Billie Joe wrote this song about a girl he thought was ugly, but he thought she would go out with him. He saw her at the library and asked her out but got rejected because she already had a boyfriend.

  DON'T LEAVE ME

This song is about somebody important in Billie Joe's life who left him.

  I WAS THERE

John Kriftmeyer (Al Sobrante) wrote this song about being in the band, his past memories, and how he regrets going away.

  DISAPPEARING BOY

Billie Joe wrote this song when he was younger about how lonely he was and how he felt invisible to everyone.

  GREEN DAY

This song is about starting to appriciate the little things in life. A "green day" is a day spent doing nothing but pot.

  GOING TO PASALAQUA

Billie wrote this song about another girl named Jennifer who he was falling for.

AND/OR....

Pasalaqua is a funeral home in Rodeo, California.

  16

This song is about being 16 and facing the fact that your going to have to grow up and face life.

  ROAD TO ACCEPTANCE

This song is Billie Joe wanting to be accepted by people and not be an outcast.

AND/OR....

It's about how much he wants unity for everyone, regardless of appearance (ie. skin color, style, ect.).

  THE JUDGE'S DAUGHTER

This song is about wanting to find the perfect girl.

  PAPER LANTERNS

Self explanitory. Lyric: "I'm understanding now that we are only friends. To this day I'm asking why I still think about you."

  WHY DO YOU WANT HIM?

Billie's wondering why his mom wants her boyfriend. Why Do You Want Him? was the first song Billie Joe ever wrote at the age of 12.

  409 IN YOUR COFFEEMAKER

This song is about day dreaming.

AND/OR....

When Billie was younger he put 409 in his teacher's coffee.

  KNOWLEDGE

Green Day's cover of Operation Ivy's song, Knowledge.

1,000 HOURS

Billie Joe was thinking about a girl he knew.

  DRY ICE

This is about how sometimes you can't get the opposite sex out of your head.

  Only Of You

  The meaning of Only of You is similar to that of Dry Ice.

  THE ONE I WANT

A love song. Plain and simple.

  I WANT TO BE ALONE

Just like the title says, this song is about just wanting to be left alone

  Billie Joe wrote this song about having to be away from Adrienne for so long, and how much he misses her. Billie wrote this song the first time he kissed Adrienne.

  ONE FOR THE RAZORBACKS

  This song is about a girl from the AK named Juliet, whom they met (NOT as in Romeo & Juliet).

  WELCOME TO PARADISE

  This song was how it was like living in a house in Berkely with Mike and other members of the punk community. (also appears on Dookie)

  CHRISTIE ROAD

  Christie Road is a place where Billie Joe and his friends used to go and get high.

  PRIVATE ALE

  Billie wrote this song for Adrienne, because he wanted her to like him.

  DOMINATED LOVE SLAVE

  Tre's infamous song about whips, chains, and other kinds of kinky bondage.

  ONE OF MY LIES

  This song is about questioning if there is a heaven or a hell. Billie is wondering whether this life is all just a bunch of lies.

AND/OR....

  Living a dishonest life.

  80

  Billie Joe wrote this song about his wife, Adrienne. The title comes from her nickname, Adie. (ie: 80 sounds like Adie)

  ANDROID

  This song is about wondering what you will be like when you grow up.

  NO ONE KNOWS

  This song is about Billie Joe being forced to grow up too fast.

  WHO WROTE HOLDEN CAULFIELD?

  This song is about the character Holden Caulfield from J.D. Salinger's classic book, The Catcher in the Rye. Billie Joe was assigned to read it in school, but of course, he didn't read it. Later on in life, he actually did read it, and he related to the main character in the sense that he was also an outcast like Billie.

  WORDS I MIGHT HAVE ATE

  This song is about taking responsibility for your actions.

  SWEET CHILDREN

  Also Green Day's first band name, Sweet Children was the first song Billie and Mike wrote together. It's ultimatly about how bad kids get blamed for everything.

  BEST THING IN TOWN

  This song is about a girl Billie Joe thinks is the best thing in town.

  STRANGELAND

  May be based on a movie or book. Life can be strange sometimes.

  MY GENERATION

  This song is a cover of the classic by The Who.

  A song about doing drugs.

