It was one of the last tunes (along with There Was A Time) that GD( Geoff Downes) and I (John Wetton)wrote for Omega. (オメガ収録曲の中で「There Was A Time」と並んでレコーディング後半で作られた曲のようですね。)
It's a from the dark side into the light story, so is autobiographical (like all my songs) to a degree . (要は「Heart of Darkness」みたいな自伝曲、つまり暗闇から抜け出すイメージで作られた曲なんですね。)
I was en route to Wales to work at GD's studio, and driving across the Severn bridge, suddenly the chorus came to me, and I had to sing it for the next 40 miles so I didn't forget it. (ウェールズにあるジェフのスタジオに向かう40マイルに及ぶドライブ中に突然頭に浮かんだコーラス…、忘れないように何度も歌いながら運転したとか。危ないなあ。)
I ran into the studio, and said that even before we said hello, or had a coffee, I had to record the chorus. There were several choruses originally---the one you hear on the record, and others which started 'I don't wanna spend the rest of my days in an alcohol haze.....'and went off into a stream of consciousness. It was a kind of a rap. Eventually, the 'I believe that God is love' chorus won. Bob(=Geoff Downes) added the verse and fanfare intro,we constructed the bridge,and wrote the rest of the lyric. After coffee. (先生、スタジオに駆け込むや、挨拶やコーヒータイムもそこそこに、コーラスを吹き込んだそうです。残りの人生をアルコール漬けで終わりたくないなんて歌詞もあったそうですが…。歌メロ、つまりヴァースと勇壮なイントロはジェフの手によるものだそうです。)
Footnote: EOTW is,like HOTM, curious in that both verse and chorus are major. This is unusual for a rock song, particularly one which has such a dour verse subject. (つまり「ヒート・オブ・ザ・モーメント」のように歌メロとコーラスがメジャーコードで書かれており、これはロックソングでも珍しい例だそうです。)
The intro is minor, but the bridge is also minor, which gives the chorus the required 'lift' going into F major.It is without doubt my favorite song to perform on this tour, and when we get it right, I think it's the best example of what Asia is all about. (ただし「エンド・オブ・ザ・ワールド」はイントロ部とブリッジ部はマイナーコードで、コーラスにおけるメジャー展開(Fに移行)を劇的にするという意味でエイジアらしい曲に仕上がっているというのがウェットン先生の見解ですね)
さらに付け加えて、 The Demon is not in the bottle, it is in me, there is nothing inherently wrong with alcohol, plenty of people enjoy it. However, there is plenty wrong with me, when alcohol is added to my system----or when anything other than good becomes my driving force. (酒が悪なのではなく、酒に溺れた自分が悪いと。ただし酒を活力源とすれば善になるわけで…(^_-))