My Gen X Playlist: It’s the End of the World As We Know It – REM

Daily writing prompt

Something on your “to-do list” that never gets done.

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I have a good friend from college who grew up old school. His father was from the greatest generation and a no nonsense kind of guy. Naturally that rubbed off on him. If there was something that needed to be done, do it. It’s really that simple. Excuses? There’s no room for them. He doesn’t give them, nor does he want to hear them. Just get shit done. Period.

He’s softened a bit over the years, but I still see that get things done attitude in him. When I’m stuck on my to-do list, my buddy comes to mind. I think about what would he do. What would he say about my excuses? That gets me up and I start moving. Like he says, just get shit done.

My to-do list got me thinking of songs about lists. REM’s It’s the End of the World as We Know It came to mind. To me, Michael Stipe is just rattling off one long list. But it’s such a cool song and I remember trying to learn the lyrics to sing along. I never could. It’s too fast, too random and too much. OK, maybe this is something that’s been on my to-do list all these years. There you go.

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For a complete playlist, please click here.

For the Spotify playlist, please click here.

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 mis-serve your own needs
Speed it up a notch, speed, grunt, no strength
The ladder starts to clatter with fear of height, down height
Wire in a fire, representing seven games
In a government for hire and a combat site
Left of west and coming in a hurry
With the furies breathing down your neck

Team by team reporters baffled, trump, tethered crop
Look at that low plane! Fine, then
Uh oh, overflow, population, Common Food
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 and book burning, bloodletting
Every motive escalate. Automotive incinerate
Light a candle, light a votive
Step down, step down
Watch a heel crush, crush
Uh oh, this means no fear; cavalier
Renegade and steer 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
(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)
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 tripped a nice
Continental drift divide
Mountains sit in a line
Leonard Bernstein, Leonid Brezhnev
Lenny Bruce, and Lester Bangs
Birthday party, cheesecake, jelly beans, 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)