Nimrod

Rating: 4.5/5. From 215 votes. Show votes.
Please wait…

Release Date: October 14, 1997
Length: 49:09
Studio: Conway Studios
Label: Reprise Records
Producers: Rob Cavallo & Green Day
Mixing: Chris Lorde-Alge
Engineer: Ken Allardyce
Artwork: Chris Bilheimer (photos, art direction, design), Snorri Brothers (photos)
Additional Musicians: Petra Haden (violin), Conan McCallum (violin), Gabrial McNair (horns), Stephen Bradley (horns),  David Campbell (strings arrangment)

Singles: Hitchin’ A Ride, Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life), Redundant, Nice Guys Finish Last
RIAA Certification: 2x Platinum (2 Million) – March 16, 2000
Billboard 200 Peak: #10 – 70 weeks on the chart

Notes: Growing tired of the simple 3 chord songs that dominated their previous albums, Green Day released the most experimental album of their career. Recorded over five months between March and July of ’97 the band ended up with 30 tracks from the sessions. The album features songs with strings, a horn section, harmonica and violin – none of which the band had used previously. The album sold well with over 2 million copies sold in the US and saw massive success from the Good Riddance single.

  1. Nice Guys Finish Last
  2. Hitchin’ A Ride
  3. The Grouch
  4. Redundant
  5. Scattered
  6. All The Time
  7. Worry Rock
  8. Platypus (I Hate You)
  9. Uptight
  10. Last Ride In
  11. Jinx
  12. Haushinka
  13. Walking Alone
  14. Reject
  15. Take Back
  16. King For A Day
  17. Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life)
  18. Prosthetic Head

19. Desensitized

19. Suffocate
20. Do Da Da
21. Desensitized
22. You Lied

Nimrod XXV box set

  1. Nice Guys Finish Last (demo)
  2. Place Inside My Head (demo)
  3. The Grouch (demo)
  4. Walking Alone (demo)
  5. Jinx (demo)
  6. Alison (demo)
  7. Espionage (demo)
  8. You Irritate Me (demo)
  9. Tre Polka (demo)
  10. When It’s Time (demo)
  11. Desensitized (demo)
  12. Chain Saw
  13. Reject
  14. Black Eyeliner

Nimrod XXV box set

  1. Going To Pasalacqua (live)
  2. Welcome To Paradise (live)
  3. Geek Stink Breath (live)
  4. Nice Guys Finish Last (live)
  5. Hitchin’ A Ride (live)
  6. The Grouch (live)
  7. Chump (live)
  8. Longview (live)
  9. 2000 Light Years Away (live)
  10. Brain Stew (live)
  11. Jaded (live)
  12. Knowledge (live)
  13. Basket Case (live)
  14. She (live)
  15. F.O.D. (live)
  16. Paper Lanterns (live)
  17. Scattered (live)
  18. Prosthetic Head (live)
  19. When I Come Around (live)
  20. Good Riddance (live)

Music Videos

Green Day - Hitchin' A Ride single
Play Video about Green Day - Hitchin' A Ride single

Hitchin’ A Ride

Green Day - Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life) single
Play Video about Green Day - Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life) single

Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life)

Green Day - Redundant single
Play Video about Green Day - Redundant single

Redundant

Play Video

Last Ride In

Green Day - Nice Guys Finish Last single
Play Video about Green Day - Nice Guys Finish Last single

Nice Guys Finish Last

Track Info

1. Nice Guys Finish Last

Green Day - Nice Guys Finish Last single

Rating: 4.4/5. From 180 votes. Show votes.
Please wait…

Most likely “nice guys” in this song are the people that are commonly referred to as ‘suck-ups’. They do everything they can to please ‘useful people’ because they believe they might get some kind of profit out of that. They keep pretending to be nice, but it doesn’t get them far in life. “Bit the hand that feeds” – sooner or later they break down and show their real nature, materialistic and insincere; obviously, that erases the effect of all the previous brown nosing. Now after all the sucking up and “living on command” they end up with nothing – “nice guys finish last”.

– song meaning courtesy of GreekStinkBreath.net

Nice guys finish last
You’re running out of gas
Your sympathy will get you left behind
Sometimes you’re at your best
When you feel the worst
Do you feel washed up, like piss going down the drain?

