Green Day is already going straight into the studio?

[That Dude]

2 minutes ago, pacejunkie punk said:

😲 Just reading that made me emotional. It’s everything I love about Green Day. This x 1,000,000

Isn't weird trying to imagine new Green Day before it comes out?  I'm hearing this vague guitar picking furiously with muffled vocals in my head.  

[pacejunkie punk]

24 minutes ago, Too Dumb to Die(s) said:

Isn't weird trying to imagine new Green Day before it comes out?  I'm hearing this vague guitar picking furiously with muffled vocals in my head.  

Even though it’s a pretty conventional sound, I had a hell of a time trying to imagine what Back in the USA would sound like. Good thing I’m not a songwriter (or maybe I am one with permanent writer’s block) 😄

[LaughingClock]

2 hours ago, CherryBombs&Gasoline said:

I'm not saying that I don't appreciate the songs or that I can't relate to them. That's definitely not the case. I know what they are trying to say and I understand the message but there are some lines that just sound cringeworthy to me. "I shop online so I can vote / At the speed of life" (Somewhere Now), for instance. I know that lyrics are always interpretative and that's not a problem for me, I just think that the quality of the lyrics is not as high as it was on other albums. But I guess that's more of a personal thing. I still love the record and the majority of the songs on it.

That's totally cool and fair.  It doesn't behoove me to tell someone that they are wrong, I just state my opinion when there is something objective that I don't agree with and you said that it's lyrically sloppy or "all over the place" and when the album came out there were A LOT of people that had some of these exact issues that you are discussing and we broke them down ad nauseam and they pretty much at almost every level had a meaning that people missed.  "I want to hold you like a gun, we'll shoot the moon into the sun" to the uninitiated or to the casual listener that sounded like a very unattractive lyric that made no sense but when we really started to discuss it, we figured out all kinds of things that made sense about it and made it genius.  It is my personal opinion that this album is not only not sloppy, it's their most cohesive narrative in their entire discography.  Everyone points to AI as a strong narrative but that's because it's so easy to understand the narrative but even the line about the cello which was also panned at first around here had deeper meaning than just nothing. Billie does't write willie nilly.  He has meaning and purpose behind every lyric.  He painstakingly writes every one and while on the surface his lyrics seem simplistic compared to poets and philosophers, the beauty of it is that they are some of the most complex thoughts on a pop/punk/rock/whatever album I've ever heard and I include progressive rock genre.  It's for instance way more specific than even Floyd's Dark Side or The Wall, and certainly more than AI or TCB (now I know some would disagree with that and that's fine but for me, there is no album with better lyrics) but hey man, that's what great about opinions, it's cool we all have different ones.

One of my favorite lines as discussed with @Bastard of 1967 was when we were discussing the phase 3 part of Forever Now and a couple things were discussed.  Firstly, I didn't understand why the "How could life on the wild side ever be so dull" (I know everyone here that knows me is sick of hearing this shit already), as "crock6000" (I had to change my avvie for personal reasons and lost all my content by the very curtious mods of this forum), I always heard the reprise on the reprise as again "how did life on the wild side ever get so dull" and I didn't get the arc.  Our protagonist went through the whole thing but yet he is still not understanding how the unmedicated version of himself can't have fun and yet he was still that way at the end.  I don't read the lyrics usually, but at one of the first shows here in LA, I could here him say "How did life on the wild side her get so FULL" and with that ONE SINGLE WORD the whole album changed the narrative as he had learned how to "allow" himself to have a good time without a head full of booze, amphetamines and other drugs.  This is something that every former addict goes through and it just goes to show you how Billie can literally change the ENTIRE MEANING of the album WIHT A FUCKING WORD.  It's simplistic but yet so complicated.

Then the line in the same song in phase 3 when he is wrapping up the political narrative of the album (to me there are really two narratives happening), the life changing vantage point of the removal of drugs from your life which he documents on this album better than any album I've ever heard (and there have been many) because he is so raw and as someone said earlier "like an open book into his diary" and rightly that person said "My name is Billie and I'm freaking out" which also sounds so simple but it a) introduces the name of the character we have been hearing about the whole album but wasn't formally introduced to until that line and also is a twelve stepper line.  "My name is XXXX and I am a drug addict" is what people say at AA meetings so this is Billie stating that he is not a 12 stepper (probably), and he is worried and he is an addict with the most simple line in the song and the first one. 

Sorry, I have ADD and tend to swirly around and type fast and too much and never really fix shit so I hope you're following my swirly story telling here but the line wrapping up the political part in phase 3 of FN is "I am not going to wait in line no more"

(I ain't gonna stand in line no more)
Oh I
I want to start a revolution
I want to hear it on my radio
I'll put it off another day

This line ALSO if you just listen to it without HEARING it says I am going to procrastinate but in the most BILLIE lyrical phrase in the album, it actually means the opposite of what it sounds like.  So as our portag goes through his drug issues and learns to deal with it without rose colored bull shit but the real of life off of drugs for the first several years when you live in a world of excess and drugs and that's all you know (with all the noise of the political chaos going around it makes it harder).  "I never learned to read and write so well, but I can play the guitar until it hurts like hell" is stating that.  I don't know anything else but this and if I can't enjoy it, how can I keep doing it?  It's why Billie loved this tour so much. In all honesty, there were a couple shows this season that I truly thought Billie was back on at least the booze but I believe i was wrong.  He sort of went through the Freddie Mercury hedonistic phase but for a lot longer and thankfully without all the dangerous sex that ended up taking his and my hero, Mercury's life, Billie probably realized, it's time to start trying to survive but it's daunting and scary.  I know because I quit drugs almost simultaneously with him and so I knew all of these feeling and could so relate.  I spoke to him about all of my interpretations and  when asking him about it, he was welling up and I'll never forget that.  I am a fan boy and relating to him in person was a life memory for me.   Literally saw a tear drop from his eye and I was speaking to him about the songs meanings like he had it thrown back to him in the exact way he meant it.  

I'll put it off another day could very well mean "I'll put it off until tomorrow" but it could and does mean "I'll put it off another day" as "I won't put it off today, I'll do that another time. Right now we need a revolution so the time of procrastinating is over. Too much important shit is going on.  I want to start a revolution right now, I want to hear it on in the media, on the streets, in politics and I'll not put it off today, I'll do that another day, not today".  A fucking AMAZING lyrical phrase that again, at just a drive by glance doesn't appear to be much and yet look what it is actually saying.  

The strongest narrative and best lyrics of any album that Billie has ever written.  I could go on and on but since I already did, I implore you to rethink the album and the lyrics a little unless of course you don't want to. I love lyrics and I love stories but I also love songs from Brazil, France, Spain and other parts of the world where I don't understand a fucking word so you can just enjoy the music and nothing at all wrong with that.  You don't HAVE to love the lyrics like I do and while it may seem I am trying to convince you, I'm not.  I just love talking shop about one of my favorite things in the wold, Billie Joe's lyrics which are so unique in their simultaneous apparent basicness but in reality, highly motivated and complex and full of double and triple entendres.

There are so many in Still Breathing that is obviously highly appropriate to so many other things but it was written about him being okay right now while off of drugs.  He's not saying, at that point, that I'm great but I'm "Still Breathing" and that's something.  The idea of the "wreckage so far away" is a line that relates to the time proximity of the addiction. The "making my way back to you" is about getting away from that wreckage and the muse that helped him do it, his family and wife.  "Making my way back to you".  

