RussellJohnson225 Posted July 7, 2013 Share Posted July 7, 2013 "Tattoo's and memories and dead skin on trial" WHAT?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Fox Posted July 8, 2013 Share Posted July 8, 2013 Chorus to Sex, Drugs and Violence........."English , math & science" just seem like throw away fill in lyrics that happen to rhyme "Safety in numbers, gimme gimme danger" - just seem like you would be humming and making up random words to sing...... not really thought through, just easy.... You know, I always thought that section was about a retrospective kind of reminiscing of one's life, most notably the teen-angsty part Anyway, I think it's about one who is looking back on adolescence. There are two sides to this; "Sex drugs and violence," perhaps alluding to a nightlife of sorts, or a struggle to let go and have fun, and the "english math and science," the other side of the persona, struggling to keep serious and focused, and this is also later demonstrated with the "Safety in numbers... gimme gimme danger" And you could also see this internal conflict elsewhere in the song, like the lyric "I don't wanna be an imbecile, But Jesus made me this way" "Tattoo's and memories and dead skin on trial" WHAT?! It's actually "Tattoos of memories" a retrospective most likely, and "Dead skin on trial" referencing past lives or memories of another person. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flyingdonutz Posted July 8, 2013 Share Posted July 8, 2013 "Tattoo's and memories and dead skin on trial" WHAT?! A tattoo is a permanent mark on your skin, a memory is something you remember in your head, the line is actually tattoos OF memories, so he's saying permanent memories in your head. IE I'll never forget about that one time me and Jimmy pissed on a school bus. Just more.. elegant. Dead skin on trial.. tough one to figure out, I'd have to spend time thinking about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Grouch is Tracy Posted July 8, 2013 Share Posted July 8, 2013 A tattoo is a permanent mark on your skin, a memory is something you remember in your head, the line is actually tattoos OF memories, so he's saying permanent memories in your head. IE I'll never forget about that one time me and Jimmy pissed on a school bus. Just more.. elegant. Dead skin on trial.. tough one to figure out, I'd have to spend time thinking about it. I wonder.... When you get a tattoo, the dead skin peels off, leaving the vibrant colour underneath, like a snake shedding its skin. A metaphor again for leaving the past behind? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IamTheJudge's-Daughter Posted July 14, 2013 Share Posted July 14, 2013 Lucas Santora, said Posted 02 July 2013 - 02:51 The song Warning makes absolutely no freakin sense to me, or maybe I'm just dumb. I think its about persons who always do what their told and dont ask why they have to do anything. Its about doing what you like and not what might be best for you to do. theres this line in the chorus i think it might be the strongest in the song or shut up and be a victim of authority But i still dont know the meaning of best thing in town... I mean the bridge is just so weird! Could anyone help? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hermione Posted July 15, 2013 Share Posted July 15, 2013 But i still dont know the meaning of best thing in town... I mean the bridge is just so weird! Could anyone help? I remember there was an interview where they said the song is about rock and roll. I think it's about getting into music for the first time and how great and exciting and liberating it can be, with the bridge being about how you can discover strange/new/interesting ideas and experiences through it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack [DF] Posted July 15, 2013 Share Posted July 15, 2013 Chorus to Sex, Drugs and Violence........."English , math & science" just seem like throw away fill in lyrics that happen to rhyme I think that one might have been a convoluted comparison of his life to that of the "average American". If I'm right, it's just a pretentious middle-aged rock-n-roll plea for attention. Maybe someone's already said this one, but "What the fuck does OK stand for/when the afterlife is nothing worth dying for" in Dirty Rotten Bastards really pisses me off. Both lines on their own are all right, but when put together they become completely meaningless. They're good in different ways. The first part is good because it's playful and innocuous, the second because it's rather profound. The two together are simply a banal and insubstantial attempt at deriving meaning by stringing two wholly unconnected phrases together. It's lines like that that really make me think that the whole trilogy could have been condensed into one 12-song album and been fantastic, but was destroyed by all the filler. