Song of the Week Uptight!

[J'net]

I can, um, drink to that. Thanks for adding your interp, it's well-supported by the lyrics. "Owed/I paid off all my debts to myself" is one of the more vague metaphors Billie uses but I wonder if that verse might speak to precisely that self-realization.

Yeah, that line is one of the most intriguing in the song to me. It's difficult to give it a specific meaning, but then again, I love the way Billie's songs can be interpreted from so many perspectives and apply to so many personal situations. IMO, that's one of the things that makes his lyrics and Green Day's music so universally appealing.

[valeria carci]

"broke my engagement with myself"

one of my favorites

I use to listen to it when I'm really mad or disapointed of myself

[Mrs.Kerplunk]

great song from my fave album ever

[Abbey.]

"Wrong side of the bed" wouldn't get the right message across. "Wrong side of the floor" makes a play on the idiom and lets you know where he was when he did finally wake up -- and then invites you to speculate about what he did that put him there. Booze? Drugs? Both? Take your pick and run with it. One of the main subject matters Billie deals with on Nimrod is addiction in several different forms. Uptight fits well into that theme, and it's unique on the album in that it sends us on a brief journey to near-suicide as one consequence of that addiction. (Bastard_Of_1967)

I don't think he's waking up in his own home. I think he wakes up in some place, possibly isn't even sure where he is, there's a stranger on the bed, and he doesn't even remember what happened the night before with her (or him) or why he ended up on the floor, but he's made another conquest - it's just not giving him the satisfaction it's supposed to. I can see him walking down the sidewalk in the same clothes he had on last night, lighting a cigarette and shoving his hands in his pockets. He's talking about a whole lifestyle and how physically, mentally, and spiritually unhealthy it is. So unhealthy that, as you say, "it sends us on a brief journey to near-suicide." (J'net)

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I love what y'all see with this song - the walk of shame by our character in this song smoking a cig, or just wondering what happened last night. The self-destruction and self-pity is so great. NIMROD is so fuking BITTER its my Mr. Hyde.

[Mato]

I have only one thing to say about this song

[parinaz]

"Wrong side of the bed" wouldn't get the right message across. "Wrong side of the floor" makes a play on the idiom and lets you know where he was when he did finally wake up -- and then invites you to speculate about what he did that put him there. Booze? Drugs? Both? Take your pick and run with it. One of the main subject matters Billie deals with on Nimrod is addiction in several different forms. Uptight fits well into that theme, and it's unique on the album in that it sends us on a brief journey to near-suicide as one consequence of that addiction.

if we imagine that billie mentioned his own situation in this song,then this question just bumped to my head,was he still addicted even after his marriage?

[Abbey.]

if we imagine that billie mentioned his own situation in this song,then this question just bumped to my head,was he still addicted even after his marriage?

I dont know much about BJA - but if the majority of these songs were written somewhere in the 1996-1997 zone then I would have thought the album reflects having a young family and both embracing it AND rejecting it.

[Bastard of 1967]

if we imagine that billie mentioned his own situation in this song,then this question just bumped to my head,was he still addicted even after his marriage?

What we know from the interviews is that Billie, Mike, and Tre were, and in their younger days hung out with, a crowd that lived pretty close to the edge. We also know of some of their friends who went over it. Billie's on record in various interviews -- particularly, the one he gave to Larry Livermore back around '01-'02 (http://larrylivermore.com/?p=232) -- as saying that he did indulge himself at least to some extent, but that he approached it as recreation -- an escape from life -- rather than life itself. He saw what it did to some of his friends and he backed away from at least some of the most self-destructive parts of it. Yet we also know about his DUI in January 2003, which fell during the band's idle period between Warning and American Idiot, when he was married with kids and shortly after he'd returned from a few months of "walkabout" in New York, trying to get his creative muse back. And we know he has a hell of a high alcohol tolerance (see: slamming beer after beer onstage during the FHT mini-tour)...and at the same time, he also tries to be careful about it (most recent QTheMusic mag article on the 21CB tour notes that he allows himself just two beers and a shot of tequila before going on stage to take the edge off his nerves) and recognizes that his body can't tolerate the same kind of stuff he did to it when he was younger.

