These are all from Billie.
The American Dream Is Killing Me: 'That song is more about being a stressed-out American. Our politics are so divided and polarized right now. We had an insurrection. We have homeless people in the street. We have so many issues, and they come onto your algorithm feed at such a pace. It just stresses you out, the anxiety of being an American and how it becomes so overwhelming. I think it was easier to satirize George Bush because we didn’t have social media. It was before all the tech bros came in. Now you have these billionaires who would rather shoot a rocket into space than deal with the infrastructure we have here.' (Vulture, 2024)
One Eyed Bastard: ‘Lyrically, I was just reflecting on bad times in life. That’s the thing about nostalgia, sometimes you think, “That was an awful time.” Everybody’s got that ugly place in their life where they have to deal with ugly thoughts – it could be like revenge or whatever. Thankfully, I have an outlet in songwriting.’ (Rolling Stone, January 2024)
Dilemma: 'That’s one of my favourite songs on the record. I think it really cuts to the core of drug addiction, alcohol addiction and mental health. The first line is, "Welcome to my problems / It’s not an invitation." It almost sounds like Facebook within itself. It’s like, "Come feel sorry for me, come feel my pain." But, you know, I don’t have Facebook or Twitter, so I just do it in songs to where I think with melody it becomes more relatable, and people can interpret it in the different ways they want. It could be me just joking, but it could be dead fucking serious, too.' (Kerrang, 2024)
Bobby Sox: ‘Bobby Sox was originally about just sitting on the sofa or going to a movie with my missus. It was sort of more about our relationship, but I flipped the script a little bit with the second chorus where it goes into "do you wanna be my boyfriend?" So I sort of flipped the gender thing before on Basket Case, but this one gives it a whole new level. Sort of turns the song into a queer anthem.’ (SiriusXM, 2024)
Suzie Chapstick: ‘Suzie Chapstick could be a song about what your friends are up to lately, you haven't seen in years, looking on Instagram... to see how other people's lives are doing, and we're all alive and doing well together, so…’ (SiriusXM, 2024)
Strange Days Are Here to Stay: 'There’s one line that says, "Ever since Bowie died, it hasn’t been the same." That’s always kind of stuck with me. That was the beginning of 2016, and then it seemed like when the Starman left this Earth, all the mad men came in and started to destroy everything.' (Kerrang, 2024)
Living in the '20s: 'Living In The ‘20s is like we are living in The Upside Down. My country is supposed to be the United States of America but there’s no unity at all. And so, I observe and I report what I see. And strange days are here to stay.' (Kerrang, 2024)
Father to a Son: 'It's heavy. I was only 22 years old when I became a dad and time has passed, and they’ve become the young men that they are now. I wanted a moment like Wake Me Up When September Ends, which is a song about my father, being a son. But the other side of the coin is me being a father to my sons and hoping that I did something good. I’m saying I’m going to ride shotgun as close to my sons as I possibly can, to try to do the best I can. And thankfully, I have a really, really, good relationship with both.'
Father to a Son: 'I dedicated the song to my two sons, who are now 28 and 25 years old. I wrote Wake Me Up When September Ends about my father twenty years ago. I was 10 when he died. Then I became a father myself at an early age and simply didn’t know what I was doing, what was expected of me. I did my best and was always there as these babies became boys, these boys became young men.'
I don't remember where the Father to a Son ones came from... anyone have any idea?