That's Great, It Starts with an Earthquake: R.E.M.'s "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, dummy serve your own needs

If R.E.M. singer/lyricist/master of pretense Michael Stipe was correct that the end of the world "starts with an earthquake," then he is sure to go down as a rock & roll prophet on the level of Bobs Marley and Dylan.

(I don't want to alarm anyone, but my son found a snake in the front yard this afternoon.)

"It's the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)" was the second hit off R.E.M.'s 1987 commercial breakthrough Document, following "The One I Love."

Document was a creative breakthrough as well, with hard edged singing, lyrics and playing that was miles away from early records like Murmur and Reckoning, but with every bit of brilliance.



A famous verse in the song describes a dream Stipe had about a birthday party where jelly beans were served and the guests all had the initials LB:

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

"ITEOTWAWKI(AIFF)." prophecy or not, is a classic party record that serves a valuable lesson: if the world is indeed going to end, might as well keep your spirits up. As a friend said to me tonight, make sure you have plenty of celery on hand for your Bloody Marys.

Here's Hurricane Irene comes and goes with minimal interruption and destruction. In the meantime, here's Berry/Buck/Mills/Stipe doing a fun version on their magnificent 1991 appearance on MTV's Unplugged.



Get R.E.M.'s Document on iTunes here