montel Posted June 1, 2012 Posted June 1, 2012 hi guys, it seems to be well established everywhere (online) that Basket Case was written about Billie Joe's anxiety and panic attacks. But I've also heard that it was in fact about a girl named Becca who was "melodramitic and insane". I've actually seen the video of him saying its about Becca (interview from''96, in UK while on a bed, sorry I couldnt link it) but I've never seen or heard him actually say it was about him or his experiences with anxiety and panic disorder. soooo, what do you all think? Do you believe he was writing about himself and just being cheeky in the interview about the Becca girl hell, did he even ever have anxiety issues? Or, are we all just assuming it was about him and just siting the incorrect paraphrase as truth when in fact it was never about him? oh hell, or is it both?
justcause Posted June 1, 2012 Posted June 1, 2012 Where is this interview? I remember it - it's about 3:43 on here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZJjC8jejPM
Jaymee!! Posted June 1, 2012 Posted June 1, 2012 Nice, I've never seen this before. But since it's been safely assumed by everyone for years and years that the song was written about Billie's own anxiety, which he has admitted to having suffered from in the past, I think it's now safe to assume that the song is about 'both' of them (whether this Becca girl is real or not; sounds like Billie was more trying to deflect the question since that was a really hard time in their career).
Sweet Armataged Chump Posted June 1, 2012 Posted June 1, 2012 I was recently thinking about this since I just saw that video. I think it's about both of them.
Heather. Posted June 1, 2012 Posted June 1, 2012 In the Dookie - Ultimate Albums documentary (which I believe is on youtube), Billie does specifically say it's about his own panic disorder problems. So there's definitely that.
justcause Posted June 1, 2012 Posted June 1, 2012 I think there's a point where the specifics of something are irrelevant - whether he wrote this about someone else, or he bounced his own experience off it, it's the truth.
worldowesme Posted June 1, 2012 Posted June 1, 2012 In the NPR Fresh Air interview he mentions it started as a relationship song (possibly about this Becca person, I guess) and then he got the idea of a more neurotic panic attack song. They start talking about it at around 23/24 minutes: http://www.npr.org/2...day-to-broadway And as someone else said, in the Vh1 Ultimate Album - Dookie documentary, he says the song's about depersonalization and his panic disorder (if you search on youtube you'll find it in part 3 or 4, I think). So.
Penguin Puffball Posted June 1, 2012 Posted June 1, 2012 It sounds more like he's just talking about his anxiety disorder, especially if you listen to the song.
icyfire34 Posted June 1, 2012 Posted June 1, 2012 It sounds more like he's just talking about his anxiety disorder, especially if you listen to the song. yeah I agree, i never actually seen the interview or heard of this becca girl, when i listen the song it sounds like he is talking about him self
montel Posted June 1, 2012 Author Posted June 1, 2012 thanks for posting the vid justcause! I hadn't seen the Ultimate Albums vid, so he does confirm that also...intrigueing, but i guess that's what songwriting is about, you pull inspiration from various sources to meld into one song!
dumb shiny bitch Posted June 1, 2012 Posted June 1, 2012 He's written about other people/characters in the first person since then too - just listen to Brat. So I'm inclined to believe him on this one. No doubt there are some personal elements in the song too though.
Sarcasm Posted June 1, 2012 Posted June 1, 2012 So Billie has a second personality called Becca, who is female, and she's sarcastic and cynical. Good to know, I think she's the lead of Foxboro Hot Tubs. And I KNEW I had heard that story before! when Billie played She naked, his but clenched to the rhythm, and Tré fucked up, or something similar
montel Posted June 1, 2012 Author Posted June 1, 2012 So Billie has a second personality called Becca, who is female, and she's sarcastic and cynical. Good to know, I think she's the lead of Foxboro Hot Tubs. And I KNEW I had heard that story before! when Billie played She naked, his but clenched to the rhythm, and Tré fucked up, or something similar haha your level of sarcasm blows my mind but in the most pleasureable of ways
Demetra Posted June 1, 2012 Posted June 1, 2012 The thing i want to ask is who does the line "i went to a whore HE said my life's a bore so quit my whinning cause it's bringing HER down". I mean the whore is a woman right? why does he refer to her by using "he"? And then later why does he use "her"? It's kinda confusing... Somebody once said to me it is because he wanted to say that genter and sexuality shouldn't affect people because it doesn't really matter. Is that true?
