The end of the world (song)
| The end of the world | |
|---|---|
| Extra wide | |
| publication | 19th February 1993 |
| length | 2:29 |
| Genre (s) | New wave , pop rock |
| Author (s) | Michael Stipe , Mike Mills , Bill Berry , Peter Buck |
| text | Kai Havaii , Bubi Hönig |
| Publisher (s) | EastWest |
| album | Hotel monopoly |
The end of the world is a song that the German band Extrabreit released in 1993 on their album Hotel Monopol . It is a German-language cover version of the song It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine) by REM
background
Extrabreit already recorded well-known songs by international artists with German texts when their debut album was released , which included Bus Baby, a German-language song whose harmony scheme of three repetitions of an I - IV - V cadenza corresponds to that of Blitzkrieg Bop by the Ramones . The same was true for youngsters, we can be so hot that musically was more than just a tribute to Lou Reed's Walk on the Wild Side .
For Hotel Monopol , singer Kai Havaii and guitarist Bubi Hönig wrote a German-language text to the music of Michael Stipe , Mike Mills , Bill Berry and Peter Buck , the content of which deals with the consequences of the peaceful revolution in the GDR and the accession of the German Democratic Republic to the Federal Republic of Germany disputed in 1990.
The first stanza deals with the initial situation in 1989 and presents in simple words the hopes and longings that arose when the Wall came down , but also the commercial interests of West German companies that were already recognizable at that time (text example):
'89 in November
you could see gleaming white South Sea beaches
through the holes in the wall
that seemed
to last forever, there were kisses and bananas waved
over everyone, Tchibo flags
and at the Brandenburg Gate
the angel choir sang:
This is the end of the world we know
the end of the world, it's bye bye bye
In the second stanza, which is set in the present from 1993, the disillusionment is presented that some people had experienced up to then, and a critical look is cast at a too frivolous and trivializing dealings with the Stasi (text example):
Today back on the ground
here in the land of luxury and fashion
because nothing stays as it seems
and we cry together
The song ends with the sentence: "This is the end of the world."
In the booklet of the CD, a different text is printed for the first verse than is actually sung. There it says:
'89 in November,
when the great turning point began,
there were holes in the wall
that seemed to last forever