Heather. Posted August 4, 2011 Posted August 4, 2011 I don't think there's a thread quite like this and I'm very interested to hear your ideas... Obviously, Green Day songs speak very honestly about what they believe in through the lyrics, but are there any lyrics in particular that have struck you as so completely honest that you can't believe someone could admit that or convey that in a song? It goes from the abstract to the literal.... for example, in Are We the Waiting, the line The Jesus of Suburbia is a lie always shocks me, because to me it's like Billie Joe's saying that he recognizes that he came up with this image of himself/character JOS, but at the end of the day, fictional or abstract interpretations of yourself don't stand up in reality and don't serve a purpose. I haven't totally analyzed that line or thought it through, but to bluntly say that something you wrote about in a 9 minute song is in some way 'a lie' seems extremely honest to me, like someone has very good perspective on their own schizophrenia Then there are the more literal lines (basically every song on Dookie) that I appreciate SO much for their fearlessness, whether it's something like "i smell like shit" (ok, basically all of longview) or from the grouch, "i don't have sex because i can't get it up"... or even just what King for a Day is about. Lines like those are less and less common as the songwriting style has evolved, but I really miss that kind of straightforward soul-bearing. What other "honest" lines come to mind for you guys? When I think honest, I think of, WOW, did Billie Joe really have the balls to share that information with millions of people?
DecanoLP Posted August 4, 2011 Posted August 4, 2011 Really good thread! "Dickhead, fuckface, cock smoking, motherfucking asshole, dirty twat, waste of semen, I hope you die" alawys sticks out for me. Not really special, just Billie telling everyone how mad he is at that guy =D
Heather. Posted August 4, 2011 Author Posted August 4, 2011 Really good thread! "Dickhead, fuckface, cock smoking, motherfucking asshole, dirty twat, waste of semen, I hope you die" alawys sticks out for me. Not really special, just Billie telling everyone how mad he is at that guy =D So classic On that note, "I'm a waste like you"
Kid A Posted August 4, 2011 Posted August 4, 2011 When Masturbation Lost it's fun your fucking lazy. -So freaking true.
Annie, get your gun Posted August 4, 2011 Posted August 4, 2011 Wake Me Up When September Ends. There's no other song that affects Billie when he sings it like that one. And for the first time he wrote a song to express the pain for his father's death...
green day is Posted August 4, 2011 Posted August 4, 2011 ... or even just what King for a Day is about. Yeah... I don't think King for a Day is autobiographical.
Heather. Posted August 4, 2011 Author Posted August 4, 2011 Yeah... I don't think King for a Day is autobiographical. I guess I just like to hope. Even if not totally, he's a drag queen at heart. Well, even if it's a lie, good for him for singing it
Just Kate Posted August 4, 2011 Posted August 4, 2011 Really good thread! "Dickhead, fuckface, cock smoking, motherfucking asshole, dirty twat, waste of semen, I hope you die" alawys sticks out for me. Not really special, just Billie telling everyone how mad he is at that guy =D since this song my vocabulary's way richer! :lol: Wake Me Up When September Ends. There's no other song that affects Billie when he sings it like that one. And for the first time he wrote a song to express the pain for his father's death... actually the first one's Rotten
Cameron. Posted August 4, 2011 Posted August 4, 2011 I think the entirety of Dominated Love Slave is really honest, based on true events, and just inspiring in general.
Daughter.of.Rage.and.Love Posted August 4, 2011 Posted August 4, 2011 I really like the idea of this thread! The only one I can come up with immediately is Sassafras Roots (I'm a waste like you), but it's already been mentioned. Maybe Basket Case, "I am one of those melodramatic fools / neurotic to the bone no doubt about it". Admitting that you're like that.
Hermione Posted August 4, 2011 Posted August 4, 2011 My first thought is all of them! The total, uncompromising honesty of Green Day's lyrics is what made me fall in love with them. I was only listening to rap at the time so it took a lot for me to even think of listening to a rock band, and it really was the way their lyrics keep it real (so to speak ) that attracted me. I think a great example is Redundant. It's a love song but at the same time completely honest about the negative side of things. It manages to say that no relationship is perfect while still being a genuinely sweet and romantic love song. The fact that it's so honest makes it even sweeter. Oh and Longview! Such refreshing honesty about a subject that's usually just coyly sniggered about. And of course all the super sweet love songs on the first album, Billie fearlessly wore his heart on his sleeve with those songs without worrying about looking silly or trying to be cool. Green Day endlessly impress me with their honesty.
Marki. Posted August 4, 2011 Posted August 4, 2011 FIrst thought was all of them, second was Coming Clean. You can't go more honest than that.
heart on a noose Posted August 4, 2011 Posted August 4, 2011 My first thought is all of them! The total, uncompromising honesty of Green Day's lyrics is what made me fall in love with them. ________________ One for the razorbacks.There is always been something special in that song for me. Billie want do anything just to see girl happy and to be with her,even lose his dignity.Sound so honest for me. There are no many guys who will do something like that.Yeah,unfortunatelly.
green day is Posted August 4, 2011 Posted August 4, 2011 actually the first one's Rotten How do you figure? Has he ever said so?