Every song, minus "Ordinary World" which to me is a bonus track that should have been left off the album and put on the greatest hits album as it has no place in the narrative. I LOVE that song but it was added because it's a beautiful song and they probably saw it as a possible charting single.

Anyway, sorry for rambling as I am good at doing that but I just wanted to really say my piece.  

Be well my friend.

59 minutes ago, pacejunkie punk said:

Even though it’s a pretty conventional sound, I had a hell of a time trying to imagine what Back in the USA would sound like. Good thing I’m not a songwriter (or maybe I am one with permanent writer’s block) 😄

That was seriously funny. Bravo.

[WhiteTim]

22 minutes ago, LaughingClock said:

Every song, minus "Ordinary World" which to me is a bonus track that should have been left off the album and put on the greatest hits album as it has no place in the narrative. I LOVE that song but it was added because it's a beautiful song and they probably saw it as a possible charting single.

 

I disagree with that OW does have place in the narrative after talking about a wild life gets so dull he's now asking how can one live as an ordinary life 

[CherryBombs&Gasoline]

43 minutes ago, LaughingClock said:

That's totally cool and fair.  It doesn't behoove me to tell someone that they are wrong, I just state my opinion when there is something objective that I don't agree with and you said that it's lyrically sloppy or "all over the place" and when the album came out there were A LOT of people that had some of these exact issues that you are discussing and we broke them down ad nauseam and they pretty much at almost every level had a meaning that people missed.  "I want to hold you like a gun, we'll shoot the moon into the sun" to the uninitiated or to the casual listener that sounded like a very unattractive lyric that made no sense but when we really started to discuss it, we figured out all kinds of things that made sense about it and made it genius.  It is my personal opinion that this album is not only not sloppy, it's their most cohesive narrative in their entire discography.  Everyone points to AI as a strong narrative but that's because it's so easy to understand the narrative but even the line about the cello which was also panned at first around here had deeper meaning than just nothing. Billie does't write willie nilly.  He has meaning and purpose behind every lyric.  He painstakingly writes every one and while on the surface his lyrics seem simplistic compared to poets and philosophers, the beauty of it is that they are some of the most complex thoughts on a pop/punk/rock/whatever album I've ever heard and I include progressive rock genre.  It's for instance way more specific than even Floyd's Dark Side or The Wall, and certainly more than AI or TCB (now I know some would disagree with that and that's fine but for me, there is no album with better lyrics) but hey man, that's what great about opinions, it's cool we all have different ones.

One of my favorite lines as discussed with @Bastard of 1967 was when we were discussing the phase 3 part of Forever Now and a couple things were discussed.  Firstly, I didn't understand why the "How could life on the wild side ever be so dull" (I know everyone here that knows me is sick of hearing this shit already), as "crock6000" (I had to change my avvie for personal reasons and lost all my content by the very curtious mods of this forum), I always heard the reprise on the reprise as again "how did life on the wild side ever get so dull" and I didn't get the arc.  Our protagonist went through the whole thing but yet he is still not understanding how the unmedicated version of himself can't have fun and yet he was still that way at the end.  I don't read the lyrics usually, but at one of the first shows here in LA, I could here him say "How did life on the wild side her get so FULL" and with that ONE SINGLE WORD the whole album changed the narrative as he had learned how to "allow" himself to have a good time without a head full of booze, amphetamines and other drugs.  This is something that every former addict goes through and it just goes to show you how Billie can literally change the ENTIRE MEANING of the album WIHT A FUCKING WORD.  It's simplistic but yet so complicated.

Then the line in the same song in phase 3 when he is wrapping up the political narrative of the album (to me there are really two narratives happening), the life changing vantage point of the removal of drugs from your life which he documents on this album better than any album I've ever heard (and there have been many) because he is so raw and as someone said earlier "like an open book into his diary" and rightly that person said "My name is Billie and I'm freaking out" which also sounds so simple but it a) introduces the name of the character we have been hearing about the whole album but wasn't formally introduced to until that line and also is a twelve stepper line.  "My name is XXXX and I am a drug addict" is what people say at AA meetings so this is Billie stating that he is not a 12 stepper (probably), and he is worried and he is an addict with the most simple line in the song and the first one. 

Sorry, I have ADD and tend to swirly around and type fast and too much and never really fix shit so I hope you're following my swirly story telling here but the line wrapping up the political part in phase 3 of FN is "I am not going to wait in line no more"

(I ain't gonna stand in line no more)
Oh I
I want to start a revolution
I want to hear it on my radio
I'll put it off another day

This line ALSO if you just listen to it without HEARING it says I am going to procrastinate but in the most BILLIE lyrical phrase in the album, it actually means the opposite of what it sounds like.  So as our portag goes through his drug issues and learns to deal with it without rose colored bull shit but the real of life off of drugs for the first several years when you live in a world of excess and drugs and that's all you know (with all the noise of the political chaos going around it makes it harder).  "I never learned to read and write so well, but I can play the guitar until it hurts like hell" is stating that.  I don't know anything else but this and if I can't enjoy it, how can I keep doing it?  It's why Billie loved this tour so much. In all honesty, there were a couple shows this season that I truly thought Billie was back on at least the booze but I believe i was wrong.  He sort of went through the Freddie Mercury hedonistic phase but for a lot longer and thankfully without all the dangerous sex that ended up taking his and my hero, Mercury's life, Billie probably realized, it's time to start trying to survive but it's daunting and scary.  I know because I quit drugs almost simultaneously with him and so I knew all of these feeling and could so relate.  I spoke to him about all of my interpretations and  when asking him about it, he was welling up and I'll never forget that.  I am a fan boy and relating to him in person was a life memory for me.   Literally saw a tear drop from his eye and I was speaking to him about the songs meanings like he had it thrown back to him in the exact way he meant it.  

I'll put it off another day could very well mean "I'll put it off until tomorrow" but it could and does mean "I'll put it off another day" as "I won't put it off today, I'll do that another time. Right now we need a revolution so the time of procrastinating is over. Too much important shit is going on.  I want to start a revolution right now, I want to hear it on in the media, on the streets, in politics and I'll not put it off today, I'll do that another day, not today".  A fucking AMAZING lyrical phrase that again, at just a drive by glance doesn't appear to be much and yet look what it is actually saying.  

The strongest narrative and best lyrics of any album that Billie has ever written.  I could go on and on but since I already did, I implore you to rethink the album and the lyrics a little unless of course you don't want to. I love lyrics and I love stories but I also love songs from Brazil, France, Spain and other parts of the world where I don't understand a fucking word so you can just enjoy the music and nothing at all wrong with that.  You don't HAVE to love the lyrics like I do and while it may seem I am trying to convince you, I'm not.  I just love talking shop about one of my favorite things in the wold, Billie Joe's lyrics which are so unique in their simultaneous apparent basicness but in reality, highly motivated and complex and full of double and triple entendres.

There are so many in Still Breathing that is obviously highly appropriate to so many other things but it was written about him being okay right now while off of drugs.  He's not saying, at that point, that I'm great but I'm "Still Breathing" and that's something.  The idea of the "wreckage so far away" is a line that relates to the time proximity of the addiction. The "making my way back to you" is about getting away from that wreckage and the muse that helped him do it, his family and wife.  "Making my way back to you".  