AND/OR....

  This song is about apathy and not caring what happens to you.

AND/OR....

  This song is about someone who has been put through a lot of shit and finally can't take anymore.

  HAVING A BLAST

  This song is about terrorism.

AND/OR....

  Having everything in your life go wrong and then you just stop caring and what once meant someting now means nothing.

  CHUMP

  This song was written for the boyfriend of this girl that Billie Joe likes. He never even met the guy.

  LONGVIEW

  This song is about being bored and pretty much hating life because it's the same thing every day with nothing to do.

AND/OR....

  Billie wrote this song while sleeping in the Berkeley punk house with Mike.

  WELCOME TO PARADISE

  This song was how it was like living in a house in Berkely with Mike and other members of the punk community. (also appears on Kerplunk!)

  PULLING TEETH

  Billie Joe wrote this song about the time Mike and Anastasia (Mike's ex wife) were having a pillow fight and Mike accidentally broke both his arms. Billie and Mike laughed him all the way to the hospital. I also heard they took the song title from Metallica's song "Anasthesia Pulling Teeth".

  BASKETCASE

  Self explanitory, this song is about someone who is pananiod. Billie Joe suffers from panic disorder too, so that has some contribution to the song.

  SHE

  This song is about a girl and trying to find out who she really is. She wants to be herself but her parents and society don't let her be that person.

AND/OR....

  This letter was a response to a letter Billie recieved from an ex-girlfriend.

AND/OR....

  About Billie taking critism from his girlfriend.

AND/OR....

  Based on a peom a girl gave Billie.

  SASSAFRASS ROOTS

  Sassafrass Roots is about being in a relationship that neither person really wants to be in and so you're both pretty much wasting your time.

  WHEN I COME AROUND

  This is a love sick song, when you take some space during an argument to calm down.

AND/OR....

  Whoever has a reputation, good or bad, you'll know where they'll be, no matter what.

  COMING CLEAN

  This song is about somebody coming out of the closet for the first time. Billie talking about how he might be bi-sexual.

  EMENIUS SLEEPUS

  This song is about somebody you haven't seen in a long time and when you do see that person, he or she has completely changed. Mike wrote this song.

  IN THE END

  About a girl who is only concerned with an image. Billie doesn't want to be there when she changes her views.

AND/OR....

  That song is about my mother's husband, it's not really about a girl, or like anyone directly related to me in a relationship. In the End's about my mother

  F.O.D. ( FUCK OFF & DIE )

  This song is about hating someone who backstabbed him.

  ALL BY MYSELF

  Written and sung by Tre Cool, this song is about being loneliness and masturbation.

  This song, like Basketcase, is about Billie Joe's panic disorder.

  BRAT

  This song is about a rich kid who can't wait for his parents to die so he can get their money.

  STUCK WITH ME

  It's been said that this song is about someone being underapprieciated. When Green Day was recording songs for Insomniac, they were trying to think of an appropriate name for the song Stuck With Me. The band recorded the song now called "Do Da Da" around the same time, and that song was originally called "Stuck With Me", because those words actually appear in that song. But, there was a studio mix-up, and someone labeled the third track on Insomniac "Stuck With Me". When the band discovered the error, they felt the name was appropriate for the song and kept it. Later, they decided to release the real "Stuck With Me" as a b-side, so they gave it the nonsensical name "Do Da Da".

  GEEK STINK BREATH

  This song is about drugs. Billie saw so many people get addicted and let drugs rule their life.

  NO PRIDE

  This song is about somebody who has no self esteem or no pride in themselves.

  BAB'S ULUVA WHO?

  Billie Joe wrote this song when he was doped up with sugar.

AND/OR....

  Billie stole the title of this song after watching Saturday Night Live. It was a skit called “Bab’s Uvula Who?” which had Chevy Chase ivolved in it.

AND/OR....

  About not being able to do anything right.

  86

  This song is about the underground scene and being kicked out of it, because when you leave, you can never go back. This particular song is about Billie being the one getting kicked out.

AND/OR....

  This song is about a girl Billie had a relationship years ago and know she's come back hoping he'll just let her back into his life. This song is basically telling her to fuck off.

AND/OR....

