Song of the Week One of My Lies

[Hanna__]

I love it! I love Kerplunk too

[Tiffx]

Why does my life have to be so small,

Yet death is forever?

And does forever have a life to call its own?

Don't give me an answer cause you

Only know as much as I know -

Unless you're been there once;

Well I hardly think so.

I love this verse in particular. Billie really is a brilliant song writer.

[ShadowWolf]

This song has to be one of my all-time fav's. The lyrics are just amazing.

[Kristina.]

I love whole Kerplunk so much <3 and I like One of my lies,

(especially start of this song- When I was younger I thought the world circled around me

But in time I realized I was wrong )

I think lyrics is really true and this song is good.

But it isn't most important for me.

[Hermione]

I love this verse in particular. Billie really is a brilliant song writer.

I love that part too. It's really impressive to me that even at such a young age he was writing lyrics like that. Wonderful.

One of the things I love most about Green Day's songs is simply the choice of subject matter, it's rarely anything straightforward. One Of My Lies is a great example of that, it makes it such an interesting and enjoyable song. Also really like this part, especially the snotty way he sings it

Do you think you're indestructible

And no one can touch you?

Well I think you're disposable.

And it's time you knew the truth

I always enjoy watching live videos of this song, mostly because of how Billie used to do those confused face/hand gestures just before he sang ".....WHY?" . Amuses me every time.

[PanicAttack!]

Definitely the best song on Kerplunk!

Well, Welcome to Paradise is better in my opinion, but i don't really like the Kerplunk version, so One Of My Lies is definitely the best - If that makes any sense.

[bjrules]

I love this song, its one of my favourites of Kerplunk. I think that in the verses Billie has been told lots of lies or convinced him self of certain things "When I was younger I thought that the world circled around me" and in the chorus he takes the Fuck it approach "And all I wanna do is get real high" I'm not sure if i said that right.

[bat-chen]

It's one of my top top songs from the old albums. I adore this song so much!

[Metanoia]

listening to it right now

[drumstick]

Love that song! Amazing lyrics!

[Bastard of 1967]

*waiting patiently for Bastard of 1967 to make an appearance*

Sorry I'm so late to the plate this (last?) week. Having a 2-1/2 year old in the house will tend to do that to you. Lemme try to squeak something in before J'net posts this week's SOTW.

When I was younger I thought the world circled around me,

But in time I realized I was wrong.

My immortal thoughts turned into just dreams of a dead future.

It was a tragic case of my reality.

^^^ It strikes me that this first verse of the song might in and of itself be titled "American Idiot in a Nutshell". It also makes me think of my daughter. Right now she's not even 3 yet, she's (well, most of the time) an absolute delight, and she commands (demands?) so much attention and time from my wife and me. That's the "world circled around me" part. Eventually, if we do our parenting job right, she'll learn that she's important to us but she's not the be-all-end-all of life, the universe, and everything. To believe otherwise would mean that my wife and I have to sacrifice our independent selves to her entirely, rather than just make the compromises necessary to insure that her needs get met as best as we can meet them. Hell, I'M going to have to learn all that one day, and learn how to let her go and be whatever she yearns to become.

Which leads into the second half of that verse, which is equally important.....when you realize you're not the center of the universe, what does that leave you with that still gives your life purpose, meaning, and significance? "Why does my life have to be so small, Yet death is forever?" You have an infinetessimally small number of years on this planet to do *something* that justifes your reason for being here, and then once the lights go out, that's it -- game over, for eternity.

The echoes of "Tales From Another Broken Home" (JoS Part V) can be found here. "To run, to run away, to find what you believe".... all the brash, empowering, self-confident ideals of your youth collapse into nothingness and emptiness as you learn the hard way that your parents are ignoring you and that growing up is hard, hard, HARD to do. You angrily question why it is that you're led to believe from your earliest days that you're the most important thing in the world, and then as you grow you realize that you're actually "disposable" and that it's all "just one of [your parents'] lies."

I've experienced that at various points in my life, even as an adult, and I know others who also have. And it scares the SHIT out of me when I wonder if, as a parent myself now, I'll be able to successfully walk that tightrope, steadily but gently letting Talia become independent, and avoid fucking her up with all the mixed messages that seem to come hand-in-hand with learning who you are and transitioning into adulthood.

There's a lot more in here than just that..... a nod to substance abuse as one means of filling the void ("and all I want to do is get real high"), and there are (for Billie Joe anyway) a surprisingly large amount of religious-themed references to the afterlife -- a subject that I don't think he's touched on anywhere else in Green Day's massive back catalog:

And does forever have a life to call its own?