Every song, minus "Ordinary World" which to me is a bonus track that should have been left off the album and put on the greatest hits album as it has no place in the narrative. I LOVE that song but it was added because it's a beautiful song and they probably saw it as a possible charting single.

Anyway, sorry for rambling as I am good at doing that but I just wanted to really say my piece.  

Be well my friend.

 

Don't worry, I totally appreciate your dedication. It's actually great to see how much some people care for this band since there is a lot of unnecessary hate when it comes to Green Day. I love this band and their music and their lyrics as well. To be honest, I haven't examined RevRad's lyrics as much as you just did, but I totally understand your point. We are talking about a band that is known for their good lyrics and therefore I am perhaps overly critical. But I guess it's ok to have different opinions. That's what a forum like this is all about. My posts seem pathetic compared to yours but I hope you understand what I mean 

[pacejunkie punk]

@LaughingClock I may have missed the discussion but I’ve racked my brain over the lines “I want to hold you like a gun, we’ll shoot the moon into the sun” so help a sister out, because they sound pretty generic to me. I like hearing your interpretation of the lyrics.

My favorite part of RevRad is the song order and how deliberate it is. He always says he likes to have the songs speak to each other and this record really does that, you can follow each song like a train of thought that’s going through his mind. To me it sounds like he’s in the car and this is what’s going on:

SN: I think of it as what he might be thinking in the car on the way to an AA meeting or therapy or something at the start of everything. Man this is dull, I so don’t want to do this. Who am I now anyway? Car radio is on in the background and his focus shifts...

BB: his thoughts go into maybe a news report of another shooting over the car radio. Man who would do something like that? What were they thinking?...

RR: his mental response to what he’s hearing. We need to rise up and not take this shit lying down...

SG:  More political mayhem and bad news getting him down. It’s really almost too much, fucking world...

O: He tunes it out and starts to get nostalgic, thinking back to a simpler time when he and Mike were kids and the fun they had having no responsibilites...

BOTW: He thinks back to his former party life and what fun it was even as it almost killed him. But it’s okay because now he’s...

SB: made it through and lives to talk about it another day (one day at a time) and is making his way back to...

YB: his wife. He’s thinking of Adie here and when they were younger and the reason he gets up and struggles every day. And don’t worry Adie because he’s...

TDTD:  Like his dreams of a musical career, he just can’t seem to die. Getting a little nostalgic again with thoughts of his dad and himself as a kid trying to find a purpose in life, something he’s still trying to do. It’s hard though because...

TT: His thoughts return to reality and the shit world we’re living in. What’s the point of it all anyway? It’s enough to really stress you out, but no time to dwell on it because we’ve arrived at our destination...

FN: “My name is Billie and I’m freaking out” is probably what he wants to say when he gets to that meeting and waits his turn to speak. Still feeling lost and trying to make sense of the world but the life without drugs/booze he thought was dull turns out to be a full one after all. He just needs to find a new purpose in this...

OW: And he knows he will.

😊

[Joe.]

Is there necessarily a tangible "narrative"? Can't they simply be a set of songs that deal with similar themes - rather than a story?

[The Bellie]

3 hours ago, LaughingClock said:

I'll put it off another day

This line ALSO if you just listen to it without HEARING it says I am going to procrastinate but in the most BILLIE lyrical phrase in the album, it actually means the opposite of what it sounds like.  So as our portag goes through his drug issues and learns to deal with it without rose colored bull shit but the real of life off of drugs for the first several years when you live in a world of excess and drugs and that's all you know (with all the noise of the political chaos going around it makes it harder). [...] 

I'll put it off another day could very well mean "I'll put it off until tomorrow" but it could and does mean "I'll put it off another day" as "I won't put it off today, I'll do that another time. Right now we need a revolution so the time of procrastinating is over. Too much important shit is going on.  I want to start a revolution right now, I want to hear it on in the media, on the streets, in politics and I'll not put it off today, I'll do that another day, not today".  A fucking AMAZING lyrical phrase that again, at just a drive by glance doesn't appear to be much and yet look what it is actually saying.  

Without quoting your post entirely, I see all this partly the same way as you and partly differently. But I agree RevRad is actually so amazing and powerful, one way every person finds to relate to it can easily become very, veyr deep and perhaps a unique way of feeling it.

3 hours ago, LaughingClock said:

I spoke to him about all of my interpretations and  when asking him about it, he was welling up and I'll never forget that.  I am a fan boy and relating to him in person was a life memory for me.   Literally saw a tear drop from his eye and I was speaking to him about the songs meanings like he had it thrown back to him in the exact way he meant it.  

Gosh, you've got to speak with Billie , and on such a personal matter. I can't imagine what I would feel like. Anyways it's a thought that's enough for me to live for.

[DeJennsitized]

I love concepts. A concept album doesn't mean there has to be a coherant story or be incredibly intricate, it just means the songs all tie together in a theme and the neat-freak in me loves that. The little easter eggs in songs that reference other songs is so meta, i eat that shit up.

[LaughingClock]

3 hours ago, WhiteTim said:

I disagree with that OW does have place in the narrative after talking about a wild life gets so dull he's now asking how can one live as an ordinary life 

It's a stretch but I can see your point but the fact of the matter is it was added from the movie Ordinary World and really wasn't considered as part of the album when he was writing it.    The song is not about what you said.  You just sort of changed it to meet the criteria that makes sense for the album.  He doesn't ask about "how can he live in an ordinary world", he talks about a man who has spent his life in one and how that ordinary world is not so ordinary.

The album is a true story.  Ordinary World is about a man who says "baby I do'n't have much, but what we have is more than enough, oriindary world".   The rest of the album plays truthfully and faithfully into the world of Billie Joe Armstrong who has plenty and does not live in an ordinary world.  It was written as a piece of fiction for a fictional film unlike every other song on the album.

If you just say what you said, on the surface that sounds right but in reality, I disagree simply on that fact. But hey, I was wrong once, they crucified me.

[pacejunkie punk]

1 hour ago, JoeFrusciante said:

Is there necessarily a tangible "narrative"? Can't they simply be a set of songs that deal with similar themes - rather than a story?

If you like sure. This is just what I hear when I listen to it.  Adds to my enjoyment.

[LaughingClock]

1 hour ago, JoeFrusciante said:

Is there necessarily a tangible "narrative"? Can't they simply be a set of songs that deal with similar themes - rather than a story?

Yes Joe, there can be zero narrative but there last three albums all had a very strong narrative by design.  If you don't want a narrative, listen to Dookie, or a Bob Dylan album, but don't listen to Dark Side of the Moon, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust or Revolution Radio because those all DO have narratives.  if you want to listen to a GD album without a narrative than listen to anything before AI because since then, they have all have.  But let me guess, you're gonna start fucking with me now.

[WhiteTim]

10 minutes ago, LaughingClock said:

It's a stretch but I can see your point but the fact of the matter is it was added from the movie Ordinary World and really wasn't considered as part of the album when he was writing it.    The song is not about what you said.  You just sort of changed it to meet the criteria that makes sense for the album.  He doesn't ask about "how can he live in an ordinary world", he talks about a man who has spent his life in one and how that ordinary world is not so ordinary.

The album is a true story.  Ordinary World is about a man who says "baby I do'n't have much, but what we have is more than enough, oriindary world".   The rest of the album plays truthfully and faithfully into the world of Billie Joe Armstrong who has plenty and does not live in an ordinary world.  It was written as a piece of fiction for a fictional film unlike every other song on the album.

