It solely took 38 years, however Michael Stipe of R.E.M. has shared the right lyrics to the band’s 1987 hit, “It’s the Finish of the World As We Know It (And I Really feel Positive).”
Stipe, who seemingly had the time over the vacation weekend, hopped on Bluesky to appropriate a few strains from the tune that options the singer’s famously under-enunciated lyrics coupled with a rapid-fire supply.
On August thirtieth, Stipe posted a meme from The Simpsons the place Homer Simpson claims to have the ability to sing the entire phrases to the tune, simply to be instructed, “No you may’t, Mr. Simpson. Nobody can.” The caption to Stipe’s put up: “I can.” See the put up beneath.
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Quickly, Stipe returned to Bluesky, this time to share the right lyrics.
“It’s ‘Left of west and coming in a rush with the Furies respiratory down your neck,’” learn one put up, adopted by “It’s ‘Workforce by workforce reporters, baffled, trumped, tethered, cropped, Have a look at that low taking part in, tremendous, then’,” in one other put up. See the posts beneath.
Stipe’s clarification implies that many trusted lyric supply web sites, together with Genius and Songfacts, have been sharing the unsuitable lyrics to the second single from R.E.M.’s fifth studio album, Doc, for years. One web site that does have the right phrases: Spotify, which licenses lyrics from the MusixMatch database.
Again in 1992, Stipe defined to Q Journal (through American Songwriter) that the lyrics to the tune had been partly impressed by a dream.
“There’s a component in ‘It’s The Finish Of The World As We Know It’ that got here from a dream the place I used to be at Lester Bangs’ party and I used to be the one individual there whose initials weren’t L.B. So there was Lenny Bruce, Leonid Brezhnev, Leonard Bernstein,” he shared. “In order that ended up within the tune together with plenty of stuff I’d seen after I was flipping TV channels.”
Earlier this 12 months, Stipe joined a cavalcade of artists, together with Bruce Springsteen, Flea, Karen O and Benmont Tench, at Carnegie Corridor to pay tribute to Patti Smith and her illustrious profession.
I can
— Michael Stipe (@michaelstipe.bsky.social) 2025-08-30T17:14:21.198Z
It’s ‘Left of west and coming in a rush with the Furies respiratory down your neck
— Michael Stipe (@michaelstipe.bsky.social) 2025-09-01T00:10:02.362Z
It’s “Workforce by workforce reporters, baffled, trumped, tethered, cropped, Have a look at that low taking part in, tremendous, then
— Michael Stipe (@michaelstipe.bsky.social) 2025-09-01T18:11:34.135Z