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sanket Posted July 16, 2013 Share Posted July 16, 2013 I think that one might have been a convoluted comparison of his life to that of the "average American". If I'm right, it's just a pretentious middle-aged rock-n-roll plea for attention. Maybe someone's already said this one, but "What the fuck does OK stand for/when the afterlife is nothing worth dying for" in Dirty Rotten Bastards really pisses me off. Both lines on their own are all right, but when put together they become completely meaningless. They're good in different ways. The first part is good because it's playful and innocuous, the second because it's rather profound. The two together are simply a banal and insubstantial attempt at deriving meaning by stringing two wholly unconnected phrases together. It's lines like that that really make me think that the whole trilogy could have been condensed into one 12-song album and been fantastic, but was destroyed by all the filler. I've read that OK originated in wars. When nobody died during the battle, someone would shout '0 killed' or OK. So maybe thats what Billie wanted to say Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
green day is Posted July 16, 2013 Share Posted July 16, 2013 I've read that OK originated in wars. When nobody died during the battle, someone would shout '0 killed' or OK. So maybe thats what Billie wanted to say This just in - Billie Joe Armstrong is an expert in etymology. Also the most widely accepted origin is "Oll Korrect" not whatever you just said. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Louisbelgium Posted July 16, 2013 Share Posted July 16, 2013 Oh love: "don't stop when the red lights flash" then on i Dos ! : Stop when the red lights flash Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Grouch is Tracy Posted July 16, 2013 Share Posted July 16, 2013 Oh love: "don't stop when the red lights flash" then on i Dos ! : Stop when the red lights flash Maybe he needs remedial driving lessons..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mariane Meneses Posted July 18, 2013 Share Posted July 18, 2013 I don't get the lyrics of Makeout Party.... Apparently it really happened. This is what Billie said about Makeout Party in a interview back in 2012 to Billboard Brasil: "There were a group of drunk people in a room and... it wasn't really an orgy but everyone started to make out." So yeah, keep that in mind the next time you read the lyrics Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greendaysmyjam Posted July 18, 2013 Share Posted July 18, 2013 I was curious if in Drama Queen "she dangles from her necklace" is that a really lazy lyric, or something clever where the person in question is tied to fashion that controls her life rather than the other way round. Quite a few lyrics in Drama Queen lead me to believe that the song is about a young girl battling depression, so I think the "she dangles from her necklace" is a reference to someone hanging from a noose. Cheery, right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
green day is Posted July 18, 2013 Share Posted July 18, 2013 I was curious if in Drama Queen "she dangles from her necklace" is that a really lazy lyric, or something clever where the person in question is tied to fashion that controls her life rather than the other way round. You're spot on, it's not lazy. Billie Joe has talked about that song before in a track-by-track article on 21CBD, which Drama Queen was originally on but they replaced it with Murder City. Someone else can post the article cause I don't have it and I can never find it on Google. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Benjamin Posted July 18, 2013 Share Posted July 18, 2013 Last Night On Earth "I text a postcard sent to you did it go through" does that mean a text message? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
green day is Posted July 18, 2013 Share Posted July 18, 2013 Last Night On Earth "I text a postcard sent to you did it go through" does that mean a text message? We talked about this in the thread in the old general chat and we decided it's a way of describing what he texted, like how they always say stupid little shit like "Wish you were here" and little catchprases. His is "All my love". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
naliuj Posted July 18, 2013 Share Posted July 18, 2013 The entire song of Smells Like Teen Spirit, makes no sense to me whatsoever. People want to say it's a song about teen angst and all of that, but I just don't see it. Edit: Whoops. I wrote this before I realised it was about GD lyrics. Since you sbrought up a non-Green Day song, how about the Final Countdown? I mean maybe it has some deep meaning but the lyrics are just so weird. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
green day is Posted July 18, 2013 Share Posted July 18, 2013 Since you sbrought up a non-Green Day song, how about the Final Countdown? I mean maybe it has some deep meaning but the lyrics are just so weird. Well unlike most lyrics today, that song is literal. It's about the human race leaving Earth because of the apocalypse. I don't remember why I know this but I read it in an article or something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
