Basket Case

Green Day

Do you have the time to listen to me whine
About nothing and everything all at once?
I am one of those
Melodramatic fools
Neurotic to the bone
No doubt about it

Sometimes I give myself the creeps
Sometimes my mind plays tricks on me
It all keeps adding up
I think I'm cracking up
Am I just paranoid
Or am I just stoned?

I went to a shrink
To analyze my dreams
She says it's lack of sex that's bringing me down
I went to a whore
He said my life's a bore
So quit my whining 'cause it's bringing her down

Sometimes I give myself the creeps
Sometimes my mind plays tricks on me
It all keeps adding up
I think I'm cracking up
Am I just paranoid?
Ah, yeah, yeah, yeah

Grasping to control
So I better hold on

Sometimes I give myself the creeps
Sometimes my mind plays tricks on me
It all keeps adding up
I think I'm cracking up
Am I just paranoid?
Or am I just stoned?


Lyrics submitted by kevin, edited by Mathos22, Jirachibi

Basket Case Lyrics as written by Frank E Iii Wright Billie Joe Armstrong

Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.

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Basket Case song meanings
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276 Comments

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  • +15
    General CommentBeing helpless or incapable of functioning normally due to overwhelming stress or anxiety, going into a trance like state of mind during this and talking about insignificant and significant topics all mixed together into a psychotic rant. Making a big deal out of nothing and sensationalizing it anxiously.

    Scaring and tricking yourself due to paranoia, and if you do this enough times you will form schizophrenia and can literally go insane. Many people when they smoke Marijuana feel paranoid, but if it isn't drug induced maybe the irony is drugs would help this condition?

    As for the verse "I went to a shrink, To analyze my dreams. She says it's lack of sex that's bringing me down. I went to a whore, He said my life's a bore, And quit my whining cause it's bringing her down." I think the whore is both the he and she, as in a cross dresser because of the way he say's "He said my life's a bore" sounds like something a gay or cross dressing person would say. (Not to be stereotypical, just honest).

    So obviously this song is about paranoia and panic attacks, and is really well worded and due to the great description we can see inside the mind of such a subject.

    As for whether Green Day is punk or not? I guess I would say they are Alternative Rock, that's how I've always seen them but I really try not to put labels on music I like. It's not the image that should attract you, it's the music. Why brand yourself? Be an individual, be original.
    AbsentMindedon July 20, 2010   Link
  • +9
    General CommentBillie Joe wrote this song when he was having panic attacks. At the time he didn't know what they were and he thought he was going insane.

    Awesome song, good live too. Pop Disaster Tour OWNED!
    ToXiCiTyon July 27, 2002   Link
  • +6
    General CommentA song about the casing used inside baskets. The singer is well known for lyrics which drop interior decorating tips.
    shamone12on December 19, 2012   Link
  • +3
    General CommentOK, who cares if this song is punk or alternative, all we know is that it is a good song. thank you!
    corkyiversonon May 01, 2002   Link
  • +2
    General Commenti think its really pathetic that everyone seems to care so much whether green day is punk. as if there is a strict definition of punk, and it has to sound a certain way. i thought the punk attitude was about breaking rules... so therefore if green day really is breaking the punk code of conduct doesnt that make them even more punk? ehh never mind
    zephon May 20, 2002   Link
  • +2
    General CommentI love how people are trying so hard to label what is and isn't punk, this completely undermining what punk is meant to be: raw, rebellious, expression and fighting a system you don't believe in, and doing your own thing no matter what others say. Green Day is rebellious. American Idiot was about how wrong our system is. A lot of people say American Idiot is when they became alt rock, but I disagree. American Idiot was not my favorite album but it was very much punk. It was an album that not only took shots at our screwed up system, but also expressed the story of suburbian kids that most of us can relate to in someway. And their early albums were all about growing up, adolescence, angst, and learning to be yourself.
    BasketCase86on November 08, 2011   Link
  • +1
    General CommentOld GREENDAY=good shit. There new stuff is just not enough to hold me interested...
    vandalizedon May 09, 2002   Link
  • +1
    General CommentGreen Day is pop-punk, Sex Pistols/The Clash/The Damned etc, are punk rock, (early) Bad Religion/Agnostic Front/Adolescents/Black Flag/etc are hardcore punk. It's not just "punk" and "not punk", there are different sub-genres. What makes a song a punk song is its quick pace, progressions, and general theme of rebellion/disillusion/anti-social tendencies/etc.

    This song is about being young, restless, and stressed out.

    One thing that makes it so good is that it takes its chord progression from Johann Pachelbel's "Canon".
    Drevenanton September 18, 2011   Link
  • +1
    My Interpretationsounds like an anxiety attack. maybe he didn't actually go to those people (shrink whore) or whine to her about everything he just did in his head as a way to calm him down . 'so quit my whining it's bringing her down' he doesn't say anything so he doesn't worry her but he still thinks he is going mad.
    probably doesn't make sense this i nterrpretation. just what I think :)
    jonjonwinnyon December 10, 2015   Link
  • 0
    General CommentThis is my theme song... how sad is that...
    duct_tape_faerieon January 17, 2002   Link

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