Colbert, Michael Stipe, James Franco say goodbye to 2016 with updated R.E.M song

It's the end of 2016 and we know it. And we feel ... um ... well ...

2016 has been a pretty tumultuous year, and Stephen Colbert can prove it to the tune of an R.E.M. song, with the help of Michael Stipe himself.

In a song to open Thursday's The Late Show, the host lists the many, many tragedies, controversies and crises that marred the year in news and culture, from Zika to the water in Flint, Mich., to the deaths of David Bowie and Prince to the Brangelina divorce and the Hiddlesplit. Stipe merely stands there, his face saying it all.

Franco joins in at the end, and the whole thing makes us hope that maybe, possibly 2017 could be just a little bit better. Or at least, "fine."

Watch the song below.