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Lyrics That Still Make No Sense to You


Anaïs.

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We established it's a hotel :)

Gotcha! Thk

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"And all the losers, can you even win for losing?" - Rusty James

"You're such a loser that you can't even win at losing"

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As we all know, there are many Green Day songs that have nigh-perfect lyrics; songs that speak to us, that we can relate to, that tell a unique story very well.

And then...there's the word salad stuff.

So, I'm asking you guys: what Green Day lyrics still mean absolutely nothing coherent to you? Who knows, maybe we can figure out what they mean together. :P For myself, I still have no idea what in God's name Billie is trying to say in "Restless Heart Syndrome" when he asks "Is what ails you what impales you?" I'm sure he's trying to be deep and maybe throw in some crucifixion imagery, but it just comes off as an instance of what TV Tropes calls "Meaningless Meaningful Words". A lot of the trilogy is less this and more "Word Salad Lyrics"; for instance, "I'm drinking the Kool-Aid/I jumped on the grenade." Seriously, WTF, Billie?

'Drinking the kool-aid' is a reference to a mass cult suicide in which (I think) 700 people were killed from drinking poisoned kool-aid, it also makes 'i jumped on the grenade' make more sense.

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It's such a shame! I really like the song as well but every time that lyric passes by it's like *small internal cringe*. It sounds like the kind of lyric a 9 year old would write. Like, oh, I'm saying that I can't find something and it has to rhyme with "head"... let's just say "I looked under the bed!" and then the "even" just sounds awkward like it was put there more to make the rhythm work than because it makes the lyric more meaningful.

While I agree that its not Billie's best lyrical work, I think that 'i even looked under the bed' is supposed to show just how desperate and pathetic he is feeling without this girl.

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A lot of the stuff American Idiot. I think it started around the time they formed the Foxboro Hot Tubs. 39/Smooth to Warning was just poetry.

THIS song could've been a lot more:

Where in the world’s the forgotten?
They’re lost inside your memory
You’re dragging on, your heart’s been broken
As we all go down in history

Where in the world did the time go?
It’s where your spirit seems to roam
Like losing faith to our abandon
Or an empty hallway from a broken home

Well don’t look away from the arms of a bad dream
Don’t look away, sometimes you’re better lost than to be seen

I don’t feel strange, it’s more like haunted
Another moment trapped in time
I can’t quite put my finger on it
BUT IT'S LIKE A CHILD THAT'S BEEN LEFT BEHIND

So where in the world’s the forgotten?
Like soldiers from a long lost war
We share the scars from our abandon
And what we remember becomes folklore

Well, don’t look away from the arms of a bad dream
Don’t look away, sometimes you’re better lost than to be seen
Don’t look away from the arms of a moment
Don’t look away from the arms of tomorrow
Don’t look away from the arms of a moment
Don’t look away from the arms of love

The song sounds great and all, and I'm sure Billie could've written better lyrics for it - but it could've been better off without this -> BUT IT'S LIKE A CHILD THAT'S BEEN LEFT BEHIND.

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A lot of the stuff American Idiot. I think it started around the time they formed the Foxboro Hot Tubs. 39/Smooth to Warning was just poetry.

THIS song could've been a lot more:

Where in the world’s the forgotten?

They’re lost inside your memory

You’re dragging on, your heart’s been broken

As we all go down in history

Where in the world did the time go?

It’s where your spirit seems to roam

Like losing faith to our abandon

Or an empty hallway from a broken home

Well don’t look away from the arms of a bad dream

Don’t look away, sometimes you’re better lost than to be seen

I don’t feel strange, it’s more like haunted

Another moment trapped in time

I can’t quite put my finger on it

BUT IT'S LIKE A CHILD THAT'S BEEN LEFT BEHIND

So where in the world’s the forgotten?

Like soldiers from a long lost war

We share the scars from our abandon

And what we remember becomes folklore

Well, don’t look away from the arms of a bad dream

Don’t look away, sometimes you’re better lost than to be seen

Don’t look away from the arms of a moment

Don’t look away from the arms of tomorrow

Don’t look away from the arms of a moment

Don’t look away from the arms of love

The song sounds great and all, and I'm sure Billie could've written better lyrics for it - but it could've been better off without this -> BUT IT'S LIKE A CHILD THAT'S BEEN LEFT BEHIND.

well, he did say he can't quite put his finger on it :P

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'Drinking the kool-aid' is a reference to a mass cult suicide in which (I think) 700 people were killed from drinking poisoned kool-aid, it also makes 'i jumped on the grenade' make more sense.

