WELCOME
 

  WELCOME
1039 Sweet Children is one of the first Green Day fansites to hit the web! It has been open since summer 2001 and still features all the latest on Green Day! Check back daily for everything Green Day.

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Webmasters: Kevin & Jimmy
Founder: Holly
Host: Hollywood
Since: August 14, 2001
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  The Moral Majority
Which of these Green Day cover song do you like best?
Knowledge
I Fought The Law
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  Words of Wisdom
 "Attack your instruments. Don’t let them attack you."  - Billie Joe Armstrong

DISCLAIMER 
1039 SC is just a fansite and is no way associated with Green Day, Reprise, or anything officially related to the band. We do not claim complete ownership to anything on this website including photography and multimedia.
• Song Meaning's:•


  Practically total credit for this page goes out to our affiliate, GreenDayAuthority.com! Some of the song meanings were added by us, however [Rest, JAR, Waiting...] :) Please keep in mind that this is just for fun. We can never be 100% sure that's what Billie/Mike/Tre meant when they wrote the songs.

Select an album:
 
1039/ Smoothed Out Slappy Hours
 Kerplunk!
 Dookie
 Insomniac
 Nimrod
 Warning
 International Superhits
 Shenanigans
 American Idiot


1039/ Smoothed Out Slappy Hours

1 - At the Library
  Billie Joe wrote this song about a girl he thought was ugly, but he thought she would go out with him. He saw her at the library and asked her out but got rejected because she already had a boyfriend.
2 - Don't Leave Me
  This song is about somebody important in Billie Joe's life who left him.
3 - I Was There
  John Kriftmeyer (Al Sobrante) wrote this song about being in the band, his past memories, and how he regrets going away.
4 - Disappearing Boy
  Billie Joe wrote this song when he was younger about how lonely he was and how he felt invisible to everyone.
5 - Green Day
  This song is about starting to appriciate the little things in life. A "green day" is a day spent doing nothing but pot.
6 - Going To Pasalaqua
  Billie wrote this song about another girl named Jennifer who he was falling for.
    AND/OR.... 7 - 166
  This song is about being 16 and facing the fact that your going to have to grow up and face life.
8 - Road To Acceptance
  This song is Billie Joe wanting to be accepted by people and not be an outcast.     AND/OR....  It's about how much he wants unity for everyone, regardless of appearance (ie. skin color, style, ect.).
9 - Restt
  Thinking of a girl that you love and if you will ever see her again. Realizing that you will never get any peace of mind until you finally are reunited with her...
10 - The Judge's Daughter
  This song is about wanting to find the perfect girl.
11 - Paper Lanterns "I'm understanding now that we are only friends. To this day I'm asking why I still think about you.";
12 - Why Do You Want Him?
  Billie's wondering why his mom wants her boyfriend. Why Do You Want Him? was the first song Billie Joe ever wrote at the age of 12.
13 - 409 In Your Coffeemaker
  This song is about day dreaming.
    AND/OR....
  When Billie was younger he put 409 in his teacher's coffee.
14 - Knowledge
  Green Day's cover of Operation Ivy's song, Knowledge. It's about knowing that you know nothing!
15 - 1,000 Hours
  Billie Joe was thinking about a girl he knew and all the time they spent together.
16 - Dry Ice
  This is about how sometimes you can't get the opposite sex out of your head.
17 - Only of You
  The meaning of Only of You is similar to that of Dry Ice. Your mind is set on this one person and no one else!
18 - The One I Want
  A love song. Plain and simple. About the only one that you want!
19 - I Want To Be Alone
  Just like the title says, this song is about just wanting to be left alone.

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Kerplunk!

