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Castaway


pasalaska

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To celebrate Warning’s recent 12th birthday, this week’s Song of the Week is the fifth track off the album, the up-beat Castaway.

Castaway’s lyrics are fairly self-explanatory, even its title hints its meaning; the song is all about being an individual and acting on your own choices instead of conforming to a set way of doing things or for the approval of a peer group. It could very well be that Billie’s lyrics refer to himself as the ‘castaway’ of the local punk scene that nurtured Green Day in their early years; the line ‘of no return and no looking back’ draws similarities to Insomniac’s 86. Warning was Green Day’s first real experimental album, where they drew influence from artists well outside their usual music spectrum, so it’s possible that the lines “I’m on a mission into destination unknown, an expedition…” refer, in part, to Warning’s song-writing process.

This live video of the song being performed was filmed in April 2000 in Sydney, Australia. Hehe, chubby Billie.

Lyrics:

I'm on a sentimental journey into sight and sound

Of no return and no looking back or down

A conscientious objector to the war that's in my mind

Leaving in a lurch and I'm taking back what's mine

I'm on a mission

Into destination unknown

An expedition

Onto desolation road

Where I’m a

Castaway - Going at it alone

Castaway - Now I'm on my own

Castaway - Going at it alone

Castaway - Now I'm on my own

Lost and found

Trouble bound

Castaway

I'm riding on the night train and driving stolen cars

Testing my nerves out on the boulevard

Spontaneous combustion in the corners of my mind

Leaving in a lurch and I'm taking back what's mine

I'm on a mission

Into destination unknown

An expedition

Onto desolation road

Where I'm a

Castaway - Going at it alone

Castaway - Now I'm on my own

Castaway - Going at it alone

Castaway - Now I'm on my own

Lost and found

Trouble bound

Castaway

*********************************************************************************************************

You can nominate songs for discussion as Song of the Week in the SotW Nominations and Archive thread, which contains links to each previous Song of the Week in its first post.

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Great choice for song of the week!!!!!! This is one of my favorite songs on Warning for sure!!!

"castaway, going at it alone, castaway, now I'm on my own" is kind of how I feel alot of the time, so it has alot of meaning to me :happy:

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Great choice. This is one of my favorite songs off Warning. I can relate to the lyrics so much.

Specially this part:

I'm on a mission

Into destination unknown

An expedition

Onto desolation road

Where I'm a

Castaway - Going at it alone

Castaway - Now I'm on my own

Castaway - Going at it alone

Castaway - Now I'm on my own

Lost and found

Trouble bound

Castaway.

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I remember listening to this song a lot with a friend, back in 2005 I think. I remember it was really exciting to listen to Green Day records that weren't American Idiot (I started listening around 2004), cause I got surprised with every record. The whole "Warning" record makes me nostalgic. But this is off-topic :P

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I really like this song for a really funny personal reason. I used to listen to this song a lot before I knew who Green Day were because I found some old mix CD and this was on it. After I started listening to Green Day, I didn't listen to Warning for like a year (weird I know) and then when I heard this song I was so fucking shocked and happy, it was an awesome moment.

Also this song kicks ass.

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There's this thing for me with 'Warning' where it's so low-energy, coming after Dookie and Insomniac - no particular fire or focus, a lot of disenchantment - and yet it makes a virtue of all of this. It's like Green Day just said 'stop', and took this place to center themselves, think about stuff and be basic, and in that it's a courageous step - to do what's true to yourself right then, even though that's not showy or explosive, trusting in the path of the music and that those who believe in you will stay with it. Warning is an interesting place - quiet and workmanlike, idiosyncratic, a place of not knowing where the road was leading, of holding on, waiting, hoping against all odds. Hindsight can look and say of course this was the launch-pad for American Idiot, but it's somewhere beautiful to look in the window and see this band with nothing particular on the horizon, just keeping on and exploring and being true.

Fucking love Castaway - love its chuggy, mustering-up sound; love a mind that has corners, with spontaneous combustion going on in them. Yeah, it's about songwriting, and reaching out in fellowship to other songwriters - yeah, it's about the loneliest place, and yet it all feels so much simpler compared to the future stuff.

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Guest MadeInRatCity

I'm actually listening 'Warning' right now. Here comes track 5!!

Misery is fuckin gypsy sounding. Gogol Bordello!!

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good choice. i really love that song but i can't choose a favorite song off warning, they're all great :)

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One of my favourite songs of my favourite album! That beat, that bassline! If I could decide it would be played at every single concert, it's one of their best songs and it's a great live track. They like having crowd interaction during basslines and this should be the song for that.

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When i first heard Warning this was my favourite song from it. It's still up there in my favourites from the album and is so easy to listen to.

Really like all the videos from that gig in Sydney, Billie looks so hungover throughout but still kicks ass.

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I was listening to some slow, mellow music when I came across this thread. It's Sunday morning and I'm back from Amsterdam, and in a generally miserable mood. The song that was playing was Damien Rice's "Cannonball", but I hit play on the video in the first post and it just blasted away much louder and much more awesome. If I ever forgot why Green Day are truly my favourite band, I now remember!

One of the first things I noticed about Castaway was one particular drum hit in the chorus after he sings the word "castaway". I'm not sure if its significant or has any meaning as part of the song, I just think it sounds cool :)

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Love Castaway :) Last year I decided to repeat a year in school, and on the days when I looked around and saw all these young ones around me I would start humbing Castaway under my breath :lol:

Of course on my down days it was All By Myself, and not Tré's version

:cry::P

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I've been obsessed with this song for the past week. It's defiantly one of my favorites, with its super catchy chorus and stuff.

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Castaway is one of my favorite songs from Warning, awesome bassline, awesome lyrics !

I love the "A conscientious objector to the war that's in my mind" part ! :lol:

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I love Castaway!

It's super tricky to play on guitar and sing at the same time, but the rhythm is so catchy.

I find so many guitar players who will do super fast riffs and think they're great. but then I'll play them something like Castaway and they can't repeat the rhythm!

Also, the bass for this song is amazing. I love when Mike does things like this. I feel it kind of disappeared after Warning.

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Ahahahhahahhaa

I brought in cupcakes for UNO!'s release at school and I hadn't got the actual album yet, so my teacher said I could play a different Green Day song and I had brought in Warning. She then said on the day that the song had to be clean, so I automatically thought of Castaway. It's quite likable to people who don't normally listen to Green Day or like rock (which is everyone in my class).

I really love castaway. It's really, really easy to get stuck in your head though! Whenever I've been subjected to some poppy song like Call Me Maybe or some 1D thingamajig, I always listen to Castasway afterwards to 'cleanse the pallette'.

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Nice to know there are some teenage girls out there with sense!

Also, my school days never featured cupcakes :(

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