Jonestown massacre - you clever fellow aussie

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I've never really understood "Then I realized what it took/to tell the difference between thieves and crooks" in Macy's Day Parade. I've thought about it over and over and just can't wrap my head around the whole thieves and crooks thing, and I feel like it's something really obvious that I'm completely looking over but I dunno.

Before this he says 'When I was a kid I thought, I wanted all the things I haven't got"

So according to me, he stole something and a lot of people called him stuff like 'thief' and 'crook' and then he came to know more about what a thief and crook is.

The word 'difference' seems a little odd here. But that's according to me anyway ;-)

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Before this he says 'When I was a kid I thought, I wanted all the things I haven't got"

So according to me, he stole something and a lot of people called him stuff like 'thief' and 'crook' and then he came to know more about what a thief and crook is.

The word 'difference' seems a little odd here. But that's according to me anyway ;-)

No, the word 'difference' is a crucial word! He learned the difference between a thief (someone who takes people's stuff) and a crook (someone who purposefully misleads someone for their own gain, a dishonest, deceiving person). I still haven't quite figured out what exactly he means by "what it took" to tell that difference, my best guess would be life experience and experiencing how corporations, chain stores, consumerism have turned the people who run it into crooks. Maybe it has something to do with being called a thief and finding out a crook is actually much worse than a thief, or maybe how people who steal things from stores are ostracized as thiefs but what the stores do is actually much worse. I don't know, it doesn't seem to be a sound argument, it's not quite right yet.

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Speaking of salad.... "we made our bed in salad days"... yeah.

Those lines that make weird references or use weird imagery don't bother me as much as when Billie uses phrases that I think he thinks make more sense than they do... like "losing faith to our abandon." I think the best Green Day songs are the ones that tell a clear story, such as Holiday or American Idiot. Then there are songs that are more of a stringing-together-of-thoughts, like 21 Guns, which has all the musical power of every Green Day song, and several great one-liners, but ultimately doesn't completely connect the dots in the same way that WMUWSE does, which is I think one of the most poetic Green Day songs.

Salad days could be another term for glory days.

""Salad days" is an idiomatic expression, referring to a youthful time, accompanied by the inexperience, enthusiasm, idealism, innocence, or indiscretion that one associates with a young person."

So it kinda fits xD

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Before this he says 'When I was a kid I thought, I wanted all the things I haven't got"

To add onto Daughter of Rage and Love's post, "When I was a kid I thought I wanted all the things that I haven't go" is talking about the obsession with consumerism starting at a very young age. I remember distinctly being a little kid and watching commercials for stupid toys on TV and saying "holy shit I want that" over and over. And then sometimes in toy stores I would just point to everything and say "I want that for my birthday and I want that for my birthday" but I didn't really want any of it that was just fun :D

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I've never been able to figured out what was "Stuck With me" about :/

I mean "I'm not part of your elite, I'm just alright, class structure waving colours, bleeding from my throat"... I just don't get it :P

"Not subservient to you, I'm just alright" -- to me, the whole song (which is why I've always liked it) speaks to the petty cliquey dynamics that exist in places like high school. If you don't kiss the popular kids' asses you won't be "down with the cool kids" ever, and you'll just be "alright"

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"She gave up on Jesus for living on Venus"

That line I see as a reference to the girl that left him to go somewhere far away he sings about in Good Riddance. Seing as Billie Joe is the Jesus of Surburbia.

But maybe thats just me :P

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"The bullet that you asked for killing you to death"

Well, what else would it be killing you to?

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"The bullet that you asked for killing you to death"

Well, what else would it be killing you to?

That line is intentionally silly.

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"She gave up on Jesus for living on Venus"

That line I see as a reference to the girl that left him to go somewhere far away he sings about in Good Riddance. Seing as Billie Joe is the Jesus of Surburbia.

But maybe thats just me :P

I've always assumed Sex Drugs and Violence, as well as the vast majority of the trilogy, was written as an prologue, expansion and epilogue to American Idiot. If you look deeper into most songs, the lyrics really imply that.

"The bullet that you asked for killing you to death"

Well, what else would it be killing you to?