So I think Billie certainly has an addictive streak in his psyche...but when he channels the emotions that underlie it into the incredible creative gifts he also has, we get albums like American Idiot and 21st Century Breakdown from him.....I'd venture that the creative process has got to be therapeutic for him, that he'd have gone over the edge if back in his late teens, early 20s you'd tried to force him to finish school or take a desk job somewhere.

So, yeah, I suspect he has battled with some substance abuse issues in the past, both before and after he was married and both before and after he had his kids..... it would seem he learned a lot from his experiences, and he shares those experiences (both autobiographically and his observations of others) with us in his songwriting.

[parinaz]

right. he's high tolerate to alcohol,that's why i think he's maybe an alcoholic. :/

I saw a family pic of him (maybe in his mom home) and he had a bottle of beer in his hand. he also drinks alcohol before after and during the shows. I think he can do the show without alcohol. but maybe it's normal nowadays for ppl to use alcohol so much.?

[Maddy.]

right. he's high tolerate to alcohol,that's why i think he's maybe an alcoholic. :/

I saw a family pic of him (maybe in his mom home) and he had a bottle of beer in his hand. he also drinks alcohol before after and during the shows. I think he can do the show without alcohol. but maybe it's normal nowadays for ppl to use alcohol so much.?

Yep, Billie is an alcoholic.

[parinaz]

seriously? it's not bad but I heard it from another guy in here as well.

[J'net]

seriously? it's not bad but I heard it from another guy in here as well.

Well, it's a good idea to remember that no one who posts regularly in here actually knows the guys personally. So hearing things from people in here is not always the best source of good, factual information. A lot of it is speculation based on things people have read in magazine articles (which, as we know, are not always strictly correct).

So, many times, we just have to accept the fact that we don't know everything about Green Day and their personal lives (and personally, I don't want to).

[Sister of Grace]

Great song. One of those songs you can never get tired of

[Bastard of 1967]

Yep, Billie is an alcoholic.

I agree with J'net -- it's not possible for us to know the band members' lives in the degree of depth we'd need to be able to accurately conclude this, and anyone (here or elsewhere) who claims to know with certainty that Billie does or does not have an alcohol addiction or other substance abuse problem is shitting you. My own personal take: Keeping a strong marriage and good family, a strong and close extended family, and being in business with two of your best friends doing what you absolutely love for 20+ years, is very incompatible with having a substance abuse problem. Eventually (as we've seen with some of the bandmates' friends), living on the edge for that long will kill you, either physically or spiritually, and from everything that's apparent to us, these guys seem to be thriving right now.

[parinaz]

alright. but whenever I saw a personal photo of him he has a bottle of beer or something with him.

[Anja]

Yep, Billie is an alcoholic.

I wish you could have seen my face as I read this

alright. but whenever I saw a personal photo of him he has a bottle of beer or something with him.

Drinking alcohol from time to time doesn't make anyone an alcoholic though He might have had some issues with drugs and alcohol (I know that alcohol IS a drug) in his 20s but I doubt he has some serious issues now. Drinking before and after a show is possibly just a good way for him to get hyped or to come down from a show, or maybe he just likes to party

[parinaz]

I need this question to get solved by him!

[RobyRoom]

Billie Joe has a dark side, we are all conscious of that, it show through the lyrics, through the interviews. Billie's never tried to hide his side of self-destruction habits. He's a human being, and human being are so complicated creatures that sometimes, even if they have all the money in the world, success, a beautiful family and great friends, they keep struggling with demons, fear, anguish. And that is even amplifyed when you are a sensible person like he is. However he's a responsible person, he would never let his problems destroy his family and what he has achieved in all of this years. I don't care if he drinks beer before the concerts or if he still endulges in using drugs unless this use turn into serious addiction, so serious to put his health in danger. As J'net said, no one here knows him personally so we should make a backward step and let his private life to be really private.

To Parinaz: Why does Billie Joe's supposed behaviour make you so upset? The fact that he had to face alcohol or drugs abuse problems doesn't make him a worse person.