Pressure cooker, pick my brain and tell me I’m insane
I’m so fucking happy I could cry
Every joke can have its truth but now the joke’s on you
I never knew you were such a funny guy

Oh, nice guys finish last
When you are the outcast
Don’t pat yourself on the back
You might break your spine

Living on command
You’re shaking lots of hands
You’re kissing up and bleeding all your trust
Taking what you need
Bite the hand that feeds
You lose your memory and you got no shame

Pressure cooker, pick my brain and tell me I’m insane
I’m so fucking happy I could cry
Every joke can have its truth but now the joke’s on you
I never knew you were such a funny guy

Oh, nice guys finish last
When you are the outcast
Don’t pat yourself on the back
You might break your spine

2. Hitchin' A Ride

Green Day - Hitchin' A Ride single

Rating: 4.7/5. From 197 votes. Show votes.
Please wait…

Most likely the song is about a struggle with addiction since the lyrics are filled with alcohol terminology (“happy hour”, “off the wagon”). The narrator is describing his need for intoxication (“I need a break as well, the well that inebriates the guilt”), yet he wants to get back on the wagon because he realizes that alcohol is destroying his life. The eternal battle with an addiction is vividly portrayed through contrasting the need for a drink described in the verses (“There’s a drought at the fountain of youth and now I’m dehydrated”) and the desire to quit that is shown in the chorus (“Troubled times, you know I cannot lie – I’m off the wagon and I’m hitchin’ a ride”). The devil on one shoulder says “You need a fix”, the angel on the other shoulder says “Hitch a ride out of this!”.

– song meaning courtesy of GreekStinkBreath.net

Hey mister, where you headed
Are you in a hurry
Need a lift to happy hour
Say, “oh no”
Do you brake for distilled spirits
I need a break as well
The well that inebriates the guilt
One, two, one, two, three, four

Cold turkey’s getting stale
Tonight I’m eating crow
Fermented salmonella, poison oak no
There’s a drought at the fountain of youth
And now I’m dehydrated
My tongue is swelling up
I say one, two, one, two, three, four

Troubled times, you know I cannot lie
I’m off the wagon and I’m hitchin’ a ride

There’s a drought at the fountain of youth
And now I’m dehydrated
My tongue is swelling up, I say…
Shit!

Troubled times, you know I cannot lie
I’m off the wagon and I’m hitchin’ a ride

Don’t know where to go
Hitchin’ a ride

3. The Grouch

Rating: 4.4/5. From 140 votes. Show votes.
Please wait…

The narrator in this song is a man who’s wasted his life and now all he can do is complain about it. He spends his days bitching about everything: his empty life, his apathy, his health…He even bitches about bitching (“I’m always rude, I got a bad attitude”). He exists, but he lost his will to live – he hates everything and drowns himself in regret and hatred. He realizes that he’s turning out like his dad, which for him means becoming something that he hates. Now he hates everything, including himself.

Unfortunately, the character described in The Grouch is quite typical. Thousands of people who failed to fulfill their dreams end up with a “wasted youth and a fistful of ideals”, and not all of them can cope with it. A lot of people turn into old grouches who can’t or don’t want to do anything with their life, and therefore hate the younger generation for still having the opportunity to do something good with their life. They believe that their age and misery give them the right to belittle the talents and abilities of younger people or people who are more successful in life. And they say “the world owes me, so fuck you”, because that’s the only way for them to convince themselves that their life is still worth something.

– song meaning courtesy of GreekStinkBreath.net

I was a young boy that had big plans
Now I’m just another shitty old man
I don’t have fun and I hate everything
The world owes me, so fuck you

Glory days don’t mean shit to me
I drank a six-pack of apathy
Life’s a bitch and so am I
The world owes me, so fuck you

Wasted youth and a fistful of ideals
I had a young and optimistic point of view
Wasted youth and a fistful of ideals
I had a young and optimistic point of view

I’ve decomposed, yet my gut’s getting fat
Oh my God, I’m turning out like my dad
I’m always rude, I’ve got a bad attitude
The world owes me, so fuck you

The wife’s a nag and the kid’s fucking up
I don’t have sex cause I can’t get it up
I’m just a grouch sitting on the couch
The world owes me, so fuck you

Wasted youth and a fistful of ideals
I had a young and optimistic point of view
Wasted youth and a fistful of ideals
I had a young and optimistic point of view

I was a young boy that had big plans
Now I’m just another shitty old man
I don’t have fun and I hate everything
The world owes me, so fuck you

Glory days don’t mean shit to me
I drank a six-pack of apathy
Life’s a bitch and so am I
The world owes me, so fuck you

4. Redundant

Green Day - Redundant single

Rating: 4.5/5. From 190 votes. Show votes.
Please wait…

Redundant is a very sad and honest love song. It describes something that happens to people who have been together for a very long time – they still love each other but everything seems the same, repetitive and redundant. At the beginning of a relationship everything is so new and exciting – the first time you say “I love you”, it’s such a special thing. But each time you say it, it loses more and more of its exclusiveness, you say “I love you” each time you end a phone conversation or go to work in the morning – and soon it becomes a clich← that has practically no feeling left in it, and that’s when “I love you’s not enough” anymore and you don’t know what to say to let your partner know what you actually feel towards them (“I’m lost for words”). You still love each other, but you’re so used to having each other around that you’re “taken for granted”, everything in your life becomes “choreographed” and your feelings turn to routine.