1 - 2,000 Light Years Away
  Billie Joe wrote this song about having to be away from Adrienne for so long, and how much he misses her. Billie wrote this song the first time he kissed Adrienne.
2 - One For the Razorbacks
  This song is about a girl from the AK named Juliet, whom they met (NOT as in Romeo & Juliet). It is about her struggle with love!
3 - Welcome to Paradise
  This song was how it was like living in a house in Berkeley with Mike and other members of the punk community. (also appears on Dookie) "It's about West Oakland, living in a warehouse with a lot of people, a bunch of artists and musicians, punks and whatever just lived all up and down, bums and junkies and thugs and gang members and stuff that just lived in that area. It's no place you want to walk around at night, but it's a neat warehouse we you can play basketball and stuff." - Billie Joe
4 - Christie Road
  Christie Road is a place where Billie Joe and his friends used to go and get high. "This song [Christie Road] is about wanting to be alone for awhile." - Billie Joe
5 - Private Ale
  Billie wrote this song for Adrienne, because he wanted her to like him.
6 - Dominated Love Slave
  One of Tre's infamous song about whips, chains, and other kinds of kinky bondage. Just listen and you'll know what it's all about ;)
7 - One Of My Lies
This song is about questioning if there is a heaven or a hell. Billie is wondering whether this life is all just a bunch of lies.
    AND/OR....
  Living a dishonest life.
8 - 80
  Billie Joe wrote this song about his wife, Adrienne. The title comes from her nickname, Adie. (ie: 80 sounds like Adie) It's about how he feels when he's with her!
9 - Android
  This song is about wondering what you will be like when you grow up.
10 - No One Knows
  This song is about Billie Joe being forced to grow up too fast.
11 - Who Wrote Holden Caulfield?
  This song is about the character Holden Caulfield from J.D. Salinger's classic book, The Catcher in the Rye. Billie Joe was assigned to read it in school, but of course, he didn't read it. Later on in life, he actually did read it, and he related to the main character in the sense that he was also an outcast like Billie.
12 - Words I Might Have Ate
  This song is about taking responsibility for your actions and about bitching up true love.
13 - Sweet Children
  Also Green Day's first band name, Sweet Children was the first song Billie and Mike wrote together. It's ultimatly about how bad kids get blamed for everything.
14 - Best Thing In Town
  This song is about a girl Billie Joe thinks is the best thing in town.
15 - Strangeland
  May be based on a movie or book. Life can be strange sometimes.
16 - My Generation
  This song is a cover of the classic by The Who. It's just about talking about your peers and other people in your generation.

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Dookie

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1 - Burnout
  A song about doing drugs.
    AND/OR....
  This song is about apathy and not caring what happens to you.
    AND/OR....
  This song is about someone who has been put through a lot of shit and finally can't take anymore.
2 - Having A Blast
  This song is about terrorism and suicidal bombers blowing themselves up just because they lost their mind.
    AND/OR....
  Having everything in your life go wrong and then you just stop caring and what once meant someting now means nothing.
3 - Chump
  This song was written for the boyfriend of this girl that Billie Joe liked. He never even met the guy, but obviously felt this huge hate (caused by guilt) toward him.
4 - Longview
  This song is about being bored and pretty much hating life because it's the same thing every day with nothing to do. "It's about boredom and masturbation and smoking dope." - Billie Joe
5 - Welcome to Paradies
  This song was how it was like living in a house in Berkely with Mike and other members of the punk community. (also appears on Kerplunk!) "It's about West Oakland, living in a warehouse with a lot of people, a bunch of artists and musicians, punks and whatever just lived all up and down, bums and junkies and thugs and gang members and stuff that just lived in that area. It's no place you want to walk around at night, but it's a neat warehouse we you can play basketball and stuff." - Billie Joe
6 - Pulling Teeth
  Billie Joe wrote this song about the time Mike and Anastasia (Mike's ex wife) were having a pillow fight and Mike accidentally broke both of his arms. Billie and Mike laughed him all the way to the hospital. I also heard they took the song title from Metallica's song "Anasthesia Pulling Teeth".
7 - Basket Case
  Self explanitory, this song is about someone who is pananiod. Billie Joe suffers from panic disorder too, so that has some contribution to the song. "The only way I knew how to deal with it was to write a song about it." - Billie Joe
8 - She
  This song is about a girl and trying to find out who she really is. She wants to be herself but her parents and society don't let her be that person.
    AND/OR....
  This letter was a response to a letter Billie recieved from an ex-girlfriend.
    AND/OR....
  About Billie taking critism from his girlfriend.
    AND/OR....
  Based on a peom a girl gave Billie.
10 - Sassafrass Roots
  Sassafrass Roots is about being in a relationship that neither person really wants to be in and so you're both pretty much wasting your time.
11 - When I Come Around
  This is a love sick song, when you take some space during an argument to calm down.
    AND/OR....
  Whoever has a reputation, good or bad, you'll know where they'll be, no matter what.
12 - Coming Clean
  This song is about somebody coming out of the closet for the first time. Billie talking about how he MIGHT be bi-sexual. It is expressing his confusion.
13 - Emenius Sleepis
  This song is about somebody you haven't seen in a long time and when you do see that person, he or she has completely changed. Mike wrote this song.
14 - In the End
  "That song is about my mother's husband, it's not really about a girl, or like anyone directly related to me in a relationship. In the End's about my mother." - Billie Joe
15 - F.O.D. ( Fuck Off and Die )
  This song is about hating someone who backstabbed him.
16 - All By Myself ("Secret Song"
  Written and sung by Tre' Cool, this song is about being loneliness and masturbation.