Don't give me an answer cause you

Only know as much as I know -

Unless you've been there once

. . .

I used to pray all night

Before I lay myself down

My mother said it was right

Her mother said it too...

Why?

The first of these two verses appears immediately after Billie questions "Why does my life have to be so small, Yet death is forever?". In it, he is asking point-blank whether "Forever" (now defined as the equivalent of "Death") has "a life to call its own"....after which he admits there is no answer, because "unless you've been there once" -- which nobody walking the planet today has -- you cannot possibly know. This in turn presents (in the second of the two verses, right at the end of the song) a direct challenge to religious authorities who, hypocritically, claim to have "the answer" to that question. Generations have prayed for protection in an afterlife that no one can honestly say even exists. In the final word of the song, Billie asks simply, "why are we following this bullshit when the answer is, and forever will be, unknown."

All this begs the question of why Billie has united these two seemingly disparate themes -- growing up and abandonment by ones' parents on the one hand, and contemplation of the afterlife on the other -- in a single song called "One of my Lies." What I've come up with at this point is that both of these are two different kinds of lies that occur at critical points in a child's growing up. One lie is told by the parents ("you're the center of my universe, now get the fuck out of my way") and the other is told by the church ("pray for your salvation in the afterlife, even though we can't prove that there is such a thing").

[Daughter.of.Rage.and.Love]

Sorry I'm so late to the plate this (last?) week. Having a 2-1/2 year old in the house will tend to do that to you. Lemme try to squeak something in before J'net posts this week's SOTW.

Ooh, nice 'something'. It's such a great song.

And now I finally know what the "and all I wanna do is get real high" means, I never figured that one out

[Agija]

It's such a great song, one of my favourites off Kerplunk. I love the lyrics so much.

[Armstump]

One of my favourite songs off Kerplunk.

The lyrics are great! <3

[horrorkiss]

It's an underrated song,

and quite good.

[Kayfabe]

"Why?" < I love this

[germackpaccone]

I love this song. Probably my favorite song off of Kerplunk!

[matteo263]

I LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVVVVVVVVVVVVE this song.

this is definately one of the best off kerplunk!

should be on rock band

[PasalacquaBomb]

yea, this is one of my favorites songs off of Kerplunk!

definately, my favorite version is the live version on Foot In Mouth

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OljF4BPPjPE

[Tubbie Head]

This song is on my top ten of GD songs... I love it soooo much, and wish they would play it more live!

The lyrics on the Kerplunk album are just so deep, beautiful, with this philosofic touch, and so, young thinking! .. I can feel what Billie felt in the moment he wrote them, I relate to everything he says in the songs, I just can't explain it, I feel so good while I'm listening to the album, it kind of conforts me

This song is the example of the awesomeness of Kerplunk!

When I was younger I thought the world circled around me,

But in time I realized I was wrong.

My immortal thoughts turned into just dreams of a dead future.

It was a tragic case of my reality.

and

Why does my life have to be so small,

Yet death is forever?

And does forever have a life to call its own?.

This is just awesome.

[Tubbie Head]

I really love reading your interpretations of the songs!!

You should write a book or something with your interpretations xD

[J'net]

Sorry I'm so late to the plate this (last?) week. Having a 2-1/2 year old in the house will tend to do that to you. Lemme try to squeak something in before J'net posts this week's SOTW.

How did I miss this? If I hadn't seen today's comment on it, I wouldn't have even known you'd posted it. This coincides with a lot of my thoughts on the song, though I hadn't drawn the comparison with American Idiot.

Travel makes it so hard for me to keep up with everything ... and I do really love reading your thoughts about the SOTW.

Which leads to your comment about this week's SOTW . I'll be posting a new one today and will leave it in place until Monday the 19th, when I hope to get back on track with Mondays again. Since I already know what the song is going to be that day, I think there's a good chance I'll succeed. After that week, no more travel for me (I think) until Europe in June, so hopefully I can settle back into my routine.

So stay tuned for a new song later today ...

[Farah]

looooooooooooooove this song <3

the lyrics and the music <3

[Bastard of 1967]

I really love reading your interpretations of the songs!!

You should write a book or something with your interpretations xD

Thanks -- I have had thoughts about tackling 21CB start to finish. Might have to wait for another day (til our little girl gets older and she's not the giant time-sink that she is and will continue to be for the next few years). "Honey, I can't do that because I have to write another paragraph for my essay" -- I can just hear the screams now -- from my *wife*, not from Talia.

[Tubbie Head]

^ I can imagine