Least Favorite Line From a Green Day Song

[sallysimpson]

Ok, I don't particularly care for "See the Light" from 21st C. Seems like a total afterthought, almost as if Billie felt he had to end the album with a song that provides some sense of closure. But it doesn't work for me at all. It's didactic and doesn't fit with the rest of the album, which I think is pretty dang brilliant. I'd have been perfectly happy with Modern World closing the album out. It's open ended and problematic, but thematically, I think it fits better.

Plus poetically, "See the Light" is not one of Billie's better efforts, considering the song's grandiose aspirations. And I HATE (hate hate hate hate) the line "Running out of service / In the blood I fell." The syntax is wrenched -- clearly he wanted something to rhyme with "hell" so we get the clumsy and inverted construction "In the blood I fell." I don't think I've seen that in any of his other songs. It strikes me as he just was over trying to craft the lyrics, and it shows.

This one could have stayed off the album or joined Lights Out and Hearts Collide as b-side material and I would have been a happy camper.

[The Disappearing Boy]

damn, see the light is a great song!!

[Juliette]

This took a lot of listening / thinking.

"do you dream too much / do you think what you need is a crutch ?"

I like the first bit, but god the 2nd bit just annoys me!

[sallysimpson]

"I am the son of a bitch and Edgar Allen Poe"

from St Jimmy

I don't get it

why does it say Edgar Allen Poe just randomly

For what it's worth, I have my own theory about this --

Billie now and again references authors in his songs: Jack London (Call of the Wild in "Peacemaker"), EAP in St Jimmy, and of course JD Salinger's Catcher in the Rye (Who Wrote Holden Caufield -- which has great lyrics). Jack London is from the Bay Area and there's a square dedicated to him in Berkeley -- I suspect that the cadence and Billie's own familiarity with Jack London probably prompted that lyric. And I think a similar thing may have happened with St Jimmy. Billie wrote some of AI in NYC, which is where Edgar Allen Poe lived -- in fact there's a cafe on West 84th and B'way called Edgar's because Poe once lived in that building (great cheesecake, btw). Although brilliant, Poe was self-destructive and eventually died of alcoholism, homeless and penniless. So I think in that line "I am the son of a bitch and Edgar Allen Poe" you get St Jimmy's outwardly focused destructiveness and his self-destructiveness. That's how I read it, at least.

[IscoredWaddlesgoals]

'Woah, Christian's Inferno' over and over again grates on me and 'I text a postcard to you, did it go through ?' - If you really love someone, wouldn't you ring them ?

Some of the lyrics on 21CB are a bit overblown for my taste.

[Robin105]

I don't like the line from Macy's Day Parade "With the credit report for duty call." I don't know why. I cringe everytime I hear it. I love the song though just not that line.

[Mrs. Nobody]

Lol this thread is making me think of lyrics badly.. I don't like ittt xD

Any lyric that it's a bit daft, i've always thought of as cool.

Tbh i don't pay a huuuge attention to lyrics. I mean, i get the general song, i just don't analyse each line

[The Disappearing Boy]

This took a lot of listening / thinking.

"do you dream too much / do you think what you need is a crutch ?"

I like the first bit, but god the 2nd bit just annoys me!

yeah, i never understood that one either. surely the only time you need a crutch is when you break your leg, right?

[Princess Consuela]

yeah, i never understood that one either. surely the only time you need a crutch is when you break your leg, right?

Damn, I've always thought that 'crutch' means the same as 'bullet', and I actually never questioned that line and quite liked it I must've misunderstood it when I looked up for the translation, because Polish words for both bullet and crutch are almost identical

[Mrs. Nobody]

I see crutch as being something to hold on to, to hold on to reality.. so i've never seen it as weird.. imo

[sallysimpson]

I see crutch as being something to hold on to, to hold on to reality.. so i've never seen it as weird.. imo

A crutch, metaphorically, is something you might use to avoid taking responsibility for your life. For example, drugs are a crutch; so is retail therapy. Anything you use to check out of life is a crutch because you essentially make yourself dependant on that thing to get you through (hopefully this is making sense).

[Mrs. Nobody]

A crutch, metaphorically, is something you might use to avoid taking responsibility for your life. For example, drugs are a crutch; so is retail therapy. Anything you use to check out of life is a crutch because you essentially make yourself dependant on that thing to get you through (hopefully this is making sense).

oh yeah i see. aha, i'm crap at analysing things =P

[Metanoia]

well honestly i think there's a lil too many "home, we're coming home again"s at the end of homecoming XD

[RobyRoom]

well honestly i think there's a lil too many "home, we're coming home again"s at the end of homecoming XD

That repetition is so epic

I personally cringe at Mike's part, I don't like the all "10 cup of coffee" thing.