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Insomniac

1 - Armatage Shanks
  This song, like Basket Case, is about Billie Joe's panic disorder.
2 - Brat
  This song is about a rich kid who can't wait for his parents to die so he can get their money.
3 - Stuck With Me
  It's been said that this song is about someone being underapprieciated. When Green Day was recording songs for Insomniac, they were trying to think of an appropriate name for the song Stuck With Me. The band recorded the song now called "Do Da Da" around the same time, and that song was originally called "Stuck With Me", because those words actually appear in that song. But, there was a studio mix-up, and someone labeled the third track on Insomniac "Stuck With Me". When the band discovered the error, they felt the name was appropriate for the song and kept it. Later, they decided to release the real "Stuck With Me" as a b-side, so they gave it the nonsensical name "Do Da Da".
4 - Geek Stink Breath
  This song is about drugs. Billie saw so many people get addicted and let drugs rule their life.
5 - No Pride
  This song is about somebody who has no self esteem or no pride in themselves.
6 - Bab's Uvula Who?
  Billie Joe wrote this song when he was doped up with sugar.
    AND/OR....
  Billie stole the title of this song after watching Saturday Night Live. It was a skit called “Bab’s Uvula Who?” which had Chevy Chase ivolved in it.
    AND/OR....
  About not being able to do anything right.
7 - 86
  This song is about the underground scene and being kicked out of it, because when you leave, you can never go back. This particular song is about Billie being the one getting kicked out. Everyone from the local punk scene threatened them after they got back from touring Dookie. Kids would spit, insult, threaten to beat up, and one girl wrote on a wall at Gillman "Billie Joe Must Die". Billie begins to question himself.
    AND/OR....
  A Billie Joe interview from 1996 stated that 86 is infact about one night stands. Billie (the writer) has slept with a woman and the next day she's coming calling on him saying she loves him. He's saying "you left your identity here along with your respect, you'll never find them now. So get lost and make room for the next woman to come along."
8 - Panic Song
  This song is about what Mike was experiencing when he has panic attacks. Billie Joe co-wrote the song.
9 - Stuart and the Ave
  This song is about a girl Billie Joe liked but then he realized he didn't really like her. The corner of Stuart and the Ave. is the corner of Stuart Street and Telegraph Avenue in Berkley, California.
10 - Brain Stew
  Billie wrote this song way back in 1995 or so when his son, Joey, was a baby. Joey was up crying all night, so Billie didn't get any sleep. He wrote this song about how he felt. "Brain Stew" is also the nickname of James Washburn, a longtime friend of the band.
11 - Jaded
  This is a song about being stoned/jaded.
12 - Westbound Sign
  This song is about Adrienne moving from her family/friends to be with Billie Joe. "It's about a girl leaving home to live in the city, which is based on my wife." - Billie Joe
13 - Tight Wad Hill
  This song is about a place where people would go to see football games for free, sell pot, and get high.
14 - Walking Contradiction
  This song is about bands selling out once they become big.

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nimrod.  