– song meaning courtesy of GreekStinkBreath.net

We’re living in repetition
Content in the same old shtick again
Now the routine’s turning to contention
Like a production line going over and over and over
Rollercoaster

Now I cannot speak, I’ve lost my voice
I’m speechless and redundant
Cause I love you’s not enough
I’m lost for words

Choreographed and lack of passion
Prototypes of what we were
Went full circle ’til I’m nauseous
Taken for granted, now I waste it, faked it, ate it
Now I hate it

Now I cannot speak, I’ve lost my voice
I’m speechless and redundant
Cause I love you’s not enough
I’m lost for words

5. Scattered

Rating: 4.6/5. From 150 votes. Show votes.
Please wait…

“The 1st verse of ‘Scattered’ was written in 1992. 2nd verse was finished in 1996. Everything comes back at some point.”

– Billie Joe Armstrong

In Scattered, the narrator is looking at old pictures of someone he used to love. He realizes that he still misses this person and maybe even still loves them. Gradually his regret and despair grow as he starts to understand that he needs to be with this person. He admits all the mistakes he’s made and is now willing to change, sacrifice everything just to be with this person because without them his life is purposeless. He realizes that nothing in his life can make him happy if he doesn’t have his loved one. Knowing that this relationship has long been over, he is still dreaming and hoping that maybe some time somehow they could be together again.

– song meaning courtesy of GreekStinkBreath.net

Well, I’ve got some scattered pictures
Lying on my bedroom floor
Reminds me of the times we shared
Makes me wish that you were here
Cause now it seems I’ve forgotten my purpose in this life
All the songs have been erased
Guess I’ve learned from my mistakes

Well, open the past and present now and we are there
Story to tell and I am listening
Open the past and present and the future too
It’s all I’ve got and I’m giving it to you

Well, loose ends tied in knots
Leaving a lump down in my throat
I’m gagging on a souvenir
Live to fill another year
Well, drag it on and on until my skin is ripped to shreds
Leaving myself open wide
Living out a sacrifice

Well, open the past and present now and we are there
Story to tell and I am listening
Open the past and present and the future too
It’s all I’ve got and I’m giving it to you

If you got no one
And I’ve got no place to go
Would it be alright?
Could it be alright?

Well, I’ve got some scattered pictures
Lying on my bedroom floor
Reminds me of the times we shared
Makes me wish that you were here
Cause now it seems I’ve forgotten my purpose in this life
All the songs have been erased
Guess I’ve learned from my mistakes

Well, open the past and present now and we are there
Story to tell and I am listening
Open the past and present and the future too
It’s all I’ve got and I’m giving it to you

6. All The Time

Rating: 3.6/5. From 127 votes. Show votes.
Please wait…

This song is about different sides of addiction and the fight with it. “Salud” in this song is most likely an equivalent of “cheers”, and the recurrence of this word means that the narrator is raising toasts and drinking. “All the time, a New Year’s Resolution how soon that we forget,” is probably referring to a New Year’s Resolution to quit drinking, but like most New Year’s Resolution it has been forgotten, or maybe the narrator simply gave up on that goal. He keeps putting off the time when he has to actually quit drinking and finds more reasons to take a sip – “Here’s to me, let’s find another reason”.

But then again, the narrator realizes that sooner or later he will have to quit if he doesn’t want to waste the rest of his life. “Wasting time down a bum fuck road and I don’t know where the hell it’ll go” – he understands that if he doesn’t quit, he’ll “smash straight into a wall”. He’s wondering where all the time went as he’s scared that he’s already lost way too much of it.

– song meaning courtesy of GreekStinkBreath.net

All the time, every time I need it
What’s the time? I said the time is right
Here’s to me, let’s find another reason
Down the hatch and a bad attitude
Salud!

Wasting time, wasting time down a bum fuck road
And I don’t know where the hell it’ll go
Heirlooms, huffing fumes, and I’m picking up the pace
And I’m gonna smash straight into a wall

All the time, a New Year’s resolution
How soon that we forget
Doing time and loving every minute
Live it up on another letdown
Salud!

Promises, promises, it was all set in stone
Cross my heart and I hope to die
Sugar fix, dirty tricks, and a trick question
Guess I should have read between the lines

Having the time of my life
Watching the clock tick
Having the time of my life
Watching the clock tick

All the time, where did all the time go?
It’s too late to say goodnight
Time flies when you’re having fun, yeah
Time’s up when you work like a dog
Salud!

7. Worry Rock

Rating: 4.1/5. From 134 votes. Show votes.
Please wait…

This is the album’s relationship song that is much bitterer than Redundant or even Scattered. Worry Rock is full of sickening confusion between two people who love each other but doubt whether they should still be together, because all they seem to be doing is fighting and hesitating. The frustration builds up and locks them in “brick walls” and “windows made of stone” that they don’t seem to be able to break. There’s no closure and no final decision, “no one will take the fall”. This seems to be going nowhere, “and what did you do with the directions?”, but in the end, the narrator decides that it’s still worth the fight. He sees that if they help each other through this, their relationship will stand the test and eventually the hard times will be over. So he offers his partner a compromise – “promise me no dead-end streets, and I’ll guarantee we’ll have the road”.