  Everyone from the local punk scene threatened them after they got back from touring Dookie. Kids would spit, insult, threaten to beat up, and one girl wrote on a wall at Gillman "Billie Joe Must Die". Billie begins to question himself.

AND/OR....

  A Billie Joe interview from 1996 stated that 86 is infact about one night stands. Billie (the writer) has slept with a woman and the next day she's coming calling on him saying she loves him. He's saying "you left your identity here along with your respect, you'll never find them now. So get lost and make room for the next woman to come along."

  PANIC SONG

  This song is about what Mike was experiencing when he has panic attacks. Billie Joe co-wrote the song.

  STUART AND THE AVE

  This song is about a girl Billie Joe liked but then he realized he didn't really like her. The corner of Stuart and the Ave. is the corner of Stuart Street and Telegraph Avenue in Berkley, California.

  BRAIN STEW

  Billie wrote this song way back in 1995 or so when his son, Joey, was a baby. Joey was up crying all night, so Billie didn't get any sleep. He wrote this song about how he felt.

  JADED

  This is a song about being stoned/jaded.

  WESTBOUND SIGN

  This song is about Adrienne moving from her family/friends to be with Billie Joe.

  TIGHTWAD HILL

  This song is about a place where people would go to see high school football games for free, sell pot, and get high.

  WALKING CONTRADICTION

This song is about a person who can't do anything right and feels they have no right in society.

  Self explanitory, the nice guy gets the shitty end of the stick.

  Hitchin' A Ride

  This song tells a story of sex and drugs while your world is crashing down.

  THE GROUCH

  This song is about what Billie Joe doesn't want to grow up and be like. It is also said that Billie wrote this song after he had a fight with Adrienne.

AND/OR....

  The Grouch was generally about feeling older than you really are. After the Insomniac era, and Billie was tired as hell and just felt older then he really was.

  REDUNDANT

  Classic love song. Billie can't begin to explain his love in words for what he feels for Adrienne. Or this song could be about how repetative being famous is.

AND/OR....

  He's talking about how things are redundant, making him sick, making him hate things, and feeling like he's lost in a circle. This happens frequently in relationships when people have been together for a long time. Their love is there, but it is redundant. Eventually, saying "I love you" is not enough because it gets routine, and you don't know what to say.

  SCATTERED

  Billie offering up all he can to his wife trying to gain her affection

  ALL THE TIME

  This song is about trying to quit something like drugs or alcohol.

  WORRY ROCK

  Sorta like Scattered.

  PLATYPUS ( I HATE YOU )

  This song is about a person who gets pleasure out of seeing others in pain. Billie Joe wrote this about a magazine writer who trashed them after Dookie came out, during Kerplunk! He loved them they we’re and would always be the best no matter what…but then he acted like an asshole, Billie decided to release on nimrod instead of insomniac because he felt it show him they’ve grown…but he died before the album came out. (from Green Day > UK)

  UPTIGHT

  This song is about a suicidal person who hates his life.

  LAST RIDE IN

  An instrumental song written during a soundcheck.

  JINX

  Jinx is about a girl who liked Billie.

  HAUSHINKA

  Billie met a girl named Haushinka in Japan a long time ago. He remembers her in this song.

  WALKING ALONE

  Puttings yourself in the position where you just want to be along.

  REJECT

  About the parent who's kid received Dookie for a present from his grandma on his 8th birthday because it had a picture of Ernie on the back. The parent wrote a letter to Billie Joe objecting to the lyrics and saying that it wasn't music.

  TAKE BACK

  A song about not being able to forgive someone for what they did to him.

  KING FOR A DAY

  This song is about a boy dressing up in woman's clothes.

  GOOD RIDDANCE ( TIME OF YOUR LIFE )

  This song is about looking back on your life and seeing how you spent it.

AND/OR....

  Billie Joe wrote this about a relationship. It was originally titled "Time of Your Life" when it ended on good terms but he changed it to "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)" when those good terms pulled a 180.

AND/OR....

  I've heard (from an interview) that this is a song about being drunk.

AND/OR....

  Written for a girl named Jennifer who moved away.

AND/OR....

  This song was how Green Day said goodbye to their punk pals who turned their backs on them after they became big.

