Holiday

This is a great anti-war song in my opinion. I'm not American but I do hate the Bush administration and how it thinks it can run the world and this song for me is about asking questions that they don't want you to ask like "how is not supporting your government being unpatriotic?" the US Government is not the USA. "Why is the US govt. going out of its way to take away American citizen's freedoms that they were given to them by the Treaty of Independence with things like the PATRIOT Act?" "why are America and Britain fighting a pointless war in Iraq and Afghanistan that they cannot win and where the only casualties are their own troops and civilians?". Is blowing up civilians really the best way to free them from "tyranny"? and "what really happened on 9/11 and 7/7?". This song is brilliant for anyone who like me, is suspicious and concerned about what George Bush, Dick Cheney and their entourage have in store for the world.

Alright, So everyone is arguing about this song being anti-bush/war/american. How bout we work backwards and find out?

The first stanza is a direct reference to the wars going on right now. Many famous seers have suggested a prediction that the end of the world will come after or during World War III. So, the line "Hear the sound of the falling rain, coming down like an Armageddon flame" could mean that the war Bush has started might cause unfixable damage to the world. "The shame, the ones who died without a name" is referring to everyone who's fallen victim of the political battles that the power-hungry country leaders pull us into. All the soldiers, all the victims of the terrorist attacks - they all "died without a name". Starting a war is never the right answer ("Trials by fire setting fire...").

Holiday could be considered an anti-Bush song to a certain extent. The author shows his disgust towards the power-hungry president who will destroy anything that confronts him "Pulverize the Eiffel towers who criticize your government. Bang, bang! goes the broken glass, kill all the fags that don't agree"). No matter what, the diplomacy of the gov't is directly related to what the president does...so if he launches a war and this song is anti-war...so this song indirectly would bash bush.

The song also shows different sides of the political fence - the line "Another protester has crossed the line to find the money is on the other side" is criticizing Democrats ("There's one line that sort of messes with the liberals a little, too, where it says, 'Hear the drum pounding out of time, another protester crosses the line to find the money's on the other side'" - Armstrong). People only care about self-interests (like money) and not the consequences of politics.

The Bridge is also very good. "Zieg Heil to the president gasman" really means that the rep of Cali (represents liberalism movement) is trying to show salvation to Bush. It's a funny satire of the gov't and how we tried to handle our problems. In the end, he says we are "outlaws" because we are hypocritical and break our own rules when it comes to being a good country with honest intentions.

FINALLY, the chorus sums it up. Billy says he "begs to dream and differ from the hollow lies." In short, he is disgusted how America follows blind lies and wants to break out. This is very hard though since you would try to argue with a brick wall who is stubborn. This line also takes a jab at our gov't for all the ill-concieved actions they wanted everyone to support like starting this war. At first most of us said lets go kill Sadam and terrorism...but now we really see what we are fighting. "This is the dawning of our lives on holiday" is the best point of the song. It literally said everything the song points at: Oblivious America. We lived our lives not really paying attention to what really happens everyday or who we vote for. In turn, our politics are the same way. If you are on holiday you are away from your work and you also are more care free; This sums up our attitude when it comes to politics. We blindly vote or are misguided/lied to and we never take a chance to GO TO WORK and GET OFF BREAK BY LOOKING AT OUR COUNTRY. And it's all because we are on holiday...when should we come back?

Also, people wonder how this songs fit into the opera. Part of the album story
: Jimmy breaks free and finally leaves his dead-end town. Now he's entering the City and is obviously extremely excited about it. He's on holiday, he's starting a new life. He thinks that now he's free but really can't see what's going on (refers to America in the 21st century and how we are misguided or lied to). Blvd of Broken Dreams then goes into the depression of Jimmy of the realization of his life (i.e. American society).

IT IS AN ANTI-BUSH SONG!

Because it´s about the stupidity of the American people to reelect such a fucking moron as George W. Bush. (My gods what a fucking asshole of a president he were!) Bille has even said this himself in an interview one time. (Don't have the link here but search for it on google..) So this song is one of the songs of "American Idiot" that is ABSOLUTELY CLEAR of what it's about. Since Billie have said it himself.

(The other song is of course "Wake me up when September ends" which is about Billies father who died in lung cancer in the month of September"..Very sad).