– song meaning courtesy of GreekStinkBreath.net

Another sentimental argument
And bitter love
Fucked without a kiss again
Dragged it through the mud

Yelling at brick walls
And punching windows made of stone
The worry rock has turned to dust
Fallen on our pride

A knocked down dragged out fight
Fat lips and open wounds
Another wasted night
And no one will take the fall

Where do we go from here
And what did you do with the directions?
Promise me no dead end streets
And I’ll guarantee we’ll have the road

A knocked down dragged out fight
Fat lips and open wounds
Another wasted night
And no one will take the fall

Another sentimental argument
And bitter love
Fucked without a kiss again
Dragged it through the mud

Where do we go from here
And what did you do with the directions?
Promise me no dead end streets
And I’ll guarantee we’ll have the road

8. Platypus (I Hate You)

Rating: 4.1/5. From 137 votes. Show votes.
Please wait…

In Platypus the narrator verbally attacks a person that has not only hurt him in the past, but also took pleasure in doing so. But then all the foul deeds backfired and the object of the narrator’s hatred is now haunted by all the pain he’s caused other people. What goes around comes around and now everyone hates them and it’s stupid to pretend that they enjoy it or don’t care.

The song is said to be directed towards a journalist that Green Day had an unpleasant experience with. Supposedly he wrote good reviews about the band’s music before Dookie, but then when the band became popular the critic changed his mind and pissed the band off with the way he acted. Platypus was the band’s reply. Armstrong decided not to put the song on Insomniac but instead released it on Nimrod because he felt it would show the critic that they’ve grown. The lyrics openly show the author’s attitude towards this person and even expresses that it’s a pleasure to know that he is sick and is going to die.

– song meaning courtesy of GreekStinkBreath.net

Before Nimrod was released I had heard that the lyrics to Platypus wouldn’t be included so I emailed Billie to ask why. This is his response and the lyrics as they were sent to me:

The lyrics to “Platypus” will not be on the Cd
because of lawyer problems due to my potty mouth. But here
they are anyway:

Your rise and fall
Back up against the wall
What goes around is coming back and haunting you
It’s time to quit
Cause you ain’t worth the shit
Under my shoes or the piss on the ground

No one loves you and you know it
Don’t pretend that you enjoy it or you don’t care
Cause now I wouldn’t lie or tell you all the things you want
to hear.
I HATE YOU I HATE YOU I HATE YOU I HATE YOU

I heard your sick
Sucked on that cancer stick
A throbbing tumor and a radiation high
Shit out of luck
And now your time is up
It brings me pleasure just to know your going to die

Dickhead, Fuckface, cock smoking, mother fucking, asshole,
dirty twat, waste of semen, I hope you die HEY

Red eye, code blue
I’d like to strangle you
And watch your eyes bulge right out of your skull
When you go down
Head first into the ground
I’ll stand above you just to piss on your grave

9. Uptight

Rating: 4.0/5. From 130 votes. Show votes.
Please wait…

This is a story of a man who seems to have no remains of hope left in his heart. He describes his life as a dead-end road with no goals or dreams; everything he does is doomed to be a disappointment right from the start – “got a new start on a dead-end road”, “peaked out on reaching new lows”. He drowned himself in melancholic apathy – “the future just ain’t what it used to be”. And now nothing in his life seems to be worth living for, and he’s ready to use the most permanent solution to his problems – “suicide’s last call”. “Uptight, I’m a nag with a gun” – he wants to end it all for good.

– song meaning courtesy of GreekStinkBreath.net

I woke up on the wrong side of the floor
Made, made my way through the front door
Broke my engagement with myself
Perfect picture of bad health
Another notch scratched on my belt
The future just ain’t what it used to be

I got a new start on a dead end road
Peaked, peaked out on reaching new lows
Owe, I paid off all my debts to myself
Perfect picture of bad health, another notch scratched on my belt
The future’s in my living room

Uptight, I’m a nag with a gun
All night, suicide’s last call
I’ve been uptight all night
I’m a son of a gun

10. Last Ride In

Rating: 3.4/5. From 136 votes. Show votes.
Please wait…

Instrumental song

Instrumental song

11. Jinx

Rating: 3.8/5. From 124 votes. Show votes.
Please wait…

In the beginning one might think the narrator of the song is apologizing to someone, but as the lyrics go on we see that it’s nothing but sarcasm. He cynically states that what he is ‘apologizing’ for is in fact an unfair accusation (I lost before I did any wrong), and at the same time he tells the person he’s addressing to stay away from him as he is hexed with regrets and bad luck, so if they stay with him they will be damned as well. The lines you finally met your nemesis disguised as your fatal long lost love might mean the narrator is talking to someone who used to be in love with him and had their heart broken, possibly because he never loved them back. So now he’s sarcastically telling them to inflict whatever punishment on him that they think he deserves, but in the end if they stick around they’ll be damned and cursed just like he is because they fell for a jinx.