Iza. Posted June 1, 2012 Posted June 1, 2012 The thing i want to ask is who does the line "i went to a whore HE said my life's a bore so quit my whinning cause it's bringing HER down". I mean the whore is a woman right? why does he refer to her by using "he"? And then later why does he use "her"? It's kinda confusing... Somebody once said to me it is because he wanted to say that genter and sexuality shouldn't affect people because it doesn't really matter. Is that true? I read somewhere that the genders are switched because of the panic attacks he had, they got him confused. I also read that it's like that because it's from girl's point of view. Well, who knows, except Billie Joe?
Heather. Posted June 1, 2012 Posted June 1, 2012 He said in an interview once that it was just to emphasize that the genders don't really matter in the context of the song, and it's nice to confuse people by referring to man whores.
sara_gd Posted June 1, 2012 Posted June 1, 2012 The thing i want to ask is who does the line "i went to a whore HE said my life's a bore so quit my whinning cause it's bringing HER down". I mean the whore is a woman right? why does he refer to her by using "he"? And then later why does he use "her"? It's kinda confusing... Somebody once said to me it is because he wanted to say that genter and sexuality shouldn't affect people because it doesn't really matter. Is that true? I think so, but I don't think he has never said it or anything. Maybe this Becca girl is the person to whom he asks to listen to him whine? And he thinks that his disorders could be caused because of her in part?
solongfromthestars Posted June 1, 2012 Posted June 1, 2012 I read something completely different... that Basket Case was about figuring out his sexuality. That obviously wasn't true, haha.
Jaymee!! Posted June 1, 2012 Posted June 1, 2012 The thing i want to ask is who does the line "i went to a whore HE said my life's a bore so quit my whinning cause it's bringing HER down". I mean the whore is a woman right? why does he refer to her by using "he"? And then later why does he use "her"? It's kinda confusing... Somebody once said to me it is because he wanted to say that genter and sexuality shouldn't affect people because it doesn't really matter. Is that true? Haha, I always figured that the line was 'I went to a whore, WHO said my life's a bore'. Just another case of typical Billie slurrage!
Elena Posted June 2, 2012 Posted June 2, 2012 So Billie has a second personality called Becca, who is female, and she's sarcastic and cynical. Good to know, I think she's the lead of Foxboro Hot Tubs. And I KNEW I had heard that story before! when Billie played She naked, his but clenched to the rhythm, and Tré fucked up, or something similar so the princess by dawn might also be his alter ego Becca? The thing i want to ask is who does the line "i went to a whore HE said my life's a bore so quit my whinning cause it's bringing HER down". I mean the whore is a woman right? why does he refer to her by using "he"? And then later why does he use "her"? It's kinda confusing... Somebody once said to me it is because he wanted to say that genter and sexuality shouldn't affect people because it doesn't really matter. Is that true? i wondered about that, too...i always saw it kinda like he was first talking about the shrink who was female, then he was talking about the whore and the HE is referred to the shrink again... is the word "shrink" male or female? ...cos if it's male, maybe he just wanted to say that he, the shrink, said that his life's a bore and maybe even said HE because he wanted to differentiate from the whore... ...but the now about 3 other theories might also be right
Hermione Posted June 2, 2012 Posted June 2, 2012 i wondered about that, too...i always saw it kinda like he was first talking about the shrink who was female, then he was talking about the whore and the HE is referred to the shrink again... is the word "shrink" male or female? ...cos if it's male, maybe he just wanted to say that he, the shrink, said that his life's a bore and maybe even said HE because he wanted to differentiate from the whore... ...but the now about 3 other theories might also be right Mercury's right, Billie explained it in an interview (which I can't find now grr, but I've seen it). He said he wrote "he" and "she" just so that it's no particular gender. To make a subtle statement that the gender doesn't matter.
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.