[Bastard of 1967]

Billie Joe has a dark side, we are all conscious of that, it show through the lyrics, through the interviews. Billie's never tried to hide his side of self-destruction habits. He's a human being, and human being are so complicated creatures that sometimes, even if they have all the money in the world, success, a beautiful family and great friends, they keep struggling with demons, fear, anguish. And that is even amplifyed when you are a sensible person like he is. However he's a responsible person, he would never let his problems destroy his family and what he has achieved in all of this years. I don't care if he drinks beer before the concerts or if he still endulges in using drugs unless this use turn into serious addiction, so serious to put his health in danger. As J'net said, no one here knows him personally so we should make a backward step and let his private life to be really private.

To Parinaz: Why does Billie Joe's supposed behaviour make you so upset? The fact that he had to face alcohol or drugs abuse problems doesn't make him a worse person.

^^This. Well said.

[Samantha]

I think for next week you should just type in Green Day on your iTunes and see what song comes up first on shuffle, and that can be next week's SOTW

[parinaz]

To Parinaz: Why does Billie Joe's supposed behaviour make you so upset? The fact that he had to face alcohol or drugs abuse problems doesn't make him a worse person.

hey I never said that this made me upset. the thing i just said was that whenever I saw a personal photo of him at beach, in a friend home,in a normal gathering,etc he has a bottle of alcohol with him .just this.

[Guest jetblackheart]

Uptight was one of the first 'older' songs that I listened to (I became a fan this spring). I remember getting a little choked up because it was yet another song by GD that described exactly how I had felt a few months earlier.

Fuck... I wonder how many lives they have saved already.

[RobyRoom]

hey I never said that this made me upset. the thing i just said was that whenever I saw a personal photo of him at beach, in a friend home,in a normal gathering,etc he has a bottle of alcohol with him .just this.

Ok Those are all gathering occasion, to me it's quite normal to have a drink with your friends during a hot evening at the beach. This doesn't prove he's an alcoholic (you've nebver said that, I'm referring to the others posts). In my opinion it is possible to find a balance within being an abstemious and being an alcoholic. And if there isn't .... I'm probably an alcoholic

[Abbey.]

UPTIGHT reminds me that as much as i am a complete junkie of Billie Joe's lyricism, it is nothing without Mike and Tre.

UPTIGHT lyrics are clever as hell. But without the dirnt, dirnt, dirnt, dirnt, dirnt, dirnt, dirnt, dirnt, dirnt, dirnt,dirnt, dirnt, dirnt, dirnt, dirnt, dirnt, dirnt, dirnt, dirnt, dirnt, dirnt, dirnt, dirnt, dirnt, dirnt, dirnt, dirnt, dirnt,dirnt, dirnt, dirnt, dirnt, dirnt, dirnt, dirnt, dirnt, dirnt, dirnt, dirnt, dirnt, dirnt, dirnt, of bass in this song and without the driving rhythm of Tre, its nothing more than an entry at a coffee shop poetry slam.

When it comes to Green Day, the WHOLE IS GREATER THAN THE SUM OF ITS PARTS!

[J'net]

UPTIGHT reminds me that as much as i am a complete junkie of Billie Joe's lyricism, it is nothing without Mike and Tre.

UPTIGHT lyrics are clever as hell. But without the dirnt, dirnt, dirnt, dirnt, dirnt, dirnt, dirnt, dirnt, dirnt, dirnt,dirnt, dirnt, dirnt, dirnt, dirnt, dirnt, dirnt, dirnt, dirnt, dirnt, dirnt, dirnt, dirnt, dirnt, dirnt, dirnt, dirnt, dirnt,dirnt, dirnt, dirnt, dirnt, dirnt, dirnt, dirnt, dirnt, dirnt, dirnt, dirnt, dirnt, dirnt, dirnt, of bass in this song and without the driving rhythm of Tre, its nothing more than an entry at a coffee shop poetry slam.

When it comes to Green Day, the WHOLE IS GREATER THAN THE SUM OF ITS PARTS!

So true! I can't think of the lyrics to a single Green Day song that aren't enriched by the drums, bass, guitars, and just the tune. And then, when you put it all together, it's magic. All of it is what makes Green Day so amazingly awesome.