R.E.M. - It's the End of the World as We Know It b/w Last Date

If you were making a list of songs with long stream of consciousness lists in them, this song would go at the top. The other song on the list would be "We Didn't Start the Fire." It would go lower on the list if there were more songs like this in the world (are there? I would like to know).

I probably own more physical copies of R.E.M. albums than albums by any other band. It makes sense because they were the first band I took a real shining to and they have had an astonishingly long and effective career (it's odd to think we live in a world where R.E.M. is no longer a band. They'll probably have a reunion tour at some point, but the canonical R.E.M. career is over).

"It's the End of the World as We Know It" is a fantastic R.E.M. song. I'm sure you knew that and I'm sure you didn't need me to explain that to you. The b-side is a wistful Floyd Cramer cover. The a-side to this 45 will surely get a lot more play than the b-side, but that's to be expected. I love R.E.M. and this single is a perfect explanation of why.