SotW: Android

[Dirntbag]

Android is the ninth track on the second studio album, Kerplunk, released in 1992. Although it's not a single, Android is one of my favourite songs on Kerplunk for its musical appeal and lyrical meaning. Kerplunk was unique as an album because it was the first time in which Tre Cool recorded all drums on the record, and because all instruments were tuned by ear, resulting in a lower and darker pitch for all songs.

It's interesting because it shows that Green Day has a reflective side to their music as well. The song talks about wondering where oneself will be at old age, and questioning: will one have made anything of oneself at all?

I love Android because of the nature of questions that it has around it. Green Day’s literally making a deep song about seeing an old strange man sitting on the street.

“I wonder if he knows I think he's crazy

When he was young did he have dreams

Of wearing woman's shoes and being crazy?”

It’s about looking at the people around you and wondering where they are and comparing yourself to them; are they successful? Happy? Married? Diseased? When they were my age did they think they’d be any of those things? I think everyone can relate to the feeling this song articulates, for me at least; a feeling of fear for what’s to come.

Besides being one of Green Day’s more in depth songs, it’s also strange in its musical style. In the bridge, sounds of a toilet flushing and a deep voice speaking penetrate the track. This could be a reference to Kerplunk as an album, it's uniqueness and strangeness, but it could also double as a metaphor for flushing your future down the toilet depending on how you interpret it.

Here’s the lyrics to Android:

Hey old man in woman's shoes

I wonder if he knows I think he's crazy

When he was young did he have dreams

Of wearing woman's shoes and being crazy?

It makes me wonder when I grow to be that age

Will I be walking down the street begging for your spare change

Or will I grow that old?

Will I still be around?

The way I carry on I'll end up

Six feet underground

And waste away...

When the old man was in school

Did the golden rule make him go crazy

Or did he hide away from hopes

Behind a smile and smoking dope

It's crazy

It seems so frightening

Time passes by like lightning

Before you know it you're struck down

I always waste my time on my chemical emotions

It keeps my head spinning around.

And a live video (I couldn’t find one at a show, so it’s a soundcheck):

[Sarcasm]

I like the bridge with the toilet sounds

[HolyHandGrenade]

It's interesting because it shows that Green Day has a reflective side to their music as well. The song talks about wondering where oneself will be at old age, and questioning: will one have made anything of oneself at all?

Same with The Grouch

[Cob]

One of my favorites off Kerplunk. I love the bridge with the exaggerated harmonies

Same with The Grouch

Sort of. Android is more like "I don't want to get old" and The Grouch is "Shit I'm old"

[Jude O'Reilly]

Defiantly one of my favorites from Kerplunk just such an all around great song. The toilet flush is the best though.

[justcause]

I love this song. I love the chuggy raw sound of it that's coming from the same root as Welcome to Paradise and Christie Road - that same place, the engine of it all - cut with the random noises that give this feel of something subterranean, subconscious, unsettling. It gives the sense that along with along with all of the usual turbulence of youthful things, there's this fear of mental instability that resonates thru Basket Case to Boulevard's 'walking down the line that divides me somewhere in my mind'. Out of this big blue sky, the sense of space and questioning and promise that's the landscape of Kerplunk, comes this vivid image of an 'old man in woman's shoes', an image that's striking such a nerve for this boy, casting such a shadow. Like, he identifies with this guy, and it scares the shit out of him.

[Crimpshrine]

Billie Joe Said about this song was inpired from an old man who they always see at the Berkley square Billie and Tree when they was going to drink some coffee!

[Ritz]

Great OP! Yes, this is one my favorites from Kerplunk! I love your interpretation of the song

[JOE THE X-KID]

Does anyone else know what that voice says in the bridge "somebody else could be here haha" that's what it sounds like to me

[YoYoFantaFanta]

Great song. a great one on the album

[OhTheGuilt.]

Was listening to It the other day, I'm so relate right now to this song.

[Slave To The Network]

I think this is a great song! I really like it! I just don't get the toilet flush part...

[Annie, get your gun]

Android! one of my favs from Kerplunk!

The sounds of the toilet goes great with the lyric, which is pretty ♫craazyyy ♪♫

"It seems so frightening, time passes by like lightening, before you know it you're stroke down..." <True.

[Jhei Morisato]

I love Android because of the nature of questions that it has around it. Green Day’s literally making a deep song about seeing an old strange man sitting on the street.

“I wonder if he knows I think he's crazy

When he was young did he have dreams

Of wearing woman's shoes and being crazy?”

I love this part of the song, and then the outro part. One of the best Kerplunk songs.

[Todd]

Billie Joe Said about this song was inpired from an old man who they always see at the Berkley square Billie and Tree when they was going to drink some coffee!

Source?

I think this is a great song! I really like it! I just don't get the toilet flush part...

because it's fucking punk and they can just throw fun sounds into a song to make it unique and stand out. :lol;

[Strayheart1219]

I never put the toilet sound with the song together, it makes so much sense! I love Kerplunk so much <3

[Todd]

I hate how sotws like this get 1 page, but songs like x-kid get 5 pages.

[Mr. Shluffy]

wow, I've never seen that video before. They should totally play this song live, it sounds awasom!

[JIGD13]

It's certainly not my favorite song on Kerplunk, but after reading this and watching the video I'm starting to like it more and more

[spark in the night]

it's okay. not my favorite. the toilet flush is random

[mikedeerte]

of my favorite songs from kerplunk!