[HoneyDo666]

Oh, thank you. I love that line too. I got the general meaning, but now it has even a grammatical sense

You're welcome. I love Billie's lyrics, I don't understand this hateful topic.

[sallysimpson]

oh yeah i see. aha, i'm crap at analysing things =P

Hey, if I'm not mistaken, you're going from French to English (or Swiss German to English) -- either way, you should give yourself alot of latitude and credit. Plus I got a couple of degrees in literary analysis, so I've got to justify all that time in school somehow

You're welcome. I love Billie's lyrics, I don't understand this hateful topic.

Oh, I don't think the topic is hateful -- difference of opinion (even if it's a negative one) is how we learn and see things from different perspectives, and how we refine and hone our own views. As long as we don't stoop to name calling or belittling others, we can learn alot. Plus, you're following this thread, so you're at least curious as to what others might be saying, even if you truly like every word Green Day has ever written.

So no worries. Opinions (especially if you can provide a rationale) aren't dangerous -- it's intolerance of those opinions and general unkindness that makes discussions like these problematic. But everyone thus far has been respectful, so we're fine, I think.

[Supermodel*Robot]

I really don't like the lines in Extraordinary Girl

"Like a child left behind, like a pet left in the rain."

They're just such weak similes that have been overused and don't create any emotion. I cringe at those lines every time.

[Isabel]

I think the grossly detailed lyrics are incredible, it just shows how he can portray such an image from a few words

I genuinely can't think of particular lyrics I don't like. I'm even thinking about the Green Day songs I'm less fond of; (e.g. Misery, Waiting) and I still like the lyrics, it's just the melodics I'm not mad on.

[The Disappearing Boy]

You're welcome. I love Billie's lyrics, I don't understand this hateful topic.

this isn't a hateful topic. not everything green day does is absolutely 100% perfect.

[HoneyDo666]

this isn't a hateful topic. not everything green day does is absolutely 100% perfect.

Some people really are being rude. There's no need to say a lyric makes you cringe, I really highly doubt that. I exaggerate too, but that's quite extreme.

I didn't say GD were perfect, but BJ might be a little hurt if he sees this considering how hard he works on songwriting. I'd like to see them try to write as well as he does.

[The Disappearing Boy]

Some people really are being rude. There's no need to say a lyric makes you cringe, I really highly doubt that. I exaggerate too, but that's quite extreme.

I didn't say GD were perfect, but BJ might be a little hurt if he sees this considering how hard he works on songwriting. I'd like to see them try to write as well as he does.

i don't think people mean they cringe literally, i kinda know what they mean.

but i doubt billie would be hurt, he's seen worse.

[Isabel]

but BJ might be a little hurt if he sees this considering how hard he works on songwriting.

I highly doubt it

[Ila Reto]

im very "love-hate" with the song Misery. its such a random song to me.

uhm

"crows feet and rott are setting in" makes me imagine a 23 year old with crows feet and rott. ew

"Pinocchio has pinched your tounge" just doesnt fit

"Of another place and time Where my family's from" ruins one of their greatest songs for me, because i have no attachment to my family whatsoever.

"and you, you knew me" i dont like the double "you's"

and in I Want to Be Alone, that one line always confuses me.

i hear "just by myself with my thoughts" but other places say "Just let me be alone with my thoughts"

1039 is just an album of cheesey love songs. It's what most teenagers write about so I don't really see anything wrong with the lyrics being corny.

hah thats a great album, i love every corney line!

[Trina]

I was quite suprised reading this thread.

The "I could really care less" in JOS kills me. The proper phrase is "I couldn't care less."

Unless I'm missing something in relation to the song...but it bugs me every time.

OMG OMG OMG

I cannot believe I've found someone who thinks this.

I HATE when people say "I could care less" and I'm like nnoooooooo you couldn't!!! you couldn't care less.

Haha, but other than this I can't think of a least favorite line or anything. Sometimes there'll be lines that I'll feel dislike towards but only because I wish he didn't feel that way.

If I think of something else, I'll post it.

[farley drexel hatcher]

The only one I can think of right now is "And you look for a place to hide" in 21 Guns, it just sounds a bit filler XD

But I have to say i've never really found of Billie's lyrics come off thay way, like they're written just to fill in or whatever. Even the really cheesy ones from back in the day.