If you just say what you said, on the surface that sounds right but in reality, I disagree simply on that fact. But hey, I was wrong once, they crucified me.

Youngblood wasn’t written for RevRad as well it was written several albums back 

[LaughingClock]

8 minutes ago, WhiteTim said:

Youngblood wasn’t written for RevRad as well it was written several albums back 

True.  Not all the songs completely fit but there is a song to Addie, one to Mike, and they work within the confines of the personal relationships the are important to the character in the album.  Those fit though IMO more than OW.  They make sense as 80 is his muse.  OW is the only song TO ME that feels out of place in the album which is why it's the last song.  Billie has spoken about it in interviews as well.  It was thrown in at the end and with some hesitation.  Even Brain Stew could have fit in this album and made sense if it was somewhere at the beginning and the album was longer.

 

37 minutes ago, Kuromignonne said:

 

Gosh, you've got to speak with Billie , and on such a personal matter. I can't imagine what I would feel like. Anyways it's a thought that's enough for me to live for.

You'll find more exciting things to live for.   It was a cool moment, for sure.

[WhiteTim]

6 minutes ago, LaughingClock said:

True.  Not all the songs completely fit but there is a song to Addie, one to Mike, and they work within the confines of the personal relationships the are important to the character in the album.  Those fit though IMO more than OW.  They make sense as 80 is his muse.  OW is the only song TO ME that feels out of place in the album which is why it's the last song.  Billie has spoken about it in interviews as well.  It was thrown in at the end and with some hesitation.  Even Brain Stew could have fit in this album and made sense if it was somewhere at the beginning and the album was longer.

 

You'll find more exciting things to live for.   It was a cool moment, for sure.

True and great thing bout music is the different meaning each person gets from an album

[Vespertine]

This thread is so interesting. Keep up with the quality posts. I can't wait to see what Green Day does next.

[gaslight13]

Spoiler

11 hours ago, LaughingClock said:

That's totally cool and fair.  It doesn't behoove me to tell someone that they are wrong, I just state my opinion when there is something objective that I don't agree with and you said that it's lyrically sloppy or "all over the place" and when the album came out there were A LOT of people that had some of these exact issues that you are discussing and we broke them down ad nauseam and they pretty much at almost every level had a meaning that people missed.  "I want to hold you like a gun, we'll shoot the moon into the sun" to the uninitiated or to the casual listener that sounded like a very unattractive lyric that made no sense but when we really started to discuss it, we figured out all kinds of things that made sense about it and made it genius.  It is my personal opinion that this album is not only not sloppy, it's their most cohesive narrative in their entire discography.  Everyone points to AI as a strong narrative but that's because it's so easy to understand the narrative but even the line about the cello which was also panned at first around here had deeper meaning than just nothing. Billie does't write willie nilly.  He has meaning and purpose behind every lyric.  He painstakingly writes every one and while on the surface his lyrics seem simplistic compared to poets and philosophers, the beauty of it is that they are some of the most complex thoughts on a pop/punk/rock/whatever album I've ever heard and I include progressive rock genre.  It's for instance way more specific than even Floyd's Dark Side or The Wall, and certainly more than AI or TCB (now I know some would disagree with that and that's fine but for me, there is no album with better lyrics) but hey man, that's what great about opinions, it's cool we all have different ones.

One of my favorite lines as discussed with @Bastard of 1967 was when we were discussing the phase 3 part of Forever Now and a couple things were discussed.  Firstly, I didn't understand why the "How could life on the wild side ever be so dull" (I know everyone here that knows me is sick of hearing this shit already), as "crock6000" (I had to change my avvie for personal reasons and lost all my content by the very curtious mods of this forum), I always heard the reprise on the reprise as again "how did life on the wild side ever get so dull" and I didn't get the arc.  Our protagonist went through the whole thing but yet he is still not understanding how the unmedicated version of himself can't have fun and yet he was still that way at the end.  I don't read the lyrics usually, but at one of the first shows here in LA, I could here him say "How did life on the wild side her get so FULL" and with that ONE SINGLE WORD the whole album changed the narrative as he had learned how to "allow" himself to have a good time without a head full of booze, amphetamines and other drugs.  This is something that every former addict goes through and it just goes to show you how Billie can literally change the ENTIRE MEANING of the album WIHT A FUCKING WORD.  It's simplistic but yet so complicated.

Then the line in the same song in phase 3 when he is wrapping up the political narrative of the album (to me there are really two narratives happening), the life changing vantage point of the removal of drugs from your life which he documents on this album better than any album I've ever heard (and there have been many) because he is so raw and as someone said earlier "like an open book into his diary" and rightly that person said "My name is Billie and I'm freaking out" which also sounds so simple but it a) introduces the name of the character we have been hearing about the whole album but wasn't formally introduced to until that line and also is a twelve stepper line.  "My name is XXXX and I am a drug addict" is what people say at AA meetings so this is Billie stating that he is not a 12 stepper (probably), and he is worried and he is an addict with the most simple line in the song and the first one. 

Sorry, I have ADD and tend to swirly around and type fast and too much and never really fix shit so I hope you're following my swirly story telling here but the line wrapping up the political part in phase 3 of FN is "I am not going to wait in line no more"

(I ain't gonna stand in line no more)
Oh I
I want to start a revolution
I want to hear it on my radio
I'll put it off another day

This line ALSO if you just listen to it without HEARING it says I am going to procrastinate but in the most BILLIE lyrical phrase in the album, it actually means the opposite of what it sounds like.  So as our portag goes through his drug issues and learns to deal with it without rose colored bull shit but the real of life off of drugs for the first several years when you live in a world of excess and drugs and that's all you know (with all the noise of the political chaos going around it makes it harder).  "I never learned to read and write so well, but I can play the guitar until it hurts like hell" is stating that.  I don't know anything else but this and if I can't enjoy it, how can I keep doing it?  It's why Billie loved this tour so much. In all honesty, there were a couple shows this season that I truly thought Billie was back on at least the booze but I believe i was wrong.  He sort of went through the Freddie Mercury hedonistic phase but for a lot longer and thankfully without all the dangerous sex that ended up taking his and my hero, Mercury's life, Billie probably realized, it's time to start trying to survive but it's daunting and scary.  I know because I quit drugs almost simultaneously with him and so I knew all of these feeling and could so relate.  I spoke to him about all of my interpretations and  when asking him about it, he was welling up and I'll never forget that.  I am a fan boy and relating to him in person was a life memory for me.   Literally saw a tear drop from his eye and I was speaking to him about the songs meanings like he had it thrown back to him in the exact way he meant it.  

I'll put it off another day could very well mean "I'll put it off until tomorrow" but it could and does mean "I'll put it off another day" as "I won't put it off today, I'll do that another time. Right now we need a revolution so the time of procrastinating is over. Too much important shit is going on.  I want to start a revolution right now, I want to hear it on in the media, on the streets, in politics and I'll not put it off today, I'll do that another day, not today".  A fucking AMAZING lyrical phrase that again, at just a drive by glance doesn't appear to be much and yet look what it is actually saying.  