Near death? Yeah it's intentionally silly, like Drake said, but the expression "You're killing him!" comes to mind here. How many times have you heard that in a movie, tv show or a book when someone is getting the shit kicked out of them, only for them to end up not dead.

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I've always assumed Sex Drugs and Violence, as well as the vast majority of the trilogy, was written as an prologue, expansion and epilogue to American Idiot. If you look deeper into most songs, the lyrics really imply that.

I don't think any of them were specifically written that way, but American Idiot and the trilogy came from the same mind so I wouldn't doubt a lot of the same themes stuck around. I always thought of 21CBD as a post-Bush version of Jingletown looking at a new couple trying to get by in the world.

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I don't get what Julianna's hommicide is? Is dirty rotten bastards a rock opera song? Or is it actually a real thing that billie wrote about?

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i hate this line and it's probably why i don't like missing you that much. you looked under the bed? is that really the best you can do billie?

I actually really like Missing You :/

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I don't get what Julianna's hommicide is? Is dirty rotten bastards a rock opera song? Or is it actually a real thing that billie wrote about?

Yeah, it's a rock opera song. Every song is based on real things to some extent though, whether feelings or events.

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This thread is brilliant! A new favorite for me I think!

I even just spent 20 minutes reading through the whole thing and it feels so good to not be alone with the whole "Missing You" thing. Once I heard the "under the bed" part, it was all over...

i don't really get most of the lyrics in 'sex, drugs & violence'. maybe i need to listen to it, more.

it's catchy as fuck, but i just don't get it. haha.

To me (although I've read and agreed with most interpretations here!), it's about somewhat regretting the decisions you've made in your youth, but knowing that ultimately that is who you are, and that's just what you do. "Sex, Drugs, and Violence" is the title of the song because it took precedence over the counterpart of the chorus: "English, Math, and Science." He repeats that school/home (presumably as a youth) "never made much sense," thus he had to turn to more risky behaviors. The verses mostly deal with how being a "good" youngster just never clicked with him. He never got it.

I would like to say I agree with whoever said that Mike's line is out of place. I honestly find it downright ridiculous, especially when Mike's vocal talent is usually so well-utilized. American Eulogy is my anthem because of his part.

So many of the trilogy songs have lyrics that make no senses. Is it deliberate? Or lazy writing? We'll never know.

Missing You is a great little tune, but the lyrics are weak as fuck as well. It almost sounds like a parody of a cheesy love song.

Let's not forget that our very own Mike Dirnt called it an Easy A!

Well I remember reading a recent interview and billie said the types of songs he writes and he even said sometimes I don't even know what I'm writing about, and he used nuclear family as an example

This sounds amazingly accurate. What a great way to put it and what a great attitude! Keep spewing nonsense, BJ, I love it!

It is, but it's also green. Billie has green eyes, so it's like saying that she holds his gaze so tightly so he can't let go, just in a fancier way. :ga:

This is beautiful! I had no idea but seriously how the fuck old was he when he wrote that? What a guy.

I've always assumed Sex Drugs and Violence, as well as the vast majority of the trilogy, was written as an prologue, expansion and epilogue to American Idiot. If you look deeper into most songs, the lyrics really imply that.

Wow! Whether or not this was intentional (I know, probably wasn't), that is a really cool way to look at it! Awesome thought!

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This thread is brilliant! A new favorite for me I think!

I even just spent 20 minutes reading through the whole thing and it feels so good to not be alone with the whole "Missing You" thing. Once I heard the "under the bed" part, it was all over...

There's another thread just like this somewhere from before the trilogy was released. Someone posted a link to it on either the first or second page, that one's a good read to and we talked about some other songs that haven't been addressed in this thread.

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So many of the trilogy songs have lyrics that make no senses. Is it deliberate? Or lazy writing? We'll never know.

'Hey, you're living in the W' - Where the fuck is the 'W'? And Rhyming BMW with W is a little odd.

Missing You is a great little tune, but the lyrics are weak as fuck as well. It almost sounds like a parody of a cheesy love song.

Another one is 'You're a sacrificial suicide, like a dog that's been sodomized'. That's a real WTF line right there. Somehow, it works though. Who knew that a lyric about a poor dog being violated anally could make for such an excellent metaphor in a really good song :P

'She's young enough to bleed now' from Drama Queen is a tad creepy if you ask me. EDIT: It's 'old' not 'young'. Fail.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W_Hotels :)

Just read you know its a hotel already..haha

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