1 - Nice Guys Finish Last
  Self explanitory, the nice guy gets the shitty end of the stick.
2 - Hitchin' A Ride
  This song tells a story of sex and drugs while your world is crashing down.
3 - The Grouch
  This song is about what Billie Joe doesn't want to grow up and be like. It is also said that Billie wrote this song after he had a fight with Adrienne.
    AND/OR....
  The Grouch was generally about feeling older than you really are. After the Insomniac era, and Billie was tired as hell and just felt older then he really was.
4 - Redundant
  Classic love song. Billie can't begin to explain his love in words for what he feels for Adrienne. Or this song could be about how repetative being famous is.
    AND/OR....
  He's talking about how things are redundant, making him sick, making him hate things, and feeling like he's lost in a circle. This happens frequently in relationships when people have been together for a long time. Their love is there, but it is redundant. Eventually, saying "I love you" is not enough because it gets routine, and you don't know what to say.
5 - Scattered
  Billie offering up all he can to his wife trying to gain her affection.
6 - All the Time
  This song is about trying to quit something like drugs or alcohol.
7 - Worry Rock
  Sorta like Scattered.
8 - Platypus (I Hate You)
  This song is about a person who gets pleasure out of seeing others in pain. Billie Joe wrote this about a magazine writer who trashed them after Dookie came out, during Kerplunk! He loved them they we’re and would always be the best no matter what…but then he acted like an asshole, Billie decided to release on nimrod instead of insomniac because he felt it show him they’ve grown…but he died before the album came out. (from
Green Day > UK)
9 - Uptight
  This song is about a suicidal person who hates his life.
10 - Last Ride In
  An instrumental song written during a soundcheck.
11 - Jinx
  Jinx is about a girl who liked Billie. The song is about someone who is really screwing up.
12 - Haushinka
  Billie met a girl named Haushinka in Japan a long time ago. He remembers her in this song.
13 - Walking Alone
  Puttings yourself in the position where you just want to be alone and independent.
14 - Reject
  About the parent who's kid received Insomniac for a present from his grandma on his 8th birthday. The parent wrote a letter to Billie Joe objecting to the lyrics and saying that it wasn't music. The letter can be viewed
here and Billie's response here.
15 - Take Back
  A song about not being able to forgive someone for what they did to you... It's about just wanting to squeeze someone's head off!
16 - King For A Day
  This song is about a boy dressing up in woman's clothes.
17 - Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)
This song is about looking back on your life and seeing how you spent it.
    AND/OR....
  It was said that this is a song about being drunk in an interview.
    AND/OR....
  This song was how Green Day said goodbye to their punk pals who turned their backs on them after they became big.
18 - Prosthetic Head
  This song is about somebody who lives their life as somebody else. They are anything but what they truly are. " [In Hollywood] there were these big inflatable head's, that's when I thought of the name for that ("Prosthetic Head") tune. " – Billie Joe

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Warning:

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1 - Warning
  This song is about how rules are made to be broken. It's kind of poking fun of all the rules and directions in life. You live your own life, you make your own choices. "You gotta make your own decisions and choices. It's not so much about what to think, it's just to think. Question everything." - Mike
2 - Blood, Sex and Booze
  This song is about kinky stuff. A lot like "Dominated Love Slave" on Kerplunk!
3 - Church On Sunday
  This song is about the time Billie Joe saved his marriage. "It's a song about when you're in a long term relationship with somebody, you have to keep reinventing it, and it takes a lot of compromise." - Billie Joe
4 - Fashion Victim
  This song is about today's fashion and how people spend all their money just to fit in.
5 - Castaway
  Castaway is about Billie Joe's experiments in songwriting on Warning. There are references to Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen in it, two of his biggest influences on the record. And he is a castaway because he knew a lot of his old punk rock friends might hate him for making the album.
6 - Misery
  This song is about the story of a couple of people from San Francisco California. Billie said he got the name 'Mr Whirly' from a song by the Replacements "Watching Disney movies will change you. A tune like Misery sounds like it could have come straight out of Aladdin." - Billie Joe
7 - Deadbeat Holiday
  This song is about not letting stuff get to you and just keep doing what your doing.
8 - Hold On
  This is song is about living life even though you're alone. Billie wrote this song for a friend.
9 - Jackass
  This song has been rumored to be about Blink-182. Green Day has said that they liked Blink, but they never have admitted to liking their music. If you think about it, the song does kinda sound like it was written about Blink-182.
10 - Waiting
  This song is just waiting and anticipating something for a really long time or what seems like a long time.
11 - Minority
  This song is about being an individual and finding the person you want to be. "Minority is about being an individual. It's like you have to sift through the darkness to find your place and be that individual you want to be your entire life." - Billie Joe
12 - Macy's Day Parade
  Billie's commentary on commercialism, and how people want materialistic things all the time. The song explains that BIllie wants something, but it's not material, all he wants is to have hope in his life. "It's sort of about the lies and deceptions that you have growing up and how you have to find your own way around." - Billie Joe