The strongest narrative and best lyrics of any album that Billie has ever written.  I could go on and on but since I already did, I implore you to rethink the album and the lyrics a little unless of course you don't want to. I love lyrics and I love stories but I also love songs from Brazil, France, Spain and other parts of the world where I don't understand a fucking word so you can just enjoy the music and nothing at all wrong with that.  You don't HAVE to love the lyrics like I do and while it may seem I am trying to convince you, I'm not.  I just love talking shop about one of my favorite things in the wold, Billie Joe's lyrics which are so unique in their simultaneous apparent basicness but in reality, highly motivated and complex and full of double and triple entendres.

There are so many in Still Breathing that is obviously highly appropriate to so many other things but it was written about him being okay right now while off of drugs.  He's not saying, at that point, that I'm great but I'm "Still Breathing" and that's something.  The idea of the "wreckage so far away" is a line that relates to the time proximity of the addiction. The "making my way back to you" is about getting away from that wreckage and the muse that helped him do it, his family and wife.  "Making my way back to you".  

Every song, minus "Ordinary World" which to me is a bonus track that should have been left off the album and put on the greatest hits album as it has no place in the narrative. I LOVE that song but it was added because it's a beautiful song and they probably saw it as a possible charting single.

Anyway, sorry for rambling as I am good at doing that but I just wanted to really say my piece.  

Be well my friend.

That was seriously funny. Bravo.

 

@LaughingClock I quoted you in a spoiler to keep this post from being insanely long.

I thoroughly enjoy reading your interpretations because you pick up on a lot; some of which I was also thinking, and other stuff that I hadn't considered. I completely agree though about the cohesive-ness and the way Forever Now circles back on Somewhere now lyrically. It does musically as well. Something I only picked up on because I have the CD in my car and I skip OW the instant the track changes so it goes directly into SN. I think Rev Rad was one of their tightest records lyrically. There was no "excess" (though excess isn't always bad). I'd love it if he found a way to take the tightness, honesty, and cleverness of the Rev Rad lyrics and infuse a bit of what I'm calling "excess" of albums like AI or 21CB. If that makes any sense. 

Regarding the "I'll put it off another day" line though. I was going to argue with you on that one because that's such a weird way to say that you're going to do something right now, especially since common sense would lead a person to interpret the opposite. However, it kind of makes sense with the line that follows "I ain't gonna stand in line no more" because why would he want to start a revolution, then change his mind and put it off, then stand up again and say no, he's not dealing with this shit anymore. So, assuming you're correct, since that's what fits with the rest of the narrative, I have to criticize him here because who the hell would get that? I think I'm generally pretty good at interpreting his lyrics as I relate pretty closely as well, though I do miss things, but usually even when I miss stuff, if it's pointed out, it suddenly seems obvious. This is a huge stretch in my opinion and only fits due to the context. I'm in favor of writing things in this way, I just think that line missed the mark. 

I'm not sure I follow you on the time proximity thing though with Still Breathing. It sounds like you're saying it's referencing that time has past since he was in rehab? Or am I misinterpreting you? I always took the "so far away" part to relate to the other line you mentioned, "making my way to you". As in, he got lost in the wreckage (of himself) and that kind of brought him far away, but he's telling his loved ones to shine a light because he's still in there and he's still alive and he's making his way out and back to them after getting stuck somewhere far away from them. Sort of like if a building collapsed and you figure everyone inside was lost but if you dig far enough and search with a flashlight, you'll find him, he's in there and he's still alive. 

Also, could you elaborate (or point me to another thread, etc. where you already did) on what you figured out with this line?  "I want to hold you like a gun, we'll shoot the moon into the sun". Because that one stumped me.  

I'm so glad his writing is still so good. It gives me more hope than fear for the next record. I hope he finds a good way to make the next one honest and personal as well. I'm not sure if, objectively, it's good or bad writing to write in such a way that on the surface seems pretty good, but for those who understand the circumstances (and especially those who relate) it's fantastic. But selfishly I enjoy it and hope he keeps it up  

[Thatsername]

I love lyrics discussions What I love so much about Billie's lyrics is that they are simple and complex at the same time. Just take sentences like "Hallelujah I found my soul under the sofa pillow" from Somewhere Now or even "Let them eat poison and it tastes like lemonade" from the new song. They are genious because they're so simple and funny that they make you smile, but there's a whole universe of meanings and interpretations behind them. I always feel like Green Days lyrics open a door for me, and I can see and feel the story behind them as if I'm watching a movie, I'm not only listening to the song or reading the words. There are very, very few musicians who have the same effect on me. Even the trilogy has some really interesting lyrics if you listen closely. He's definitely one of the best songwriters alive, along with Pete Townshend, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and just a handful of others.

[LaughingClock]

On 11/29/2017 at 11:24 PM, gaslight13 said:

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@LaughingClock I quoted you in a spoiler to keep this post from being insanely long.

I thoroughly enjoy reading your interpretations because you pick up on a lot; some of which I was also thinking, and other stuff that I hadn't considered. I completely agree though about the cohesive-ness and the way Forever Now circles back on Somewhere now lyrically. It does musically as well. Something I only picked up on because I have the CD in my car and I skip OW the instant the track changes so it goes directly into SN. I think Rev Rad was one of their tightest records lyrically. There was no "excess" (though excess isn't always bad). I'd love it if he found a way to take the tightness, honesty, and cleverness of the Rev Rad lyrics and infuse a bit of what I'm calling "excess" of albums like AI or 21CB. If that makes any sense. 

Regarding the "I'll put it off another day" line though. I was going to argue with you on that one because that's such a weird way to say that you're going to do something right now, especially since common sense would lead a person to interpret the opposite. However, it kind of makes sense with the line that follows "I ain't gonna stand in line no more" because why would he want to start a revolution, then change his mind and put it off, then stand up again and say no, he's not dealing with this shit anymore. So, assuming you're correct, since that's what fits with the rest of the narrative, I have to criticize him here because who the hell would get that? I think I'm generally pretty good at interpreting his lyrics as I relate pretty closely as well, though I do miss things, but usually even when I miss stuff, if it's pointed out, it suddenly seems obvious. This is a huge stretch in my opinion and only fits due to the context. I'm in favor of writing things in this way, I just think that line missed the mark. 

I'm not sure I follow you on the time proximity thing though with Still Breathing. It sounds like you're saying it's referencing that time has past since he was in rehab? Or am I misinterpreting you? I always took the "so far away" part to relate to the other line you mentioned, "making my way to you". As in, he got lost in the wreckage (of himself) and that kind of brought him far away, but he's telling his loved ones to shine a light because he's still in there and he's still alive and he's making his way out and back to them after getting stuck somewhere far away from them. Sort of like if a building collapsed and you figure everyone inside was lost but if you dig far enough and search with a flashlight, you'll find him, he's in there and he's still alive. 

Also, could you elaborate (or point me to another thread, etc. where you already did) on what you figured out with this line?  "I want to hold you like a gun, we'll shoot the moon into the sun". Because that one stumped me.  

I'm so glad his writing is still so good. It gives me more hope than fear for the next record. I hope he finds a good way to make the next one honest and personal as well. I'm not sure if, objectively, it's good or bad writing to write in such a way that on the surface seems pretty good, but for those who understand the circumstances (and especially those who relate) it's fantastic. But selfishly I enjoy it and hope he keeps it up  

***TLDR ---- The stuff before the asterix below is a lot of fluff that sort of explains why I love the way Billie writes and why I always look into his lyrics. I thought a lot, if not most of you would find it pretentious and boring so I am adding that so you can skip it and go to where I just answer her? post.

