The Lyrics of "American Idiot"

[BamaLefty]

Pretty strong. Might be over the top for many but I agree with it. Read them if you never have...

-GreenDay

Don't want to be an American idiot.
Don't want a nation under the new media.
And can you hear the sound of hysteria?
The subliminal mindfuck America.

Welcome to a new kind of tension.
All across the alien nation.
Everything isn't meant to be okay.
Television dreams of tomorrow.
We're not the ones who're meant to follow.
Well that's enough to argue.

Well maybe I'm the fag*ot America.
I'm not a part of a redneck agenda.
Now everybody do the propaganda.
And sing along in the age of paranoia.

Welcome to a new kind of tension.
All across the alien nation.
Everything isn't meant to be okay.
Television dreams of tomorrow.
We're not the ones who're meant to follow.
Well that's enough to argue.

Don't want to be an American idiot.
One nation controlled by the media.
Information age of hysteria.
It's going out to idiot America.

Welcome to a new kind of tension.
All across the alien nation.
Everything isn't meant to be okay.
Television dreams of tomorrow.
We're not the ones who're meant to follow.
Well that's enough to argue.

http://greendayweb.yaia.com/lyricsamericanidiot.html

-EDIT- for clarity

[Syrinx]

1. Green Day has a concert coming up near us

I can't remember if it's Birmingham or Atlanta. I wouldn't mind going though.

[xray s]

2. doesn't sound over the top to me

sounds dead on target

[BamaLefty]

6. I Don't

But most people (including many Dems) would object to it.

[xray s]

8. most people are oblivious

including many Dems

[BamaLefty]

9. Sadly True...

[Generator]

3. Over the top?

Nah, I say 100% spot on.

Subliminal mindfuck America. Perfect. Oh yeah, I have the CD. So little music that says anything anymore.

[City Lights]

7. I love the "subliminal mindfuck America" line.

Turns lots of heads at stoplights. :evilgrin:

[City Lights]

4. Not over the top at all.

Billie Joe nailed it.

The entire CD kicks ass.

[Running Free]

5. The way things are right now...

These lyrics may not even be over-the-top for my native Canada.

[TwilightZone]

10. Very accurate.

The rest of the CD covers similar themes and is excellent. One of the best CDs released in recent years.

[alfredo]

11. You should check out John Vanderslice's "Cellar Door."

He's got some very anti war, and anti establishment songs. This guy is fucking great, but not many stations play his music.

His lyrics page

http://www.johnvanderslice.com/html/lyrics_cd.html

I like this one


HEATED POOL AND BAR (from Cellar Door)

my cousin is in columbia
hunting down the rebels
over fields of bright and shiny coca

over the jungle floor
one-handing a 32
he says: “bring her down low now, I’m ready to go.”

“I hunt kids in camouflage
rain down bullets in flight, white light,
barefoot boys run for your lives.”

but you can’t be nice
you put your gun to their head
and you pull back the pin
and you can’t be good

my friend is based in afghanistan
he goes from cave to cave and pulls the trigger
at the first sight of a man

it’s total anarchy
shooting tracer bullets at night
a high and holy patrol into poppy fields

but you can’t be good
you hold up the bloody knife
and let it shine in the sun
you gotta be everywhere

I’m a guard in guantanamo
I bring the prisoners in
the hoods come off and torture slowly begins

the screams I’ve overheard
it’d fuck up a weaker man
but I’m cold, I’m so untouchable

and you can’t be nice
I got a flak jacket
on my soul with me tonight
and you can’t be good

[WillyT]

12. Not Over The Top... If Fact, Couldn't Be More Accurate !!!

:bounce::kick::bounce:

[Tripper11]

13. Nice!

[ZombieNixon]

14. It's good, but there are other punk songs that have better and more poigna

nt lyrics.

Buy the new Strung Out and Rise Against CDs. Not only are they ridiculously good, but the lyrics to some of the songs are completely incredible.

BLUEPRINT OF THE FALL
Strung Out
Exile In Oblivion
-basically one of the best, most thoughtful explanations of 9/11 and the subsequent hysteria.

Imagine a place where freedom's just a word on the wall
Surrounded by the wreckage of towers that could never fall
The company will avenge

Imagine the lies like bombs turn to the shock and the awe
For justice in time and a land for justice never was

One thief to rule them all along the Potomac and west towards the sea
Through the ghettoes, past the monuments we all built to house the weak

It's the blueprint to the fall of our place in history
The end to what we all believed would be the hope to save this place
And I walk among the flagstones
Through the graves
An apocalypse in blooming
In the sage

Dead presidents
Lined coffin text
In biblican unrest
The blind pride
Home genocide
And secret wars we all missed

It's the blueprint to the fall of the entire human race
The end to what we all believed would be the hope to save this place
And I walk among the flagstones
Through the graves
An apocalypse in blooming
In the sage

DANCING FOR RAIN
Rise Against
Siren Song of the Counter Culture

We're losing daylight but I can't work any faster
But I can't work any faster
Under the veil of dusk we go on
Don't close your eyes
What if it all disappears in the shadows
That reach from the stars?

If I held my ground, would you ask me to change
This drought bleeds on and we're dancing for rain
We drink the air but it's still not the same

These worlds collide, but the distance remains
We point the finger, never accept the blame
And I know, and I know

The waters gone, but the fire still rages on here
The men all shrugged their shoulders and left
We sleeps so sound in rooms just up the stairs
Will you save us, like you saved them?

If I held my ground, would you ask me to change
This drought bleeds on and we're dancing for rain
We drink the air but it's still not the same

These worlds collide, but the distance remains
We point the finger, never accept the blame
And I know, and I know

You've bled me dry, but I'm still breathing
I swear I'm sucking dry the sky
You won't ever find us kneeling
Or swallowing your lies

If I held my ground, would you ask me to change
This drought bleeds on and we're dancing for rain
We drink the air but it's still not the same

These worlds collide, but the distance remains
We point the finger, never accept the blame
And I know, and I know

***

Don't get me wrong, Green Day's a good band, and American Idiot is a great song,, but metaphor, since it requires you to think and create, can me far more powerful that straight out cursing.

Support punk bands!