– song meaning courtesy of GreekStinkBreath.net

I fucked up again it’s all my fault
So turn me around and face the wall
And read me my rights and tell me I am wrong
Until it gets into my thick skull

A slap on the wrist. A stab in the back
Torture me, I’ve been a bad boy
Nail me to the cross and tell me you have won
I lost before I did any wrong

I’m hexed with regrets and bad luck
So keep your distance cause it’s rubbing off
Or you will be damned to spend your life in hell
Or earth with me tangled at your feet

You finally met your nemesis
Disguised as your fatal long lost love
So kiss it goodbye until death do we part
You fell for a jinx for crying out loud

I’m a curse hanging around you

12. Haushinka

Rating: 4.3/5. From 132 votes. Show votes.
Please wait…

“Haushinka was written around the same time as Basket Case. But released on Nimrod. And yes there really is a girl named Haushinka.”

– Billie Joe Armstrong

In this song, the narrator talks about a girl he met on the eve of his birthday. The way he talks about her reveals that he liked her a lot and now keeps wondering if she knew how he felt about her. He keeps thinking about what happened to her and if she found her way. And he realizes that it’s too late to dream of meeting her again and all he’s left with is a memory, yet he keeps kicking himself and regretting that he didn’t act the way he should have when she was still around.

It’s possible, that the song is not just about this one girl or anyone in particular, but about parting with people before you get a chance to tell them how you feel about them. And for the rest of your life, you can only wonder whatever happened to them and whether they remember you and know about how you feel.

– song meaning courtesy of GreekStinkBreath.net

Haushinka is a girl with a peculiar name
I met her on the eve of my birthday
Did she know, did she know
Before she went away, does she know
But it’s too damn late

This girl has gone far away
Now she’s gone
This girl has gone far away
Now she’s gone
This girl has gone far away
Now she’s gone
This girl has gone far away
Now she’s gone
Now she’s gone
Now she’s all gone

All I have now is a memory to date
A cheap hat and cigarettes, and a peculiar name
I didn’t know, I didn’t know before she went away
I know now, I know now, and it’s too damn late

This girl has gone far away
Now she’s gone
This girl has gone far away
Now she’s gone
This girl has gone far away
Now she’s gone
This girl has gone far away
Now she’s gone
Now she’s gone
Now she’s all gone

Will she ever find her way
I’m too damn young to be too late (yet but am I?)
Yet again I’m kicking myself
And I’ll be here in battle scars, waiting for you
Waiting for you now

This girl has gone far away
Now she’s gone
This girl has gone far away
Now she’s gone
This girl has gone far away
Now she’s gone
This girl has gone far away
Now she’s gone
Now she’s gone
Now she’s all gone

13. Walking Alone

Rating: 3.8/5. From 128 votes. Show votes.
Please wait…

This song is about being abandoned by all friends and acquaintances due to a certain type of behavior.

The narrator has obviously been rejected because of the way he acted and the way he communicated with people around him. “This time I think I stuck my foot in my mouth” – he’s obviously been impolite and rude, which caused people to turn away from him. And now he regrets how he’s been acting, admits his mistakes. He’s not mad at people for turning their backs on him since he realizes that he deserves to be avoided. This realization now makes him feel even worse and he drowns his sorrow in alcohol (“Isn’t that another familiar face? Too drunk to figure out, they’re fading away”), which obviously doesn’t help his situation at all.

The line “Isn’t that another familiar face? Too drunk to figure out, they’re fading away” also opens a possibility that the loneliness the narrator now has to face was caused not only by his inability to act respectfully but also by his indulgence in alcohol. “Thinking out loud and acting in vain” – it’s a well-known fact that someone who is drunk loses their ability to fully control their emotions and actions. So, if the narrator indeed had an alcohol addiction, then he might have driven people away with his constant inappropriate comments and behavior caused by alcohol intoxication. And now when everyone turned away from him, the misery leads to even more drinking and he gets locked up in the cycle of his own addiction and loneliness.

– song meaning courtesy of GreekStinkBreath.net

Come together like a foot in a shoe
Only this time I think I stuck my foot in my mouth
Thinking out loud and acting in vain
Knocking over anyone that stands in my way

Sometimes I need to apologize
Sometimes I need to admit that I ain’t right
Sometimes I should just keep my mouth shut
Or only say hello
Sometimes I still feel I’m walking alone

Walk on eggshells on my old stomping ground
Yet there’s really no one left that’s hanging around
Isn’t that another familiar face
Too drunk to figure out they’re fading away

Sometimes I need to apologize
Sometimes I need to admit that I ain’t right
Sometimes I should just keep my mouth shut
Or only say hello
Sometimes I still feel I’m walking alone

14. Reject

Rating: 4.0/5. From 125 votes. Show votes.
Please wait…

The narrator says that criticism doesn’t bother him since he’s doing what he wants and even if that would make him a reject it is still the road he chooses to walk and he’s proud of it. But what is more interesting is that the song describes a certain type of people – those who consider themselves good enough to tell others what to do. They are irritated by people who they believe to be worthless and want them to change their ways and become more like the norm. The narrator tells those know-it-alls to stop flattering themselves because they are not perfect either and their desire to make everyone fit their ideal social model will only screw them up and turn them to “nervous wrecks”. In other words, it’s much better to be a reject but do what you want than always follow patterns and do what you are told just for the sake of being accepted by society.