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International Superhits!


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1 - Maria
  Maria is about a rebellious girl who runs away from her problems.
2 - Poprocks and Coke
  This song is about being there for someone, even through tough times.
8 - J.A.R. (Jason Andrew Relva)
  This is written about a friend of the band mates... It's about someone who doesn't do anything they want in life, and about how you don't want to be like that : you want to be yoursef.

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Shenanigans

1 - Suffocate
  Suffocate is how alcohol and drugs and cigarettes are destructive and addictive. You get that from 'slipped into a coma again.' This said that he must have tried to quit before, and 'where's my organ donor lend a hand' shows that he will physically suffocate.
    AND/OR....
  Suffocate is about a guy who has just totally given up on everything and is waiting patiently for the end. It's a reflection of how life gets us down, and in a sense, it's about suicide.
2 - Desensitized
  This song was written about the Internet.
3 - You Lied
  This is about someone who he can tell they are lying, because their story is streched and unbelievable. They don't have a good excuse, and it is obvious they are lying.
4 - Outside
  Outsider is a Ramones' cover. It was also featured on A Tribute to the Ramones. It's about being treated different from everything around you.
5 - Don't Wanna Fall In Love
  This song is about not wanting to fall in love, because he doesn't want to answer to anyone.
6 - Espionage
  Instrumental song used in the movie Austin Powers 2: The Spy Who Shagged Me (on the soundtrack) and also in the trailer for Scooby Doo the movie.
7 - Scumbag
  Scumbag is about someone is an overall bad person. Mike and Billie wrote it together.
8 - I Want to Be On T.V.
  Probably about how stupid and materialist some celebrities are.
    AND/OR....
  This song is a cover by Fang.
    AND/OR....
  It means just wanted to be heard and to get some attention.
9 - Tired of Waiting for You
  Green Day's cover of a classic Kinks song. This song appeared in the Howard Stern: Private Parts movie. It's about being sick of waiting for someone.
10 - Sick of Me
  Sounds like 2 two people are in a relationship and they want to end it, but they just haven't gotten around to it yet.
11 - Rotting
  This song is about not wantin to deal with all the pain and suffering on earth and just wishing that u could throw it all away.
    AND/OR....
  Rotting is about someone who is dying and how he wants it to be when he takes his final breath.
12 - Do Da Da
  When Green Day was recording songs for Insomniac, they were trying to think of an appropriate name for the song Stuck With Me. The band recorded the song now called "Do Da Da" around the same time, and that song was originally called "Stuck With Me", because those words actually appear in that song. But, there was a studio mix-up, and someone labeled the third track on Insomniac "Stuck With Me". When the band discovered the error, they felt the name was appropriate for the song and kept it. Later, they decided to release the real "Stuck With Me" as a b-side, so they gave it the nonsensical name "Do Da Da". Anyway, the song is about being stuck with someone!
13 - On the Wagon
  On the wagon is a typical Billie Joe song. It describes that he is in love with a girl (it is possible that he means Adrienne 'cause it's written about this time). He always say sweet things to her but in another way he just does shit. And so his best excuse is that he is so confused "'cause it's been so long since I've been in love!" "on the wagon" is just a metaphor for love.
    AND/OR....
  This song is about masturbation.
    AND/OR....
  This song is about being in alcoholic.
14 - Ha Ha You're Dead
  Mike wrote this song. It's about a person that has hurt many people. It's about how you feel like you would LOVE it if someone that has bothered you would just drop dead.

