Wyatt Magnum
- Sep 10
- 2 min read
R.E.M. never printed lyrics in their liner notes, which has led to plenty of misreadings of their 1987 classic.
At long last, Michael Stipe is offering answers to questions that have long plagued R.E.M. fans: What is he actually saying on “It’s the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)”?
The single from R.E.M.’s 1987 album Document is a masterpiece of rock & roll stream-of-consciousness with Stipe striking that perfect balance of cheery and apocalyptic as he unloads a torrent of pop culture references. Certain parts of the song were always easy to distinguish — “Leonard Bernstein!” — but the sheer volume of Stipe’s volubility has led to plenty of lyrical misreadings over the years, exacerbated by R.E.M.’s decision not to print song lyrics in their album liner notes.
But last week, Stipe started to clear up some of the more mysterious lines from the song. (The exercise was inspired by, of all things, a Simpsons meme, and not even the actual scene with an R.E.M. guest appearance and Homer belting out obviously-wrong lines like, “Leonard, what’s-his-name, Herman Munster, motorcade, birthday party, Cheetos.”)
The first two he clarified were, “Left of west and coming in a hurry with the Furies breathing down your neck”; and “Team by team reporters, baffled, trumped, tethered, cropped, look at that low playing, fine, then.”
He also addressed the futility of trying to discern other R.E.M. lyrics, especially off their early albums Chronic Town, Murmur, and Reckoning. To those looking to sing along or cover those tunes, Stipe advised: “Just form vowels and syllables, and mean it.”
