B-side "Last Date" | Released November 16, 1987 | |
Format Vinyl record (7" and 12"), tape cassette, CD Length 4:07 (Album version)3:29 (Single version) |
"It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)" is a song by American rock band R.E.M., which appeared on their 1987 album Document, the 1988 compilation Eponymous, and the 2006 compilation And I Feel Fine... The Best of the I.R.S. Years 1982–1987. It was released as a single in November 1987, reaching No. 69 in the US Billboard Hot 100 and later reaching No. 39 on the UK Singles Chart on its re-release in December 1991.
Contents
- Music video
- Personnel
- Initial release
- Re issue
- Lyrics
- Commercial performance
- Charts
- Cover versions
- References
The song originated from a previously unreleased song called "PSA" ("Public Service Announcement"); the two are very similar in melody and tempo. "PSA" was itself later reworked and released as a single in 2003, under the title "Bad Day." In an interview with Guitar World magazine published in November 1996, R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck agreed that "End of the World" was in the tradition of Bob Dylan's "Subterranean Homesick Blues.".
Music video
The music video was directed by James Herbert, who worked with the band on several other videos in the late 1980s. It depicts a young skateboarder, Noah Ray, rifling through an abandoned, collapsing farmhouse and displaying the relics that he finds to the camera. The video ends with a scene of Noah going shirtless and performing a bunch of moves on his skateboard.
Personnel
Initial release
- "It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)" – 4:04
- "This One Goes Out" (live acoustic version of "The One I Love") – 4:19
- "It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)" – 4:04
- "Last Date" (Floyd Cramer cover) – 2:13
- "It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)" – 4:04
- "This One Goes Out" (live acoustic version of "The One I Love") – 4:19
- "Maps and Legends" (live acoustic)
- "It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)" – 4:04
- "Disturbance at the Heron House (Live from cassette 5.24.87 McCabes Guitar Shop)" – 3:41
Re-issue
- "It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)" – 4:04
- "Radio Free Europe" – 4:03
- "The One I Love" (Live Acoustic) – 4:19
- "It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)" – 4:04
- "Radio Free Europe" (Hib-Tone version) – 3:46
- "White Tornado" – 1:59
- "Last Date" – 2:13
- "It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)" – 4:04
- "Radio Free Europe" – 4:03
Lyrics
The track is known for its quick flying, seemingly stream of consciousness rant with a number of diverse references, including a quartet of individuals with the initials "L.B." (Leonard Bernstein, Leonid Brezhnev, Lenny Bruce and Lester Bangs). In a 1990s interview with Musician magazine, R.E.M.'s lead singer Michael Stipe claimed that the "L.B." references came from a dream he had in which he found himself at a party surrounded by famous people who all shared these initials.
The song was included on the 2001 Clear Channel memorandum of songs thought to be "lyrically questionable" after the September 11 terrorist attacks.
Commercial performance
The song was played repeatedly for a 24-hour period (with brief promos interspersed) to introduce the new format for WENZ 107.9 FM "The End", a radio station in Cleveland, Ohio in 1992. When the station underwent a new format change in 1996, they again played the song in 24-hour loop. There was a documentary film made about the station entitled The End of the World As We Knew It, released in 2009 which featured many of the former staffers and jocks.
Before the supposed Mayan apocalypse on December 21, 2012, sales for the song jumped from 3,000 to 19,000 copies for the week. Alternative radio station CFEX-FM in Calgary, Canada stunted by playing the song all day on December 21, 2012, interspersed with "Get to Know a Mayan" and "Apocalypse Survival Tips" segments.