The End Of The World
A Skeeter Davis cover for the broken heart.
Sometimes there’s nothing you can say. It’s in these times I sing. I made this a few years ago, alone in my bedroom for no real reason but the fact that I love the song and it’s always broken my heart. I stumbled upon it when I was sifting through old demos and scraps on this drizzly morning as I felt the earth grieving.
The lyrics have always hit me hard. I was inspired to record my version of it after hearing Sharon Van Etten cover it on her album The Man In The High Castle. You can hear her version here.
But it was originally recorded by Skeeter Davis in 1962 and written by Arthur Kent and lyricist Sylvia Dee. You can listen to it alongside a melancholy video here. Something about this lonely woman gazing out the window contemplating the end of the world from up on high just feels so eerie on days like this.
Why does the sun go on shining?
Why does the sea rush to shore?
Don't they know it's the end of the world?
'Cause you don't love me anymoreWhy do the birds go on singing?
Why do the stars glow above?
Don't they know it's the end of the world?
It ended when I lost your loveI wake up in the morning and I wonder
Why everything's the same as it was
I can't understand, no, I can't understand
How life goes on the way it doesWhy does my heart go on beating?
Why do these eyes of mine cry?
Don't they know it's the end of the world?
It ended when you said, "Goodbye"Why does my heart go on beating?
Why do these eyes of mine cry?
Don't they know it's the end of the world?
It ended when you said, "Goodbye"
Sending love to my Substack community in these hard times.
Till next time,
Thanks for the memory.
I was a 20yo bloke with all the romantic thinking skills of a rock when I listened to Skeeta sing this on my car radio.
Now 60 years on, I finally understand that the answer really is Love, Actually
Thanks Kimbra. Eerie indeed, looking back from 2023. Coincidentally, the groundbreaking book “Silent Spring” which helped launch the modern environmental movement, was published, also in 1962, by Rachel Carson.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silent_Spring