the other night I tripped at Knox 3
Getting lunch at Whole Foods just now, I found myself singing along completely unconsciously to REM’s “It’s the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)”. It’s amazing and more than a little sad how much of my brain is devoted to retaining completely random lyrics.
(The name of this entry is an apocryphal reading of one of the more mumbly parts of the song, passed along from one generation of Knox College students to another. The further I get from my time at Knox, the more unlikely it seems that anyone in REM would remember it well enough to stick it in a song. It’s that kind of place. Google doesn’t find it very likely, either.)
From Wikipedia’s entry: “See also: Apocalypticism”
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Did REM actually play at Knox? It is funny how I came across this “raging debate” of Stipe’s lyrics. Anyway, since my daughter is a freshman at Knox I am somewhate amused by all this.
I’m sure they did at some point in the 80s before they blew up, but like I said, I’m also pretty sure they wouldn’t have found it a memorable experience, having played Coe College the night before and UIUC the next (or whatever). Knox is not a terrible school, but it also is not a memorable one.
Yes they did. They played there a year or two before my freshmen year which was 86-87. Many of my Knox friends are certain the lyric is “the other night I tripped at Knox.” From the culture there at the time, and subsequent visits from bands like The Flaming Lips and the kind of socializing that went on post-show with them, it’s highly likely that they did trip at Knox and did find it memorable. Knox, at that time, was a very unique place–for many more reasons than bountiful LSD.