It's the end of the world as we know it

The following lyrics are from one of my most favorite songs by REM. I've been listening to this song alot lately and I felt it would be fitting to make a competition out of it. Truly try to grasp what he is trying to say... Good luck.

"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 starts to clatter with a fear of height, down, height
Wire in a fire, represent the seven games
And a government for hire and a combat site
Left her, wasn't coming in a hurry with the Furies breathing down your neck

Team by team, reporters baffled, trumped, tethered, cropped
Look at that low plane, fine, then
Uh-oh, overflow, population, common group
But it'll do, save yourself, serve yourself
World serves its own needs, listen to your heart bleed
Tell me 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
Slash and burn, return, listen to yourself churn
Lock him in uniform, book burning, bloodletting
Every motive escalate, automotive incinerate
Light a candle, light a motive, step down, step down
Watch your heel crush, crush, uh-oh
This means no fear, cavalier, renegade and steering 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 (I had some time alone)
It's the end of the world as we know it (I had some time alone)
It's the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine (It's time I had some time alone)
I feel fine (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, and I feel fine (It's time I had some time alone)

The other night I dreamt a nice continental drift divide
Mountains sit in a line, Leonard Bernstein
Leonid Brezhnev, Lenny Bruce, and Lester Bangs
Birthday party, cheesecake, jellybean, boom
You symbiotic, patriotic, slam but neck, right? Right

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, and I feel fine (It's time I had some time alone)

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 (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)
It's the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine (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)
It's the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine (It's time I had some time alone)

(It's time I had some time alone)

THE AWAKENING

The earth trembled and you were shaken
all of a sudden everything stopped—
The clocks stopped ticking
while my heart stopped beating,
yet why do the birds keep on chirping,
and the sea still rushes to the shore?

The earth shook and you stood still
while looking out the windowsill
Suddenly you realized what a fool you’ve been
falling madly in love with nobody’s kin
The end of the world could be at hand,
trembling with fear you could not stand.

The earth trembled, the earth shook,
does it matter what it took?
It took a day when reality finally sinks in,
and your heart skipped a beat within.

Your heart stopped loving,
my heart stopped beating
Two hearts bound by fate to love each other
can’t seem to understand one another
Whose love transcends space and time,
no one is more sublime.

What more can you ask for?
I am only human, and imperfect as you are;
let’s give love a second chance…

Where in the world has sanity gone
What in the world have we done
Times speeds to a blur
And catastrophes occur
we absently prey to skies for help


The light at the end of the tunnel is our demise
An explosion yet to reach our feeble minds
When the light comes
Mankind is done
And we have no one to blame but ourselves


Burning
Turning
The world is churning
The planet is dying
Because humans stop trying

Greedy trumps
Needy
And all that we see
Is profit and gain
Until nothing remains

What in the world have we done
Raping our planet until everythings gone
Insanity reigns
And nothing will change
Until it is too late to save

very nice ..

   Accountability

media, media in your lens, who's the most receptive of them all?  
catastrophic topic, shake your ass alive!
if we're all going to sit and watch, don't cry!
don't wait, before it's too late , participate, don't procrastinate,
So many people, like so many opinions,
react, don't think, just follow me minions!
hurry up and get there, now, just stare!
if I had to chose, we all would lose, wait, we do!
mislead, misdirected, let someone else be selected,
propaganda Chandra, pop-stars atop are ..

media , media, multimedia! .. what do you say?
I say whatever you want me to say; for the dollar, I'll believe,
patriotic? .. make sure you believe in what you'll bleed for,
fickle  political, whatever's in vogue, I'm rogue you know,
why are you so upset? .. I believe you're a threat,
beliefs without grief, understand from underneath,
                     
media, media, multimedia! .. what do you pray?
politics and religion , that's where the money is at!
passion of the mouth, clueless in your content .. what about?
words absurd, ranting panting, I'll go along disturbed,
lobbyist and an atheist, my heroes, just like Nero!
I believe in what he believes, I'm blind, dumb and did I say, I can't think or see?
power of hysteria...lynch mob mentality, vigilante insanity,

We all love a good rant, pretenders, portrayers and sycophants,
backwards in time, what's an education? .. slip and slide ..
dance that chant, hooks with ignorance, take a stance, burn those books,
I'm happy I can get loud, I told you, I care, can't you hear? ..  I said I'm proud!
I'd rather talk about it, research, lurch and let someone else help and hurt,
rationalize, instigate, fraternize, hibernate for eternity,.
I want to act like the majority, say a lot and do squat, that's clarity!

selfish is my way, because it's everyone else's way,
lets riot, be quiet.. besides, it means I'll have to decide, wait, I'll just hide,
I don't have a mind of my own, I don't care if I don't share alone, ...groan...

competitions to leer, competitions so sheer, competitions in fear,
offer me answers and a coffer full of dollars, and I'll recline,
over-react, embellish, exaggerate, make up a source and just lie!

media, multimedia, in their pocket, who's the most corrupt of them all?
apathetic, desensitized, acclimated, what you sow, so shall you reap,
the end is near, I fear, but what can I do, but be like everyone  and deny

jakehammer

End of the World


I feel fine,
But an earthquake spelled my demise,
Listen to the birds sing and snakes hiss
As death approaches and airplanes try
to fly forever so who is not afraid of
The most horrendous hurricane to date,
The one to finally end everything again.

No strength to fight back,
Fear now dominates the brain
While wires continue to burn
Against this gloomy sad night
Signaling a new combat zone
Not even the government can
Pull heavy artillery against.

The first time in a long time the media
Is silent, reporters tell stories to none
Baffled by the scenes natural wars bring
No more singing happy songs to the masses
No more winning, in order to survive
Everyone including the pastor is sinning
From West to East happiness no longer exists.

No more overflow,  population  comatose
Save yourself from this bleeding world
The Rapture is here? No longer in fear
Towers burning to the ground at midnight
The smell of bloody hell on my uniform
Light a candle for this once rich circle
The renegade is here to forever take over

Just wanted to thank ZKH's comp and let everyone know I enjoyed it. Congrats to lanooz and Taylor.
  Jake