But my point in all of this text that some of this "what does he mean" threads are totally useless. Because the author has already gone out with an explanation of the lyric/lyrics. So use Google one time before asking questions that has already been answered by the author. ;)

(Nothing wrong with asking here though! Don't take this the wrong way.. Might sound harsher than it really is! ;) )

Here is my take on some pieces of the song:

Hear the sound of the falling rain - this could be symbolic of soldiers' (rain drops) dying (falling) Coming down like an Armageddon flame - this event is so tragic that it is appocalyptical in nature The ones who die without a name - "name" here really means "cause"

Hear the dogs howlin' out of key - "dogs" refers to Republicans justifying (howlin') the war. "out of key" means the writer of the song thinks they are wrong To a hymn called Faith and Misery - "hymn" here subtly satires the religious base of the Republican party. They have "Faith" in Bush, but is causes them Misery (deaths of children in Iraq) And plead, the company lost the war today - again referring to the Republican party

I beg to dream and differ from the hollow lies - "hollow lies" referring to absence of WMD's despite Bush's statements This is the dawning of the rest of our lives - this is the most important part of the song. "dawning" refers to an awakening or new generation that will bring peace, but... On holiday - the promise of peace is being put on holiday by an injust war

Hear the drum pounding out of time - again musical ineptitude means corrupt in this song. This most likely refers to the percieved overbearing power of the Republicans on people against the war Another protestor has crossed the line - this does not refer to John Kerry as I have seen others state. John Kerry supports the war but belives it was mismanaged. This means an anti-war person has said something that offended Republicans To find, the money's on the other side - the writer thinks Republicans have all the money

Can I get another Amen - possibly another satirical reference to the religiousity of Republicans. It could also be defining the audience of the song as being anti-war There's a flag wrapped around the score of men - the "flag" is the US flag, a symbol of freedom, it is ironically constricting this group of people (Iraq) A gag, A plastic bag on a monument - monument refers to the statue of Sadam Hussein that was torn down. The US flag was draped over the face as it fell. Again the writer is using this symbol of freedom in an ironic way. It is suffocating like a "plastic bag" or a "gag"

I just listened to this song and it is amazing. I was so shocked by their new CD i thought it would be good but i didnt think it would be this good. Obviously protest against the bush administration and its actions i guess "Pulverize the eiffel towers who criticize your government" "kill all the fags that don't agree" absolutely wonderful song

Tattered, I don't know where you got that article but
Billie Joe is blatanly anti-bush, just look at this:

"right now I think that George Bush is more of a threat to America’s freedom than Saddam Hussein ever was.”

mirror.co.uk/entertainment/theticket/tm_objectid=14912559&method=full&siteid=50143&headline=having-a-quick-one-name_page.html

Later, he put on a camo hunting cap snatched from a fan and said, "I'm George Bush. I'm going to take away your civil liberties."

seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/artsentertainment/2002093711_greenday18.html

contactmusic.com/new/xmlfeed.nsf/mndwebpages/armstrong.s%20anger%20with%20young%20american%20voters

look at the lyrics... Not only is it Anti-bush, it's talking about our culture wars, and the ridiculousness of it all.

ZEIG HEIL TO THE PRESIDENT GASMAN BOMBS AWAY IS YOUR PUNISHMENT (carpet bombing anyone?) PULVERIZE THE EIFFEL TOWERS WHO CRITICIZE YOUR GOVERNMENT... (doesn't anyone remember freedom fries?) KILL ALL THE FAGS THAT DON'T AGREE (just look at the ultra-conservative cabinet Bush has set up)

The correlations are too great to be anything but a commentary on Bush's regime, and how he's feeding our culture war.

P.S.-you don't have to name a person in a song to make it about them....

Am I the only one who thinks he sounds kinda scottish in the first "On Holiday!" part?

I think that's it's not just anti-Bush, but anti-corruption...

Billie opens this song in concert with "This is a song about Iraq" or something like that.

This is one of my favorite Green Day songs (which makes me sound like I love the overplayed, but whatever) so true PnkRckPrncss lolz - "This song isn't Anti-American, it's Anti-Bush. Vote you fuckers!" -Billie 10/30/04 !! Haha, gotta love him.