Let me just start with I almost fucking died laughing when you started your gorgeous post with a casual "I'm putting your post in a spoiler because you ramble on forever" which I absolutely do and I love being ribbed so bravo on that.  I am going to do something I don't normally take the time to do.  You guys probably think I sit here and type forever but I am actually always just spitting words out of my fingers at break neck speed and sometimes my thoughts are actually slower than my fingers and I have serious ADD and am just all over the place but I'm just gonna do the opposite of what you did and copy your whole post here and take the time to try and respond to the things you wrote.  The people I most get along with in the real world are people that like to wax philosophy, poetry and meanings of things that people don't discuss in most circles (like quantum physics and brain remapping for therapy).  Like I had a 3 hour discussion about the personality of cites with a girl I know the other day.  A girl that is a genius and we read poetry books that would make some of these "hard to understand lyrics" really seem like nothing.  If anyone here is really into poetry, you would know that the Billie is a poet in every sense of the word and what makes him so successful and wonderful is he does it without trying to be slick with big words but with the ability to slide things by you.  It didn't start with this album, he's been doing it for years.  I could go all the way back to the beginning and make you think twice about lyrics you've been singing and thinking about one way for however many years.  Billie loves to be tricky. I would even say that's his greatest attribute as a song writer is to implant the meaning of his lyrics so deep into the words that they become  so interpretable that even songs that are so singularly about something, it's also buried enough that people can project their own lives into the music and that IS WHY Green Day is looked at as, to their deepest fans as not just a good rock band but also a hand to hold in life.  When I first was a fan of Green Day, I just liked the music.  I liked the fans (which they have changed over the years and mostly for the better).  It's the only band that I still connect with in a real way that resonates throughout my entire life and that only started happening as I became old enough to enjoy it on that level.  The stuff that's hidden is sometimes not even just in the meaning but the words themselves.  It's why the misheard GD lyrics thread is one of my favorite reads on this forum.  

I mean a song that says something simple like "In the land of make believe, they don't believe in me" is so mind mind-spinningly good and yes, it's been said before in different ways but implanted in the meanings of the songs and the placements make them take on new meaning and new ways to interpret that idea of paradoxical and equivocal poetry and thought.  What does that line really mean?  The inversion of it is that I don't believe in things that aren't real. Bo once said "Did you ever think that God doesn't believe in you?" and it was genius too but it was long after AI and the idea is the same.  It turns the tables.  He says, fuck you.  This is me.  There is nothing wrong with me regardless of what you think. I don't care what you think because it's all bull shit (make believe) and in that world, they don't believe in me so why should I care?  All that is said in those lines but to be able to put that much thought in a small amount of words is not easy.  Poets spend their lives figuring out how to do that.  I have always been attracted to circular poetry like Ghilbran (an 18th century poet from Lebanon) who writes about Joy and Pain.  You can't experience one without the other.  Yin/Yang.  He very much writes like Billie Joe.  I implore all of the Billie lyrical fans to read Ghilbran and you'll see what I'm saying.  He writes one of my favorite pieces of poetry in the world. In fact, when I am at my lowest because someone close died, or anything really, I turn to it to remind myself that it's life.  Life is not all roses and if you have one without sorrow, you lead an empty existence.  Most musicians and comedians and people who perform or write had hard or life altering childhoods and it's almost always family.  Look into the past of your musical loves and you will find despair, death and worse.  If you live in excess, you better balance it out with a loving wife that you stay married to forever and a family.  Fuck, I just meant to answer your questions and move on but I haven't even started that which means this is going to be a novel and nobody but maybe you will read it.  It's okay, I'm going to London and Germany shorty so I can bail after this embarrassment of a post.  Ha. But now I have to post the pros of Ghilbran that I mentioned.  He wrote a poetry book that should be required reading for every human.  It's called the "The Prophet" and it's about a fictional God that the people of a fictional place ask about various things like Death/Life, Love/Marriage Eating/Drinking  Work/Play, Crime/Punishment, and for me,  the most important one is Joy & Sorrow and that'e the one out of all of them that I always read when I need it and the reason I bring it up again is because the yin/yang of the pros (or lyrics) are exactly similar to BJ.  Ghilbran, unlike Billie is not confined by the shortness of having to write a song to fit. I would argue though that this has made Billie one of the best and most underrated poets of our generation.  He has wrote pros that jump in your ears, tears up your mind and rips your soul, breaks your heart, lifts you up, or just makes you laugh.  These aren't easy things to do.  I would love for BJA to write a book of poetry one day. 

Here is Ghilbran on Joy & Sorrow.  Now you KNOW what this is about.  You don't have to interpret it.  This is Ghilbran on his thoughts on (though the fictional God) his opinion on the sameness of Joy & Sorrow.  How they are not separated, but are the same.  This is something that Billie has done for several albums now.  Creating circular logic that plays off of yin'/yang philosophy:  Khalil Gilbran on Joy & Sorrow

Then a woman said, Speak to us of Joy and Sorrow.
And he answered:
Your joy is your sorrow unmasked.
And the selfsame well from which your laughter rises was oftentimes filled with your tears.
And how else can it be?
The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain.
Is not the cup that holds your wine the very cup that was burned in the potter’s oven?
And is not the lute that soothes your spirit, the very wood that was hollowed with knives?
When you are joyous, look deep into your heart and you shall find it is only that which has given you sorrow that is giving you joy.
When you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight.
Some of you say, “Joy is greater than sorrow,” and others say, “Nay, sorrow is the greater.”
But I say unto you, they are inseparable.
Together they come, and when one sits alone with you at your board, remember that the other is asleep upon your bed.

Verily you are suspended like scales between your sorrow and your joy. 
Only when you are empty are you at standstill and balanced. 
When the reassure-keeper lifts you to weigh his gold and his silver, needs must your joy or your sorrow rise or fall.

I love it every time i read it. It's written in 18th century English but it's still very basic as far as deep poetry goes and yet it is so fulfilling and relieving.  It doesn't try to mask truth, it does however give you answers to things you might not have had questions about.  I never thought before my grandfather made me read this about the fact that our joy and our sorrow are the same thing.  Without one, you can't have the other. It is the things that we love most that give us the most pain.  The person you love most brought you your most joy and their death, by that very "selfsame well" is the well that brought you the joy that is now causing the pain.  And remember that joy and sorrow are inseparable because when JOY is at your feet and filling your heart with joy on the board, sorrow "is asleep on your bed".   "Only when you are empty are you at a standstill and balanced".  I realize I already crossed the line for people that just like to listen to Green day and sound pretentious and out of line but this is the kind of stuff Billie is writing about nowadays (unless it's a playful song like YoungBlood or Outlaws) and even those have some deep meanings but the songs that Billie really loves are the ones that mean something to him lyrically.  He loves to write.  He is a poet as much as he is a musician.  To me, even more so.  If it weren't for Billie's lyrics, they would just be another good band that I see on the circuit all the time.  I wouldn't be writing this right now.  HOW THE FUCK DID I GET THIS FAR and not even begin answering you.  I have been typing for like 10 minutes already. UGH. if you are still reading, thanks.

******I am adding an astrix here because I must add something for the TLDR people.  i probably lost them about 5 paragraphs ago.  "Oh fuck, he's doing it again".  Sorry guys.

