Sweet 16 Lyrics

Lyric discussion by drummerp 

Cover art for Sweet 16 lyrics by Green Day

It's using the concept of a teenage love that you still hold onto no matter how old you are, but it's a lot more. It touches on the idea of "what if we had ended up together" much like Stay the Night, but it uses it as a much broader "what if". And at the same time, it's kind of saying that it doesn't matter, the past is behind us, it's time to evolve and adapt to the new age. It almost seems like he's talking about their music -- they can't keep living in the 90's, it's time to move on and let their music evolve and mature a little. But to still hold onto the same thing you always believed in too. They're still rebels, and they still want to preach the concept of "do your own thing, don't let anyone stop you", but at the same time it's "don't get caught in the past when you do it".

My Interpretation