Murder City

[amy_runs]

The solo gives me chills every time I hear it This song is so.... raw. I love it.

[Brian]

Not my fav when i first heard it. But it has grown significantly on me!

[Spastic Socialite]

ahh this song!!

has to be one of my favourite off the album; its so hard to decide which one i actually like the best so I have several

this would be amazing if they play it during the tour

then again, most of the material off 21st Centuary would probably be pretty epic live

[amy_runs]

I really wish they were playing this song on tour :/

[Spastic Socialite]

I really wish they were playing this song on tour

I say we kidnap the three of them and only let them free if they promise to play this song!

or we could just keep them to play just for us?

[Renjini]

i really like this song, it's my most played on my ipod. its really catchy.

[Velocity]

If I ever go deaf by listening to any song too loudly, it's going to be this one.

And yeah, I really really wish they could play this one on tour. Hearing it live would be incredible.

[Kaddi.]

I'm really glad they changed the title. Murder City just sounds so edgy.

Noo... Desperate was so much better! I really hope they'll play it in Dortmund, because it's like Deniz' and my song and we'll be both at this concert... would be an awesome moment

[thisisAB]

I love this song, and I wish they played it on tour. It reminds me of Letterbomb in a good way.

[amy_runs]

I say we kidnap the three of them and only let them free if they promise to play this song!

or we could just keep them to play just for us?

I think that is a wonderful idea!

[Angela.]

I enjoy this song quite a bit. I definitely get a lot of mental imagery from this song. Especially the lyrics, "Christian's crying in the bathroom... and I just wanna bum a cigarette... we've come so far, we've been so wasted... it's written all over our faces... we are are the last call, and we're so pathetic..."

With that line, I imagine Christian locked away by himself in a bathroom. He's lying on his back, with one hand wiping away the tears from his face, and another one by a bottle of pills and a knocked over and now empty glass of whiskey. Gloria is on the other side of the door. She's leaning against it with her back, and she has been crying a bit as well, from a mixture of anger and sadness. She's conflicted at the moment, and it shows. She's extremely stressed, and needs a cigarette to calm her nerves. Part of her wants to go into the bathroom and cling to Christian out of fear and guilt. Another part of her wants to stay where she is and attempt to think rationally about what she should do, instead of what she feels obligated to do. She knows that they've been through a lot, and part of her doesn't want to give up on him. But another part of her knows that she should be looking out for herself and doing what's best - leaving. The conflict angers her more than before, so she gets up and kicks the nearest wall with all of her might. Her eyes fill up with tears again and she slides down the wall with her face buried in her hands.

I think this song would make a good single.

[Roxy.]

^ Holy shit. That's exactly the image I picture when I listen to that verse, you worded it perfectly. It's almost like a movie scene, isn't it? lol genius, Billie.

[Angela.]

^ Haha, thanks. BJ is a lyrical genius. He really knows how to reflect his own life into lyrics that we can relate to in our own personal way. That's one of the reasons why I respect him as a songwriter so much.

[CarmenPunkGirl]

great lyrics!

[Bastard of 1967]

With that line, I imagine Christian locked away by himself in a bathroom. He's lying on his back, with one hand wiping away the tears from his face, and another one by a bottle of pills and a knocked over and now empty glass of whiskey. Gloria is on the other side of the door. She's leaning against it with her back, and she has been crying a bit as well, from a mixture of anger and sadness. She's conflicted at the moment, and it shows. She's extremely stressed, and needs a cigarette to calm her nerves. Part of her wants to go into the bathroom and cling to Christian out of fear and guilt. Another part of her wants to stay where she is and attempt to think rationally about what she should do, instead of what she feels obligated to do. She knows that they've been through a lot, and part of her doesn't want to give up on him. But another part of her knows that she should be looking out for herself and doing what's best - leaving. The conflict angers her more than before, so she gets up and kicks the nearest wall with all of her might. Her eyes fill up with tears again and she slides down the wall with her face buried in her hands.