@LaughingClock I quoted you in a spoiler to keep this post from being insanely long.
That shit made me laugh.

I thoroughly enjoy reading your interpretations because you pick up on a lot; some of which I was also thinking, and other stuff that I hadn't considered. I completely agree though about the cohesive-ness and the way Forever Now circles back on Somewhere now lyrically. It does musically as well. Something I only picked up on because I have the CD in my car and I skip OW the instant the track changes so it goes directly into SN. I think Rev Rad was one of their tightest records lyrically. There was no "excess" (though excess isn't always bad). I'd love it if he found a way to take the tightness, honesty, and cleverness of the Rev Rad lyrics and infuse a bit of what I'm calling "excess" of albums like AI or 21CB. If that makes any sense. 

I am with you on that 100%.  It took me a few listens before I loved the album.  Before I started really listening to the lyrics, I was just enjoying the sort of back to basic music but at the same time Billie had his breakdown and got off drugs, my daughter was born and I couldn't live the life I lived and be a good father and I wasn't going to be that Dad that is traveling all the time and also down drugs and things that would make her less of a good person. I wanted to be a good father because I have never loved anything more than I did my daughter and it happened the first second I made eye contact with her and I was not expecting that.

Regarding the "I'll put it off another day" line though. I was going to argue with you on that one because that's such a weird way to say that you're going to do something right now, especially since common sense would lead a person to interpret the opposite. However, it kind of makes sense with the line that follows "I ain't gonna stand in line no more" because why would he want to start a revolution, then change his mind and put it off, then stand up again and say no, he's not dealing with this shit anymore. So, assuming you're correct, since that's what fits with the rest of the narrative, I have to criticize him here because who the hell would get that? I think I'm generally pretty good at interpreting his lyrics as I relate pretty closely as well, though I do miss things, but usually even when I miss stuff, if it's pointed out, it suddenly seems obvious. This is a huge stretch in my opinion and only fits due to the context. I'm in favor of writing things in this way, I just think that line missed the mark. 

Well then, ironically, I will argue with you.  The lyric is meant to be sneaky and it's far from his sneakiest and you wouldn't be the only person that I had turned their definite thought on this the other way around.  The reason I say I would argue with you is WHY in the world would you want it spelled out when it's so magically beautiful the way it is.  It's not that difficult to figure out.  I am sure you are good at looking into his lyrics and understanding them but here we are with you agreeing with me and yet you missed it.  The fact is, it's also the end of the album and if you realize that there is sort of a double narrative, although intertwined with the chaos of the world and the other songs are about drug addiction  and what it means to get off it with all the let's say "Static Noise" makes things harder, then you would have to realize there needs to be a conclusion.  It could be other things too.  But because of his addictions, his desires, his whatever, he doesn't do anything about it.  He (us, whoever) just waits around and he is calling people to action and people have come to action to defend the world right now because it's a dangerous time.   Billie is not only wonderfully gifted, he is FUCKING scary prophetic.  If he thought we lived in "Troubled Times" when he wrote that song, do you think he ever thought we would be where we are now? In a couple weeks the whole country and the world is on edge and fearing the brink of war and WWIII.  WWIII ain't gonna be fought in Normandy either.  It's gonna be a video game that ends well for nobody.  So he has decided it's time to stop bullshitting and stop talking, and stop doing nothing and DO SOMETHING. Put it off another day. I am sure you heard the story of when he was in NY and he got out and walked with the BLM march. He literally just got out of his rental and started machine with them.  Not going to wait in line anymore. It should be pretty easy to figure out because it is also the en of the album and why would he have no arc for his character which is  character throughout the album?  He wouldn't and he doesn't. You are entitled to not like it because it wasn't obvious to you but it was to me and I think it's one of the greatest lines he's ever written for the very reason you would argue that he deserves criticism for it but again, it's art, it's not made to be forcefully liked.  You can give people your thoughts and try and make them see things differently but you have to do it lightly because nobody likes to be told what they should think but you and I differ in large amount about the brilliance of it on this one, which is totally fine.

I'm not sure I follow you on the time proximity thing though with Still Breathing. It sounds like you're saying it's referencing that time has past since he was in rehab? Or am I misinterpreting you? I always took the "so far away" part to relate to the other line you mentioned, "making my way to you". As in, he got lost in the wreckage (of himself) and that kind of brought him far away, but he's telling his loved ones to shine a light because he's still in there and he's still alive and he's making his way out and back to them after getting stuck somewhere far away from them. Sort of like if a building collapsed and you figure everyone inside was lost but if you dig far enough and search with a flashlight, you'll find him, he's in there and he's still alive. 

Beautiful.  That is EXACTLY what I meant and you stated it better than I could have. The wreckage was indeed himself, his self destruction.  Shine a light on the wreckage which is so far away, so far away but I want to get back to you.  It PLAYS PERFECT (to the person that pointed out that YoungBlood was written a while ago) but it correlates to this song in perfection because he is talking about how 80 is his muse, his love, his reason, his "I'm a rough boy, around the edges....She's my weakness, fucking genius, swear to God and I'm not even superstitious"  says that she is what keeps him honest.  She has always been his rock.  It has what has kept him from really going off the deep end and anyone that has a wife or loved one and they are far away and partying on whatever drugs, they seem so far away and the wreckage you feel when the remorse kicks in the next day (or maybe three days) and you feel like a piece of shit for whatever you've done and you cry and wish you were in the arms of you're love.   I mentioned Brain Stew.  That feeling is one where you want to put a fucking bullet in your head when you've been partying for a week and you're sitting there and are ready for the drugs to wear off.  "The clock is laughing in my face" is one of my favorite lines because I know the feeling.  The first time I ever did drugs and saw my infant baby even several days after coming down (drugs effect you mentally, especially as you age for a lot longer than you think)., I cried for like 3 hours and swore to myself and the Universe the I would get sober (and unless you consider weed a drug, I don't) then I have been since.  My muse, my love, was my wife and my daughter.  I know that feeling. Anyway, you said it to perfection.  Yes, that's what it means.  Trust me on this one, for sure.  

Also, could you elaborate (or point me to another thread, etc. where you already did) on what you figured out with this line?  "I want to hold you like a gun, we'll shoot the moon into the sun". Because that one stumped me.  

Probably not the best line to have brought up.  It's just that everyone HATED the line and when we discussed it way back when (and my content is all gone because I requested the mods delete all my content once and they obliged) but essentially and we came up with so many meanings but what stuck with me and YoungBlood is just a fun song about his favorite thing to write about, Addie, and the line "I want to hold you like a gun, we'll shoot the moon into the sun" everyone was saying was just words for words, rhymes for rhymes and I thought differently. I think of it sexually and lovingly.  Just the idea of a man holding a woman like a gun in so many forms conjures up visions of sexualitly and desire and to shoot the moon into the sun is to take that and take something that is lifeless and small and make it big and fiery (again, the terminology is sexual in nature and BJA has always been a very sexual person). It's just another way of Billie saying that he loves 80 in YoungBlood but in a sexy way and that he doesn't often discuss and really sort of hides in those lyrics.  I love it.  Some people don't and this one is very interpretable but I PROMISE, Billie in the last 15-20 years has never wrote a lyric that he doesn't think about.  He doesn't just put words on the table and he doesn't all of a sudden forget how to write.  Not every line has as much deepness but they can't all be or just like joy and sorrow, we wouldn't have too much balance. If nothing was average, nothing would be great either, right?.  This is just a good line and nothing more but it's not a throw away line as some were saying.

