Analysis of Stream of Conciousness

A stream of consciousness is the written equivalent of someone's thought process. It is exactly what the author was thinking and in precisely the same order of which he thought it in. The song "It's the End of the World as We Know it" by REM perfectly demonstrates this literary term. It may seem, at first that the song is just a random assortment of words and phrases, but if you further analyze the song you will realize that the lyrics appear much more significant than expected. They are well thought out and meaningful; there are many allusions to many different world events, past and present. Almost all of the world events mentioned in the song has changed the world as we know it in some way, shape, or form. Every verse of Michael Stipe's clever song relate to the chaotic end of the world as we know it.

The first and most obvious reference to the end of the world is in the first line. The lyrics, "Earthquake, birds and snakes, an aeroplane" set up an imagery of the end of the world by mentioning natural disasters, small animals running around, and an aeroplane, possibly one burning to the ground. The lyrics, "Eye of a hurricane," "Overflow, population," "Automotive incinerate," and "Boom!" located in various other verses also dictate the chaos of the physical ending of the world. When Stripe says "world serves its own needs, regardless of your own needs," he is stating that at the end of the world, every man will only care for himself ("Save yourself, serve yourself") no matter how desperately someone else may need help. There will be hysteria everywhere and no one will stop to think about anyone's needs. Stripe also alludes to governmental corruption in the end of the world by saying, "You vitriolic, patriotic, slam, fight, bright light, feeling pretty psyched." The words "vitriolic" and "patriotic" have almost completely opposite meanings and are followed by the words "slam, fight" suggesting that the differences stated above may have started a fight and since there is no government or order in the world, it won't ever be resolved. It is also seems like there is a very subtle allusion to terrorism. Although 9/11 hasn't yet occurred yet, it still seems vaguely representative of the attack or one like it. The lines "Team by team reporters baffled, trump, tethered crop. Look at that low plane!" and "Six o'clock- tv hour. Don't get caught in foreign tower" are similar to a terrorist attack. The reporters are looking at a low plane, baffled, which could resemble a possible terrorist attack, which would probably be abundant at the end of the world. "Six o'clock- tv hour" is usually the time that the news comes on and "Don't get caught in foreign tower" could also suggest a terrorist attack meaning that at the end of the world, the whole world will be watching the news at exactly six o'clock to see what foreign tower is being attacked next. In the very last line, "It's time I had some time alone," Stripe is saying that it's alright with him that the world is ending because all he really wanted was to finally have some time to himself.

In conclusion, although it seems like a random array of nonsense, REM's lyrics actually have a rather significant meaning behind them. In the song, he alludes to many events that he claims will cause the ending of our world as we know it. The ironic thing is that all those events have already happened or are happening right now, such as "a nice continental drift divide" and "team reporters baffled..." He states all these things that would lead the world to self-corruption and by the end you realize that those things are exactly what make up the world we live in today.Although this song does not relate to my theme of young love, the song "At my most beautiful" by the same artist does. It about Michael Stripe singing about the one he loves and how he has finally found a way to make her smile.