I *love* your interpretation. I think it fits perfectly into Little Girl which follows immediately (Gloria runs away with Christian screaming behind her "you're gonna BEG to come back to me, you little drug-addicted b*tch, you always do!!"), and then comes RHS which finds Gloria awakening from the depths of her despair to find she's been her own worst enemy all along. Great analysis and even better imagery....thanks!

Something that hasn't been discussed on this thread yet -- how the music just cuts out after the last "The clock strikes midnight in the ---" I see that as a big "time's up, kids!"

Last thought in this ramble: Tre has the most absolute kick-ass drum roll on the entire album right here in this track -- he does it at a furious tempo for eight full measures (I can just see him giggling: "hee hee, watch 'n' learn, boys and girls!!" when he goes into it). Best one I've heard from him since "Mother Mary".

[Angela.]

^ Thanks. I like your interpretation of the last line being cut. I never thought of it in that way before, but it's logical. And I agree with you about Tre'. His drum roll was amazing.

[LastSoliloquy]

Murder City is my FAVORITE SONG off of the whole thing... well besides East Jesus Nowhere

but it's only because i had seen them perfom it, and i saw Billie Joe singing it,

and i absolutely fell in love with it after i saw him sing "we are the last call and we're so Pathetic"with his face all scrunched up, like if he was feeling it..

[it was my first concert of theirs, it makes me sad cuz ive liked them for so long, but thats the only time that my parents actually let me go to their concerts..]

well, the point is, it was awesome.

i cant wait to go to their concert in San Diego..

With that line, I imagine Christian locked away by himself in a bathroom. He's lying on his back, with one hand wiping away the tears from his face, and another one by a bottle of pills and a knocked over and now empty glass of whiskey. Gloria is on the other side of the door. She's leaning against it with her back, and she has been crying a bit as well, from a mixture of anger and sadness. She's conflicted at the moment, and it shows. She's extremely stressed, and needs a cigarette to calm her nerves. Part of her wants to go into the bathroom and cling to Christian out of fear and guilt. Another part of her wants to stay where she is and attempt to think rationally about what she should do, instead of what she feels obligated to do. She knows that they've been through a lot, and part of her doesn't want to give up on him. But another part of her knows that she should be looking out for herself and doing what's best - leaving. The conflict angers her more than before, so she gets up and kicks the nearest wall with all of her might. Her eyes fill up with tears again and she slides down the wall with her face buried in her hands.

I think this song would make a good single.

omygod... thats awesome... i can totally see what you saying.. [well, first imagined] its so cool, its like if you could dream p a whole movie for it i thought this would be single material too.. i was suprised this wasn't one [when i heard it]

[Velocity]

I would love to hear Green Day try to play this song acoustically.

[Peel Slowly And See]

So do we really not know who that background singer is? You know, whenever they sing "murder city"? Is that Kathleen Hanna again? It can't be.

[toaster_poodle]

So do we really not know who that background singer is? You know, whenever they sing "murder city"? Is that Kathleen Hanna again? It can't be.

I'll have to give a closer listen, but I always just figured it was Billie or Mike or someone.

[Peel Slowly And See]

How the fuck is that Billie or Mike? How?

[toaster_poodle]

How the fuck is that Billie or Mike? How?

You're talking about the "AHHHHhhhhh" type thing in the background, right? I don't see why it wouldn't be them...it's just a basic harmony part, undoubtedly doctored up in the studio and whatnot.

[L0205H]

This song definitely grew on me. It wasn't one of my favorites when I first got 21CB, but it became one of my most played off of the album. <3

[Maddy.]

This song definitely grew on me. It wasn't one of my favorites when I first got 21CB, but it became one of my most played off of the album. <3

Me too, I first thought it was repetitive (hard word when you're half asleep, I tell you) but it's grown on me

[nimrod-41]

I just listened to The Clash's London Calling for the first time in a while and realised that at the very end the same feedback that connects Last Of The American Girls to Murder City starts.

Just thought that was pretty cool