I'm so glad his writing is still so good. It gives me more hope than fear for the next record. I hope he finds a good way to make the next one honest and personal as well. I'm not sure if, objectively, it's good or bad writing to write in such a way that on the surface seems pretty good, but for those who understand the circumstances (and especially those who relate) it's fantastic. But selfishly I enjoy it and hope he keeps it up  

Again, I'm with you but there is nothing better to me than to enjoy music selfishly.  It's much better to enjoy it with other people and that's why I am typing away here but it's a wonderful thing to feel like you need some love in your life and pick up The Prophet or listen to a song that means something to you from anyone really but of course Billie.  As a Green Day fan, there probably aren't a lot of people here that love the music of Leonard Cohen. I have seen him in concert probably 15x and he was a poet first and picked up a guitar at 36 to make money because poetry wasn't playing the bills. He was a genius.  Most people know him from the song "Hallelujah" but he has made so many great songs.  

You think that Billie's lyrics are often difficult to decipher, here is a song from LC about a girl that he once dated that was a manic depressive and her decline into drugs and self destruction and yet it's a beautiful love song written to her (about 30 years ago) but his voice only got better as he aged so I'm showing this version:

If one person read all of this, thanks. 

Edit: By the way, the name this album is from is called "Love & Hate". - very difficult to understand on first listen so quick cliff notes because I got a couple messages: he lives in LA now (Clinton Street). "New York has gone colder, I like where I'm living" ... his old love is the girl the song is written to her. His gf/wife (he didn't believe in marriage when he wrote this went to visit her in NY and came back with a lock of her hair and said she would go clear which startled him. The last time he saw her "you look older...your famous blue raincoat had a tair on the shoulder" - he hopes she's documenting it. He also ends it with son many different endings. At the end of his career he always said "sincerely,  friend". Studio version and most versions are "Sincerely - L Cohen". Notice how the two choruses are, besides the music, completely different. He is no stranger to drugs btw. LC has been an off and on again addict for his early life. Suchna sad, beautiful song, like so many others. Lyric lovers should dive into LC. You'll never come out and unfortunately will never see him live. Not ashamed to admit I shed a tear almost every time I listen to him. Needless to say, I listen less since his passing. He was a man among children.

Now Billie puts some poetry in his music, Leonard put music in his poetry.

[Joe.]

12 hours ago, LaughingClock said:

Yes Joe, there can be zero narrative but there last three albums all had a very strong narrative by design.  If you don't want a narrative, listen to Dookie, or a Bob Dylan album, but don't listen to Dark Side of the Moon, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust or Revolution Radio because those all DO have narratives.  if you want to listen to a GD album without a narrative than listen to anything before AI because since then, they have all have.  But let me guess, you're gonna start fucking with me now.

Calm down I didn't say I didn't want one, just that it is possible to over analyse an album. My point is the links are so vague that it's not necessarily an intentional "story" - I've no problem with a single narrative, I'm just saying I think there isn't one here, or if it is it's very loose

[LaughingClock]

2 minutes ago, JoeFrusciante said:

Calm down I didn't say I didn't want one, just that it is possible to over analyse an album

You honestly make me never want to return here with every post you make at me. I’m sure you’re a wonderful guy in person. It’s possible to over analyze an album and it’s also possible for me to punch myself in the nuts constantly for an hour. Both are my choice.

[Joe.]

1 minute ago, LaughingClock said:

You honestly make me never want to return here with every post you make at me. I’m sure you’re a wonderful guy in person.

I really don't mean to offend, I'm simply saying the links that have been made here seem tenuous - although by all means make them.

[LaughingClock]

4 minutes ago, JoeFrusciante said:

I really don't mean to offend, I'm simply saying the links that have been made here seem tenuous - although by all means make them.

Thanks for the permission. Very sweet of you. You may continue to breathe and I’m not offended but thanks for the qualification and I do appreciate you saying you didn’t mean to offend, while I wasn’t offended, it’s a giant leap forward in our continuing friendship. Lol.

FTR, analyzing for me is a past time, I wish I could say that this will be the last time, I’m sort of like Sean Penn at Fast Times.

[The Bellie]

12 hours ago, LaughingClock said:

You'll find more exciting things to live for.   It was a cool moment, for sure.

I have, today, exciting things that I live for. But even without these things, the only thought of meeting Billie one day would be enough. Exciting is far below the way it makes me feel.

I don't agree at all about the way you think of OW; to me Billie also speaks of his real self, aside from the character in the movie. The way I see it, ordinary world is real life, and that notably echoes to me to the line "Are you scared to death to live?" in Still Breathing, which is one of my favorite and one of those I relate the most to.

I won't do it right now, but I'll take the time (perhaps not in this thread) to say all I think of Still Breathing, Forever Now and Somewhere Now, that would be great to write, and it's already interesting to read, in particular, such developed thoughts of yours @LaughingClock where I pretty much feel you on some points and reading further I feel in a very different way.

4 hours ago, gaslight13 said:

Regarding the "I'll put it off another day" line though.  

To say a word on this, I personally think it's a literal evocation of Billie's thoughts at a time, maybe during a long time, the way he has tended to postpone the time where he would start taking care of his addiction, "putting it off" and "think about tomorrow"; instead, he may have remained too busy wanting to "start a revolution" and "hear it on [his] radio," and even though in Billie's case he has actually happened to hear himself on the radio, this part of the song is also a metaphor for the way each and every one of us gets launched in a daily race to keep up with planning, information of all kind, trying to have our own impact on the world at whatever scale, while we have our personal crutches at the same time, and we postpone the taking care of it for good because there is too much happening and it seems impossible to stop our daily running, which keeps our minds entertained, and preventing us from taking time to change things within ourselves.

The line "I ain't gonna stand in line no more" seems simple just like that, Billie says it (ending up screaming it) 8 times at the end of Forever Now. To me (who have been recently getting out of my own addiction) it's (among other things) a way for Billie of saying he moves aside from the line he has been following, that line being at a very deep level in himself and at the same time the way he resonates with everything around him; he starts thinking in a different way of the stuff that had blocked him so far and that he was thinking of only in terms of "do I postpone it (again) or not?" It's probably too recent for me in my own case to explain it fully, things still have to emerge, but when you want to get rid of a severe addiction, you set the problem in a misleading way when you just focus on the time you'll stop postponing it. If Billie was once thinking "they're so much else to do now, I'll put it off another day" he probably didn't know when that would be, didn't have a clue or find the time to think about it, but only focusing on this "when" was just not the solution, it was more like another symptom. While he has found another way of thinking of it, transforming it and finding his inner freedom, not standing in the line of the self-destruction he seemed to inevitably go back to, anymore, while keeping his personal freedom towards what comes from the outside world.

[Hermione]

19 minutes ago, LaughingClock said:

You honestly make me never want to return here with every post you make at me. I’m sure you’re a wonderful guy in person. It’s possible to over analyze an album and it’s also possible for me to punch myself in the nuts constantly for an hour. Both are my choice.

Can you not make things personal? Pretty sure no one meant it personally when they disagreed with you (edit: actually it wasn't even you) about the album. I don't want to get into a whole discussion about this, just asking that you avoid taking things personally/making things personal in what should be a pleasant discussion about music.