“All this happened, more or less” is the first line from Kurt Vonnegut’s book Slaughterhouse-Five a satirical novel which takes place during WWII. Vonnegut was present during the firebombing which is the central event, but the work he based his information on concerning the damage (The Destruction of Dresden) overstated a lot of the actual damage, so I’m referencing that as an unreliable narrator which credits the whole metaphorical aspect of the song. Also, he says “So it goes,” whenever death is present and the name of the song is The End of the World.