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American Idiot


DEFINITIONS IN THE STORY:

J./JOS/the Idiot of America: The Jesus of Suburbia
Tunny: Random person met on the street who Jimmy befriends
The Underbelly: JOS/Jimmy's group of friends
Mom and Brad: JOS' parents. The way that JOS refers to his father as Brad, could mean that is father is gone and Brad is a stepfather, which would explain why he's calling him by name.

1 - American Idiot
  The title track of the album. Basically, there's a confused, disoriented, angsty kid wrapped around a world of misconception and he has nowhere to go and feels hopeless and miserable. So this kid, the Jesus of Suburbia, is just crying out an anthem for the world to hear, screaming miserably "Don't wanna be an American Idiot..." He sees that he's stuck in this 'redneck agenda' and there's not a damn thing he can do to change it.
2 - Jesus of Suburbia (CITY OF THE DAMNED, I DON'T CARE, DEARLY BELOVED, TALES OF ANOTHER BROKEN HOME)
  Everyone on the album has their own track. Jesus of Suburbia basically introduces us to the Jesus of Suburbia, how he was brought up in rage, and love, his atmosphere, friends, and basic general information. Part I, JOS, is just an introduction. "I'm the son of rage and love, the Jesus of Suburbia..."...Part II, City of The Damned, is just a crying out for help, hating his town, his city, and his overall miserable life that he lives. Part III, I Don't Care, is properly named and is about just that. JOS' apathetic screams of pain and how he just doesn't fucking care about anything anymore. Part IV, Dearly Beloved, is JOS asking if what he's feeling is natural, how he can get out, and if anyone can understand...Tales Of Another Broken Home, Part V, is basically the end of the anthem. JOS is fed up, fucked up, and just decides to quit town and quit the life that he's living. "I don't feel any shame, I won't apologize. When there ain't NOWHERE you can go. RUNNING AWAY from pain, when you feel victimized, tales from another broken home"...and he just leaves.
3 - Holiday
  So JOS has just left town and he's living his life on the streets (Hear the sound of the falling rain...). He's speaking outloud and acting in vein :P, but it seems like he's talking himself into the fact that running away was the right thing to do. Explaining his reasons of discontent to himself. He still feels alone, and shunned from society, but it seems he feels a little more self-confidence, and happiness out on the road. It is also remotely political with the whole "Zeig heil..." thing, but it's basically just JOS yelling out and expressing his own dead beliefs onto the world. Like screaming into mid air. Also, to go 'on holiday' is said to be like, a vacation. So this is basically like an escape, a runaway. This leads us into Boulevard of Broken Dreams.
4 - Boulevard of Broken Dreams
  JOS is out alone, on the cold streets, nothing to do, nowhere to go. The happiness has worn off and he walks alone. Everyone's asleep, no one can hear him, no one cares, and he just walks...
5 - Are We the Waiting?
  Still, alone, living it rough. JOS plays tricks in his mind, and you can see his slowly losing his sanity. He even starts to not believe who he is anymore. He's not the king of his local 711 out on the streets, where no one knows who he is...he's not the Jesus of Suburbia anymore. He's just...there.

 Now is where the controversy starts. The album picks up into an angry, purely amazing, anthem about the ever-so-lovely St. Jimmy. Now, people have said, and this sounds pretty true, that the JOS is just pushed over the edge, turned into this new fuck you punkfuck named St. Jimmy. Basically, pushed off of the deep end into schizophrenia. Green Day, actually has stated, that JOS meets this kid, St. Jimmy, on the street somewhere, but that's questionable. I'll leave the interpretation up to you.