– song meaning courtesy of GreekStinkBreath.net

Who the hell are you to tell me
What I am and what’s my master plan
What makes you think that it includes you
Self-righteous wealth, stop flattering yourself

So when the smoke clears here I am
Your reject all-American
Sucking up to your social sect, making you a nervous wreck
To hell and back and hell again I’ve gone
You’re not my type
Not my type

What’s the difference between you and me?
I do what I want, and you do what you’re told
So listen up and shut the hell up
It’s no big deal and I’ll see you in hell

So when the smoke clears here I am
Your reject all-American
Sucking up to your social sect, making you a nervous wreck
To hell and back and hell again I’ve gone
You’re not my type
Not my type

Your reject all-American
Falling from grace, right on my face
To hell and back and hell again I’ve gone

15. Take Back

Rating: 3.5/5. From 130 votes. Show votes.
Please wait…

With Take Back the narrator expresses the hate he feels towards some person that “pushed him once too far again”. This person has hurt him so much that they pretty much get under his skin now. He’s dreaming of revenge as he repeats “can’t take, can’t take, can’t take anymore”. The anger is so strong that he’s willing to play dirty and stick the knife right into their back. Whatever it takes to take back what’s his – his pride, his dignity. “Expect it when you’re least expecting it” – he’s not going to stop.

– song meaning courtesy of GreekStinkBreath.net

 

You pushed me once too far again
I’d love to break your fucking teeth
And stick a knife in the center of your back
You better grow some eyes in the back of your head
I fight dirty, just like your looks
Can’t take, can’t take, can’t take any more

Take back, take back, take

The taste of bad blood on the tip of my tongue
An eye for an eye, gun for a gun
Cold-cocked and I’m taking back what’s mine
Expect it when you’re least expecting it
No loss of love, the smell of regret
Lights out
Can’t take anymore

Take back, take back, take back, take back, take back
Shit!

16. King For A Day

Rating: 4.1/5. From 145 votes. Show votes.
Please wait…

The narrator is telling the listeners about his cross-dressing hobby. He started trying on his mother’s clothes when he was 4 years old, and as soon as his family found out about it his father threw him in therapy because he thought that cross-dressing is not something a real man would do. The narrator disagrees with this opinion and states that “sugar and spice and everything nice” isn’t made for girls only – there is nothing wrong with trying on woman’s clothes if that gives you some sort of emotional or physical satisfaction. Thinking that cross-dressing makes you “not a real man” is no more than an out-dated stereotype.

– song meaning courtesy of GreekStinkBreath.net

Started at the age of 4
My mother went to the grocery store
Went sneaking through her bedroom door
To find something in a size 4

Sugar and spice and everything nice
Wasn’t made for only girls
GI Joe in pantyhose
Is making room for the one and only

King for a day
Princess by dawn
King for a day
In a leather thong
King for a day
Princess by dawn
Just wait ’til all the guys
Get a load of me

My daddy threw me in therapy
He thinks I’m not a real man
Who put the drag in the drag queen?
Don’t knock it until you tried it

Sugar and spice and everything nice
Wasn’t made for only girls
GI Joe in pantyhose
Is making room for the one and only

King for a day
Princess by dawn
King for a day
In a leather thong
King for a day
Princess by dawn
Just wait ’til all the guys
Get a load of me

Sugar and spice and everything nice
Wasn’t made for only girls
GI Joe in pantyhose
Is making room for the one and only

King for a day
Princess by dawn
King for a day
In a leather thong

Just wait ’til all the guys
Get a load of me

17. Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life)

Green Day - Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life) single

Rating: 4.4/5. From 192 votes. Show votes.
Please wait…

Like most good songs, Good Riddance means something different to each of its listeners.

  • Relationship

Armstrong wrote this song when his girlfriend was moving to Ecuador. He wrote the song under the title “Time of Your Life” as a sarcastic expression of the bitterness of this breakup, sort of saying “you trashed my heart, I hope you had fun”. Later his attitude to the relationship outcome changed and he gave the song a new name – “Good Riddance”, putting its original name in parenthesis. An end of a relationship is a “turning point” that makes you look back and think of what you’ve been through and realize that “it’s something unpredictable, but in the end is right”; whatever happened was meant to be.

  • Death

No one knows what happens after one dies, hence “it’s something unpredictable”, but death is inevitable, natural “and in the end, is right”. When you lose someone you love, it’s a huge turning point, and all you have left of them now are memories. “So take the photographs and still frames in your mind” – you keep them in your heart and hope that they are in a better place. Then again, sometimes, no matter how cruel it is, someone’s death can be “good riddance”.

