Vonda Shepard (born July 7, 1963) is a rock singer. She appeared regularly … Read Full Bio ↴Vonda Shepard (born July 7, 1963) is a rock singer. She appeared regularly in the television show Ally McBeal in which she played a resident performer at the bar where the show's characters drank after work. She plays piano, guitar, and bass.

Vonda Shepard was born in New York but her family relocated to California when she was fairly young. She played piano from an early age. Her father is Richmond Shepard, a mime and improv actor. Vonda has three sisters: Rosetta, Luana, and Brianna. Her mother left the family when Vonda was ten, and her father raised the four girls by himself.

After performing as a backing singer for many years she was eventually given her own recording contract. Shepard's first chart appearance was in 1987 when she recorded a duet with Dan Hill entitled 'Can't We Try'. She released her first self-titled album in 1989 with little fanfare. The album did yield one chart single, Don't Cry Ilene, a mid-tempo, piano-driven jazz-RnB flavored song dealing with the break-up of a relationship between a black woman and a white man, arising from adult peer pressure. The track is sung from the perspective of the woman's white female friend, who harbors a desire to have the man for herself, but keeps her distance out of respect for her friend. The song peaked at 17 on the Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary chart and stayed on the charts for 12 weeks.

After her third album, Shepard was signed up to appear on Ally McBeal after being spotted by the show's creator David E Kelley. While on the show she recorded two full soundtrack albums and was featured on two other Ally McBeal compilations. The songs Shepard recorded for Ally McBeal soundtrack albums were mainly covers of old songs with lyrics that paralleled what was happening in the title character's life onscreen. Since appearing in the show, Shepard has released two more studio albums and a live album.

Shepard is married to music producer Mitchell Froom and they had their first child, Jack Froom, on 15 April 2006.

The End Of The World
Vonda Shepard Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

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 anymore?
Why 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 love.

I 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 does
Why does my heart go on beating?
Why do these eyes of mine cry?
Don't they know know it's the end of the world?
It ended when you said goodbye

Don't they know know it's the end of the world?
It ended when you said goodbye

Overall Meaning

Vonda Shepard's song "The End of the World" is an emotionally charged ballad that laments the end of a relationship. The lyrics question why the world seems to continue functioning as usual, even when everything has changed for the singer due to the loss of love. The opening lines pose a rhetorical question about the continuity of natural processes- the sun shining, the sea rushing, the birds singing and the stars shining- despite the fact that the love that gave meaning to the singer's life has ended. The singer wonders if the universe is oblivious to their pain or if it is mocking them with its regularity.

The second stanza of the song expresses the singer's inability to comprehend how life can continue as usual after such a significant loss. The morning routine feels unbearable, and the world heaves on relentlessly like nothing has changed. The final stanza reveals that the singer's emotions are still raw; their heart is still beating, and their eyes still cry, despite the loss of love, highlighting the difficulty of letting go. The singer's voice is filled with heartbreak and pain throughout the song, capturing the emotions that come with the end of a relationship that once filled their life with so much meaning.

Line by Line Meaning

Why does the sun go on shining?
Why does the world seem unaffected and continue to function normally when my world has ended?

Why does the sea rush to shore?
Why does nature carry on its course, oblivious to my pain and sorrow?

Don't they know it's the end of the world
A rhetorical question to indicate that while the world still moves on, for the singer, it is the end of the world as they know it.

'Cause you don't love me anymore?
The artist attributes the end of the world to their love leaving them.

Why do the birds go on singing?
Why do the sounds of joy continue when the artist is feeling utterly lost and alone?

Why do the stars glow above?
Why does the universe maintain its brightness when the singer’s life seems to have become bleak and gloomy?

It ended when I lost your love.
The end of the love relationship was the end of the world for the singer.

I wake up in the morning and I wonder
The artist wakes up from their sleep but is still burdened with their sorrows.

Why everything's the same as it was.
The artist finds it hard to accept that everything is just the same as it was before the relationship ended.

I can't understand, no I can't understand
The artist is still struggling to come to terms with the end of their relationship.

How life goes on the way it does.
The singer is perplexed by how people keep living their lives unaffected, while they feel lost.

Why does my heart go on beating?
The artist cannot understand how they are still alive when their heart is full of sorrow.

Why do these eyes of mine cry?
The singer's eyes are constantly filled with tears, and they don't know how to stop them from flowing.

It ended when you said goodbye.
The end of the world for the singer was marked by the moment their love said goodbye to them.

Don't they know know it's the end of the world?
A rhetorical question to indicate that the end of a love relationship is such a big thing for the singer that they cannot comprehend how others cannot see it.

It ended when you said goodbye.
The artist emphasizes one more time that the relationship ended when their love said goodbye.

Lyrics © MUSIC SALES CORPORATION
Written by: BENJAMIN MICHAEL LEE

Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind

To comment on or correct specific content, highlight it

TRACKS