6 - St. Jimmy
  Fast, upbeat, so effing hardcore. St. Jimmy...the patron saint of the denial. Tough, rough, not afraid to kill. The run of the mill punkkid times 70. The hardest, baddest mother fucker around. He's lived his life on the streets, knows all, sees all. Lies, and pretty cocky to boot. He can actually be seen as a foil to JOS, who's totally innocent and callow going into this thing.
7 - Give Me Novacaine
  JOS meets Jimmy and becomes close with him. They do drugs together, hang around together and JOS depends on Jimmy to keep him sane, without knowing anyone else. Give Me Novacaine is basically his experimentation with drugs, and how Jimmy introduces him to drugs to ease the pain of everyday life.
8 - She's A Rebel
  While on the streets, Jimmy and JOS meet a rebel girl named Whatsername. As described in She's A Rebel, she's holding on JOS' heart like a hand grenade. For JOS, it's love at first sight. It's a basic introduction to the girl, and a new twist in JOS' heart strings. New feelings, new mindset, new atmosphere.
9 - Extraordinary Girl
  Again, about Whatsername. JOS' feelings for her, what he thinks of her, etc...
10 - Letterbomb
  After getting close with Whatsername, there is an eventual breakup. The beginning "Nobody likes you, everyone left you..."...is Whatsername taunting JOS, and writing him a goodbye letter. She explains that JOS doesn't care enough, and that he isn't who he thinks he is. "You're not the Jesus of Suburbia. The St. Jimmy is a figment of, your father's rage and your mother's love, that's made the idiot america"...she's explaining that JOS has turned into what he's always hated and she leaves him. "Well she said I can't take this place, I'm leaving you behind. She said I can't take this town I'm leaving you tonight..."
11 - Wake Me Up Whne September Ends
  JOS is alone again. Lost his friends, the only girl he ever loved, he's out of home, out of job, and back where he started, sad and alone on the streets. He describes himself as innocent, or at least he was, and he just didn't last. They broke him down, and he's just dead inside. This is also, on a more personal note, a side song about Billie Joe's late father, who died years ago (September 1982), when Billie Joe was 10. Both explanations apply.
12 - Homecoming (THE DEATH OF ST. JIMMY, EAST 12TH ST., NOBODY LIKES YOU, ROCK 'N' ROLL GIRLFRIEND)
  JOS has nothing left to do. He's been on the streets. He stands alone again. So where else to go? Home. Part I, the Death of St. Jimmy. He's leaving the streets, he's going back, he's leaving Jimmy behind. He realizes that turning away wasn't the answer, and he's gained nothing from it except knowledge that life is no better in a different atmosphere. He hoped for too much, and got nothing in return. St. Jimmy kills himself, in a sense, in JOS' mind he's gone. Still, there's no one who cares, and nobody cares. Part II, East 12th St, tells us that JOS met and accepted conformity, got a job, and is just in his own world as people move around him. He'd rather be out and around with 'the underbelly', his friends. He feels trapped. Alone, and again, must get away. "This lifelike dream ain't for me"...Part III, Nobody Likes You. He's still depressed about losing Whatsername, as he waits for her to return, but no luck. All of his dreams at this point are shot to hell, as her voice still pounds in his head "NOBODY LIKES YOU, EVERYONE LEFT YOU..." Part IV, Rock 'N Roll Girlfriend, in the inlay, is shown as a postcard from "Tunny"...who seems to be another person JOS met while on the streets. Tunny explains that he's living it up where he is, and the rebel life he leads, while JOS is rotting with his dead end job, in his dead end life. Part V, We're Coming Home Again, is JOS accepting things. He's coming to the realization of everything and everyone, and is just accepting it. He comes home. It's left on a confusing note. He's not sure if he's happy or sad, he's just home, living, and he just...is.
13 - Whatsername
  After being home, and just living in normality, he still regrets losing Whatsername. It's been so long, he can't even remember her name. He wonders what happened to her, and can only remember. All he has is his memories of her. The album ends with him still trying to forget "If my memory serves me right, I'll never turn back time, forgetting you, but not the time."...He doesn't regret living his life on the streets, using it as a learning experience, but still tries to forget Whatsername, and the pain that she put him through, and vice versa.


American Idiot's B-Sides:

Governator
  Written in relation to Arnold Schwarzenegger going for CA governor. They repeat his famous words from The Terminator, "I'll be back."
Shoplifter
  Living life on the streets with Jimmy, stealing things to get by.
Favorite Son
  Anti George Bush anthem, not really related to the story.
Too Much Too Soon
  All about Whatsername. How she's so needy and JOS is getting fed up.

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