naliuj Posted July 18, 2013 Share Posted July 18, 2013 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. I looked that up and here is what someone on yahoo answers said which makes sense: in context, that verse where that line is from is when he's talking about how he his worldview changed after he grew up. that line says that things changed once he became aware. i think the "difference between thieves and crooks" is that while a thief is selfish, a crook will manipulate others and do whatever it takes, even at others' expense, to get their own way. a thief is a passing moment of a person's action, while a crook can be a person's character. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
angel green Posted July 19, 2013 Share Posted July 19, 2013 One lyrics that really bothers me is from Viva La Gloria "You made your bed in salad days amongst the ruins." Salad days...I'm sorry, what? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
green day is Posted July 19, 2013 Share Posted July 19, 2013 One lyrics that really bothers me is from Viva La Gloria "You made your bed in salad days amongst the ruins." Salad days...I'm sorry, what? If you hear a weird phrase like that, try Googling it It's usually an idiom. Salad Days means the time of your life when you're young and inexperienced, like adolescence. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DTH Posted July 22, 2013 Share Posted July 22, 2013 "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" i think the song is about the struggles billie had with being succesfull and famous. it is about the people in the pop-buisness (snobby managers, cokane sniffing radio company people, arrogant rockstars...) he had to deal with after the success of dookie. he saw what kind of elitist douches those people were and he realizes he doesn't want to be part of this elite. he just wants to be a normal guy but at the same time he can't be that guy anymore and has troubles of dealing with the behaviour of old friends towards him after their success ("cast out... burried in a hole"). the part "destroyed... giving up the fight" describes, that he tried to keep his life like it once was. but he was unable to do so and now he is giving up and feeling lost, like he neither belongs to his old life anymore nor to his new life as a famous popstar. the question "what's my price and will you pay it if it's alright?" refers to new succesful bands not being more than a product in the music industry. with "take it from my dignity and waste it until it's dead" he sarcastically accepts to play his role in this fully commercialised sytem, no matter if it is against all his ideals and if it is destroys the rest of dignity he trys to retain as an artist with a punk backround and as a person with strong believes. with "find another pleasure fucker, drag him down to hell" he clearly tells all the greedy people wanting their profit out of the bands success that he will make it in his own way, without the alleged necessary rules of the industry. they can search themselfes another band who is willing to make compromises for their success. in my opinion one of their best songs with really strong lyrics. sadly the billie joe of today couldn't stand behind those words anymore. maybe the reason they rarely play it live (same as with other insomniac tracks...) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unholy Sister of Grace Posted July 22, 2013 Share Posted July 22, 2013 A tattoo is a permanent mark on your skin, a memory is something you remember in your head, the line is actually tattoos OF memories, so he's saying permanent memories in your head. IE I'll never forget about that one time me and Jimmy pissed on a school bus. Just more.. elegant. Dead skin on trial.. tough one to figure out, I'd have to spend time thinking about it. "Dead skin on trial" - I don't know if this what Billie had in mind when he wrote this line, but what comes to mind here is dust, which is symbolic of a long-forgotten person or memory. The longer a memory goes without being remembered, the more dust it collects, so to speak. It's relevant because dust is largely made up of dead, shedded human skin cells. Nasty, right? Haha. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flyingdonutz Posted July 22, 2013 Share Posted July 22, 2013 "Dead skin on trial" - I don't know if this what Billie had in mind when he wrote this line, but what comes to mind here is dust, which is symbolic of a long-forgotten person or memory. The longer a memory goes without being remembered, the more dust it collects, so to speak. It's relevant because dust is largely made up of dead, shedded human skin cells. Nasty, right? Haha. Nasty or deep, either one. Gotta love Billie Joe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JOE THE X-KID Posted July 22, 2013 Share Posted July 22, 2013 "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 i always thought it meant she gave up her faith and beliefs for getting high and doing drugs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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