| Green Day – Before the Lobotomy Lyrics | 16 years ago |
| could be, thats the great thing about this album....it could be explored in many ways by every person who buys it. | |
| Green Day – East Jesus Nowhere Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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An absolutely scathing take on organized religion in America. To me, this is Christian mocking well, Christianity. This is a huge song on the album. The first act was introducing Christian and Gloria and establishing some background on the two. This is Christian's revolution finally coming to fruition - he fully believes that church and state are hopelessly intertwined and is determined to start there. They are in the middle of some kind of attack, but Christian can't help but utter the most smarmy, cruel comments while it's happening. It's actually a really funny song with some great lines. |
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| Green Day – Last Night on Earth Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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Lovely Lennon-esque song. It's written by Christian to Gloria. After falling victim to his uncontrolled rage in Christian's Inferno (due to her very painful, emotional take on "Before the Lobotomy"), this is his love (and apology?) song to Gloria. I don't think Christian is a bad guy, he's very paranoid, scared, and probably a little sick in the head. "I walked for miles til I found you" references back to "Know Your Enemy" where Christian is traveling to tell the youth about the dangers of America until he falls in love with Gloria in the piano bit of "Viva la Gloria." "The fire" is mentioned numerous times on the album and I think it symbolizes the revolution and the struggle it faces to get what they want achieved. Also, there's a strand of music that continues between Christian's Inferno and the beginning of Last Night on Earth - I think the songs are very closely aligned, as they show the two extremes of Christian. One is the enraged, bitter, paranoid young man and the other is a sweet, loving guy who really does care about Gloria. I think there is some serious guilt by Christian for basically uprooting this younger, innocent, nieve girl and completely destroying what made her so incredibly attractive in the first place. |
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| Green Day – Before the Lobotomy Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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In my opinion: This is the first song from Gloria's point of view. Remember, the song before this, Viva la Gloria, when we were introduced to this character who completely changed midway through the song? That was quite obviously in Christian's point of view and the last line was "Tell me the story of your life." Well here it is, this is Gloria's story that he asked for, much like 21st Century Breakdown was Christians story. Problem is, she can't remember much. She didn't get a literal "lobotomy" but joining life with Christian, the extremist revolutionary leader, has wiped away most of her fond dreams and memories. The brutal sadness of reality has washed away the time with her family, even laughter and a more fulfilling life. The negativity and pain has tarnished her innocence and without her faith she compares herself to a "lost refugee." Also I think "Christian sang the eulogy" is, in a way, referring back to "Viva la Gloria" but also Christian basically killed the person who was Gloria, as she has morphed into a completely different person since initially meeting him. In her mind, she's not any worse though, because she found out the "truth" about the cons of America from Christian - yet she's not in love with him either, because she's too drugged out and disgusted with the world. I've listened to quite a few concept albums and this is right up there. Great stuff Green Day. |
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| Green Day – Viva la Gloria! Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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Wow, this album is starting to make a little more sense to me as I study the lyrics. First of all, take in "21st Century Breakdown" (the song) as Christian's introduction. He's a young man growing up and is becoming rapidly disturbed by the cons posing as heroes, American authority (government, wall street, etc.) misguiding the hardworking citizens, and how fucked up his parents generation is (raising their kids on video games, being bad role models, not really giving a shit about them). He's sad that his generation will probably end up like their parents if they don't change the leadership. So in "Know Your Enemy" he travels and is constantly stirring the youth, preaching his way to the masses (which is why the song is so repetitive, particularly with the word "Enemy"). He really thinks a violent bloodshed of a revolution is the only way to fix the corruption happening around him. This is a much tougher song to interprete. I'll take a stab at it. "Viva la Gloria" is when Christian meets the one girl who is unlike the rest - a beautiful, religious young woman named Gloria. Christian (note the name) falls in love with Gloria for her ideals and her unwavering faith, which is pure and not corrupt, while he's still trying to push the revolution that he is begging for in "Know Your Enemy". He's saying that the youth of the country are the future and to join him in this battle because her strong will (and faith perhaps?) would make good use in the fight. Basically, the second half of the song (when the rock starts up/piano ends) is when Gloria decides to join Christian - once Christian mentiones their "undying love". And Gloria begins to lose her innocence, slowly but surely, to Christian's dismay. She sprays grafitti now, her carefree spirit is crushed, she's scarred and carrying guns, burying her youthful innoncence. She's a sinner, sure, but she's still the best one of them all, the most morally guided amongst the twisted youth. Christian is distraught over Gloria's change. I think the last bit (particularly "where is your undying love? tell me the story of your life") is about the religion (God) that she lost over time...brilliant line because Christian used it on her before in this song, but he realizes that her real undying love that made her so special was God, not him, and she is losing (or has completely lost) her connection with religion. He's interested in knowing her past and asks her about "the story of her life" to conclude the song. |
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| Green Day – Know Your Enemy Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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The album's first song "21st Century Breakdown" is IMO about a man Christian growing up and being shocked at what he sees around him. He's realizing that his heroes are actually cons and as much as he wants to dream, the cold reality is that America is not what he thought it was. The cons have ruined the country financially, have put Americans at risk with petty war, and now the hard workers and great Americans have nothing to show for that work. This is about Christian preaching to as many people as he can - telling them about the enemy, about beginning a vocal (and violent) revolution, a way to right the system and cleanse the country. That is why the word enemy is repeated so many times - Christian is repeating this call to anyone who will listen. He's mainly talking to the youth, wanting to overthrow everything he hates about America, including the government and other forces that pose as heroes but are in reality frauds that are hurting us. |
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| Green Day – 21st Century Breakdown Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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To me, this is about the character Christian, who was raised in a tough neighborhood by bad parents and video games. He'll be graduating in 4 years and is rapidly becoming enlightened in many ways with age - socially, intellectually, politically. He's realizing that the government and many other Americans that are idolized are incredibly corrupt and are basically "cons" to society. He and his classmates were raised by these people and thus they are probably bound to become them as well. Also, in the lyrics it implies that working very hard for a living is prideful, but at the end of the day, all most of them can show for it is scars and an eventual death. The final minute is, in my opinion, the most fascinating bit of music on the album. The guitars screech and at first Bille Joe sings "Dream America Dream", which is about hope and faith. Then it shifts to "scream America scream" because the dreams are merely that and are not grounded in reality. Once the dreams are over, and morning hits ("from the lights early dawn"), you must wake up and be met with the grim reality of the state of the country. It's a very negative and depressing song despite the poppy, diverse sound. As much as Christian wants to dream, he's met with a grim reality at every corner. |
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| Green Day – 21st Century Breakdown Lyrics | 16 years ago |
| Davidecoyote - I absolutely love your input to the site. Thanks a lot. Unlike people like TheTuxedo and others who add nothing constructive to this site, I enjoy reading you trying to break down the song. | |
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