  • Fans

The song was written sometime before the release of Dookie, the first album that the band released on a major label. That was the time when Green Day was rejected by the punk community and labelled ‘sell-outs’. A lot of their fans from earlier days turned their backs on the band because they believed that a punk band cannot be popular, and since Green Day was popular – they were not punk anymore. This creates a theory that Good Riddance might be a message to those unfaithful fans who failed to understand the true meaning of punk and couldn’t stay devoted to their favorite band because of a stereotype. Who needs those fans anyway? Good riddance.

  • Punk

A lot of people started calling Green Day sell-outs after they released Good Riddance since acoustic songs are a main-stream prerogative and should not be played by punk bands. Nevertheless, Good Riddance could be considered one of the most punk things the band has ever done since punk is about rebelling against the norms. So, releasing an acoustic song for a punk band is going against the norms, doing what you want and not what you’re supposed to – and that’s exactly what punk is about.

  • Life

Something might have triggered writing this song, but it’s not just about a relationship or death or a certain turning point, it’s about life in general and everything that’s in it. The song is full of lines of eternal wisdom, like “so, make the best of this test and don’t ask why – it’s not a question, but a lesson learned in time”. Indeed, when we go through hard times, we often ask a higher being, ourselves and everyone around “Why? Why did this happen to me?” But we never get the answer, because “it’s not a question, but a lesson learned in time” – something we’re supposed to find out as we go through life. “So take the photographs and still frames in your mind” – memories is something we need to hold on to at any point in life because they can get you through anything and make you realize that “for what it’s worth it was worth all the while”. In the end, life itself is “something unpredictable, but in the end is right”. We don’t always control it, don’t always like it, but in the end, it’s what it was meant to be. And when it’s over – “I hope you had the time of your life”.

– song meaning courtesy of GreekStinkBreath.net

Another turning point, a fork stuck in the road
Time grabs you by the wrist, directs you where to go
So make the best of this test, and don’t ask why
It’s not a question, but a lesson learned in time

It’s something unpredictable, but in the end it’s right
I hope you had the time of your life

So take the photographs and still frames in your mind
Hang it on a shelf in good health and good time
Tattoos of memories and dead skin on trial
For what it’s worth it was worth all the while

It’s something unpredictable, but in the end it’s right
I hope you had the time of your life

18. Prosthetic Head

Green Day - Prosthetic Head single

Rating: 4.3/5. From 176 votes. Show votes.
Please wait…

A song about the overuse of cosmetics and plastic surgery. The author described the person as a sight for sore eyes putting on a suicidal makeover, which tells how the person is willing to risk his life to look good. His whole face is so badly reconstructed, even his face isn’t human-like anymore (Plastic eyes, lookin’ through a numbskull). The author hates him and tells him to shut up, you don’t let up.

The author shows his hate for his new looks in the chorus by calling him a tumor and parasitic-like creature, like an alien (You have a growth that must be treated, like a severed severe pain in the neck, no explanation identified). The author believes he is so badly deformed that he can’t even use his facial organs like his eyes anymore (You can smell it but you can’t see it).

The song continues with the description of what the person has used to make himself better looking. Even going to the extremes of injecting lead (something like botox) and blood (make his cheeks look rosier). Then the day comes when everything falls apart since his body has gotten immune to the injections and is about to die (Do or die, no reply, don’t deny that you’re synthetic, you’re pathetic).

The rest of the song is just a repetition of the author’s hatred towards his friend.

– song meaning written by u/potlah on r/GreenDay

I see you, down on the front line
Such a sight for sore eyes, you’re a suicide makeover
Plastic eyes, lookin’ through a numbskull
Self-effaced, what’s his face
You’ve erased yourself so shut up
You don’t let up

You have a growth that must be treated
Like a severed severe pain in the neck
You can smell it but you can’t see it
No explanation identified cause

You don’t know
You don’t say
And you got no reply

Hey you, where did you come from?
Got a head full of lead, you’re an inbred bastard son
All dressed up, red-blooded, a mannequin
Do or die, no reply, don’t deny that you’re synthetic
You’re pathetic

You have a growth that must be treated
Like a severed severe pain in the neck
You can smell it but you can’t see it
No explanation identified cause

You don’t know
You don’t say
That you got no reply

I see you, down on the front line
Such a sight for sore eyes, you’re a suicide makeover

You don’t know. You don’t say
That you got no reply

Bonus Tracks

19. Suffocate (Australia)

Rating: 4.2/5. From 56 votes. Show votes.
Please wait…

Obviously, the song is about an addiction and how it is destroying your life – it destroys your body, your social life and your will to live. You want to quit but then go back to it again. And you realize that one day you will suffocate from it all.

Possibly, the idea of suffocating from an alcohol addiction comes not only from the emotional desperation but also from the fact that sometimes alcoholics actually die from “drowning” in their own vomit. They pass out and start throwing up while being unconscious and this sometimes causes asphyxiation from choking on one’s own puke. Of course, this is not an everyday thing, but it does happen, and since the narrator mentions that he’s “feeling like a salad in his puke”, he might be referring to the possibility of physically suffocating.