Hermione Posted August 4, 2011 Posted August 4, 2011 How do you figure? Has he ever said so? Pretty sure he's never talked about Rotting so I think she's just interpreted the song that way herself. Which is fine, but Billie's actually said himself that WMUWSE was the first time he ever wrote about his father's death in a song, so I don't think that's what he had in mind with Rotting. (Post edited so it says Rotting not Rotten lol)
Heather. Posted August 4, 2011 Author Posted August 4, 2011 Some other lines I thought of.... "Made me the idiot America" in Letterbomb is a great conclusion to his admitting that he's the American idiot. I know Redundant as a whole was mentioned, but I specifically like this stanza: Choreographed and lack of passion. Prototypes of what we were. Went full circle 'til I'm nauseous. Taken for granted now. Now I waste it, faked it, ate it, now i hate it. Like, wow! And isn't it Rotting, not Rotten? Oh and it's not GD, but I also really love the start of Mechanical Man, "I'm not a politician, I'm just a bad musician" This post was totally random.
Karen. Posted August 4, 2011 Posted August 4, 2011 Church on Sunday "..bloodshot deadbeat, lack of sleep, making your mascara bleed, tears down your face leaving traces of my mistakes" It's like...ahh...I'm not sure I want to know that!
Undómiel Posted August 4, 2011 Posted August 4, 2011 I think mine is from East Jesus Nowhere about The Church Of Wishful Thinking In a world that's so obsessed with religion and debate and truth, i thought it was really strong for Billie Joe to question it in such an open way.
Hermione Posted August 4, 2011 Posted August 4, 2011 And isn't it Rotting, not Rotten? Haha! I blindly copied it that way. Off to edit my post
pasalaska Posted August 4, 2011 Posted August 4, 2011 Church on Sunday "..bloodshot deadbeat, lack of sleep, making your mascara bleed, tears down your face leaving traces of my mistakes" It's like...ahh...I'm not sure I want to know that! yeah, Church On Sunday has to be right up there in the 'most honest' category. The entire song is a his rocky relationship problems laid bare. For instance: "but "respect" is something I will earn... If you have faith" Obviously, Billie didn't have Adie's respect at that point, which is a pretty damn big deal in a marriage. To lay that out for the world to see... just wow. Honesty.
Guest EDIT Posted August 4, 2011 Posted August 4, 2011 Seventeen and coming clean for the first time, well mom and dad will never understand what's happening to me. I think Coming Clean has very honest lyrics
Ashley! Posted August 4, 2011 Posted August 4, 2011 When he said "It's just a bunch of niggers throwing gas into the hysteria" I think Billie was very brave to use a racial slur first and foremost, and it kinda shows that people like to pass blame on to other people who really dont deserve it, (Like a white person saying black people bring violence to this country or something like that), and I think thats a very honest view on the human race in this day and age.
Heather. Posted August 4, 2011 Author Posted August 4, 2011 That's a great point about using the N word. I have had mixed feelings about his using it in the song... on the one hand I totally understand why and how he's using it to make a point, and I think he's doing it in an educated way, but there's still the whole part of me that feels like it really should never be used except, maybe, in historical accounts (like I would never want it edited out of Huck Finn, or whatever) And yeah, all those songs that seem to be about BJ's marital problems in the 90s are so impressive TMI (not TMI in a disgusting way, just like, can't believe you shared that with us)... as I mentioned the Grouch, "wife's a nag, kid's fucking up, etc." and then in Worry Rock "Fucked without a kiss again"
Ashley! Posted August 4, 2011 Posted August 4, 2011 That's a great point about using the N word. I have had mixed feelings about his using it in the song... on the one hand I totally understand why and how he's using it to make a point, and I think he's doing it in an educated way, but there's still the whole part of me that feels like it really should never be used except, maybe, in historical accounts (like I would never want it edited out of Huck Finn, or whatever) Yeah at one point I did feel the same way, but the term "nigger" was (if memory serves me right) originally not a racial slur. I'm pretty sure it ment someone who was ignorant. Edit: I just looked up the definition; "a member of a socially disadvantaged class of persons <it's time for somebody to lead all of America's niggers … all the people who feel left out of the political process — Ron Dellums> " I got that from merriam-webster.com grant it the first two were offensive but still... (there was some interesting comments about it also)
green day is Posted August 4, 2011 Posted August 4, 2011 "Fucked without a kiss again" That's a metaphor. Yeah at one point I did feel the same way, but the term "nigger" was (if memory serves me right) originally not a racial slur. It was a racial slur, but you were allowed to use racial slurs back then.
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