To a point, the song is simply about death – realizing that one day you will suffocate, that one day your addiction will kill you.

– song meaning courtesy of GeekStinkBreath.net

3 a.m., I’m drunk again
My head is standing underneath my feet so
Make it stop, I’m getting off
Make it stop, I’m getting off

Sedatives and dizzy spells
And spilling my guts out beneath my feet
So make it stop, I’m getting off
Make it stop, I’m getting off

Well, slipped into a coma once again
Where’s my organ donor, lend a hand

So when you think you’re all alone
No one’s left to come around
Drop like flies and empathize
Cause I know that I will someday
And I know that I will suffocate
Suffocate, suffocate, suffocate

One night stands and cheap regrets
I take another drag off of my cigarette
So stop, I’m getting off
Make it stop, I’m getting off

One last stop for a one track mind
Just give me shelter, give me give me something
Make it stop, I’m getting off
Make it stop, I’m getting off

Well, slipped into a coma once again
Where’s my organ donor, lend a hand

So when you think you’re all alone
No one’s left to come around
Drop like flies and empathize
Cause I know that I will someday
And I know that I will suffocate
Suffocate, suffocate, suffocate

20. Do Da Da (Australia)

Rating: 4.2/5. From 53 votes. Show votes.
Please wait…

In the song, the narrator is talking about a person who is/was very devoted to him in a relationship. He realizes how much they’ve sacrificed to be a good friend for him and support him through the hard times. Now he’s saying that by being so selfless and devoted they have drowned in the negativity of his life and now they’re stuck with him and all of his issues.

song meaning courtesy of GeekStinkBreath.net

Every time I’m falling down
You take the repercussions
Headaches and anxiety
Advancing my frustrations

Rush into my depression
Sacrifice everything
Wasting me into nothing
Well now you’re stuck with me
Stuck with me
Stuck with me

Hand up your soul to my wrists
And I’ll vow my to trust you
Moving here I always said
Now I realize you’ve imagined

Rush into my depression
Sacrifice everything
Wasting me into nothing
Well now you’re stuck with me
Stuck with me
Stuck with me

21. Desensitized (Australia / Japan)

Rating: 4.5/5. From 60 votes. Show votes.
Please wait…

This song sarcastically describes how media these days consumes people and takes away their feelings. People watch news about wars, terrorist attacks, suicides and murders as if those were entertainment shows – “bring me blood and pain of a stranger’s fate”, “go ahead and kill yourselves – it all amuses me”. The more news about someone else’s tragedy we watch and read – the less we care. We drown in a pile of information on TV and the Internet, absorb it all and lose the true feelings of life – become ‘desensitized’.

– song meaning courtesy of GeekStinkBreath.net

Clenching my teeth tight
My head is like a sponge
Give it to me free

I wanna get ripped off
And drown in the airwaves
Another fatal wreck
On the information highway

So go ahead and kill yourselves
It all amuses me
For I’ll be damned to spend my life in hell
Another wise ingrate

Bring me blood and pain
Of a stranger’s fate
Give it all away
Give it to me now
I’m desensitized
I wanna watch a bomb
Blow the masses high

I wanna get ripped off
And drown in the airwaves
Another fatal wreck
On the information highway

So go ahead and kill yourselves
It all amuses me
For I’ll be damned to spend my life in hell
Another wise ingrate

Bring me blood and pain
Of a stranger’s fate
Give it all away

I wanna get ripped off
And drown in the airwaves
Another fatal wreck
On the information highway

So go ahead and kill yourselves
It all amuses me
For I’ll be damned to spend my life in hell
Another wise ingrate

22. You Lied (Australia)

Rating: 3.9/5. From 53 votes. Show votes.
Please wait…

You Lied criticizes people who get way too carried away with lying. Their stories are so stretched that it’s obvious to everyone that they are lying. “Your mother allowed you just one white lie” – compulsive lying usually starts with a small lie that makes you seem better than you are or helps you get away with something. And then you like it and keep lying more and more, by reflex, without even realizing that you lie, and in the end, your lies are so unbelievable that no one is buying any more – “your nose is growing into the 3rd dimension”. And you need to do everything possible to learn how to stop before it gets even worse.

– song meaning courtesy of GeekStinkBreath.net

You got a problem you just can’t hide
Compulsive habits that never seem to die
Your breath is taking up all the air
Your teeth are rotting to black holes in your head

When reality is due
What you say just can’t be true
When the story’s stretched and so farfetched
That you’re lacking an excuse
You lied

Your mother allowed you just one white lie
But now she’s dead and she left you with a problem
Pinocchio has pierced your tongue
Your nose is growing into the third dimension

When reality is due
What you say just can’t be true
When the story’s stretched and so farfetched
That you’re lacking an excuse
You lied