  PROSTHETIC HEAD

  This song is about somebody who lives their life as somebody else.

  This song is about how rules are made to be broken. You live your own life, you make your own choices.

  BLOOD, SEX, AND BOOZE

  This song is about kinky stuff. A lot like "Dominated Love Slave".

  CHURCH ON SUNDAY

  This song is about the time Billie Joe saved his marriage.

  FASHION VICTIM

  This song is about today's fashion and how people spend all their money just to fit in.

  CASTAWAY

  Castaway is about Billie Joe's experiments in songwriting on Warning. There are references to Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen in it, two of his biggest influences on the record. And he is a castaway because he knew a lot of his old punk rock friends might hate him for making the album.

  MISERY

  This song is about the story of a couple of people from San Francisco California. Billie said he got the name 'Mr Whirly' from a song by the Replacements

  DEADBEAT HOLIDAY

  This song is about not letting stuff get to you and just keep doing what your doing.

  HOLD ON

  This is song is about living life even though you're alone. Billie wrote this song for a friend.

  JACKASS

  This song has been rumored to be about blink-182. Green Day has said that they liked blink, but they never have admitted to liking their music. If you think about it, the song does kinda sound like it was written about blink-182.

  Waiting

  This song is about getting something that you have waited a long time for.

  MINORITY

  This song is about being an individual and finding the person you want to be.

  MACY'S DAY PARADE

  Billie's commentary on commercialism, and how people want materialistic things all the time. The song explains that wants something, but it's not material, all he wants is to have hope in his life.

  I think Maria is about a rebellious girl who runs away from her problems.

  POPROCKS & COKE

  This song is about being there for someone, even through tough times.

  Suffocate is how alcohol and drugs and cigarettes are destructive and addictive. You get that from 'slipped into a coma again.' This said that he must have tried to quit before, and 'where's my organ donor lend a hand' shows that he will physically suffocate.

AND/OR....

  Suffocate is about a guy who has just totally given up on everything and is waiting patiently for the end. It's a reflection of how life gets us down, and in a sense, it's about suicide.

  DESENSITIZED

  This song was written about the Internet.

  YOU LIED

  This is about someone who he can tell they are lying, because their story is streched and unbelievable. They don't have a good excuse, and it is obvious they are lying.

  OUTSIDER

  Outsider is a Ramones' cover.

  DON'T WANNA FALL IN LOVE

  This song is about not wanting to fall in love, because he doesn't want to answer to anyone.

  ESPIONAGE

  Instrumental song used in the movie Austin Powers 2: The Spy Who Shagged Me (on the soundtrack) and also in the trailer for Scooby Doo the movie.

  SCUMBAG

  Scumbag is about someone is an overall bad person. Mike and Billie wrote it together.

  I WANT TO BE ON TV

  Probably about how stupid and materialist some celebrities are.

AND/OR....

  I've heard that this song is a cover by Fang.

AND/OR....

  It means just wanted to be heard and to get some attention.

  TIRED OF WAITING

  Green Day's cover of a classic Kinks song. This song appeared in the Howard Stern: Private Parts movie.

  SICK OF ME

  Sounds like 2 people are in a relationship and they want to end it, but they just haven't gotten around to it yet.

  ROTTING

  This song is about not wantin to deal with all the pain and suffering on earth and just wishing that u could throw it all away.

AND/OR....

  Rotting is about someone who is dying and how he wants it to be when he takes his final breath.

  DO DA DA

  When Green Day was recording songs for Insomniac, they were trying to think of an appropriate name for the song Stuck With Me. The band recorded the song now called "Do Da Da" around the same time, and that song was originally called "Stuck With Me", because those words actually appear in that song. But, there was a studio mix-up, and someone labeled the third track on Insomniac "Stuck With Me". When the band discovered the error, they felt the name was appropriate for the song and kept it. Later, they decided to release the real "Stuck With Me" as a b-side, so they gave it the nonsensical name "Do Da Da".

  ON THE WAGON

  On the wagon is a typical Billie Joe song. It describes that he is in love with a girl (it is possible that he means Adrienne 'cause it's written about this time). He always say sweet things to her but in another way he just does shit. And so his best excuse is that he is so confused "'cause it's been so long since I've been in love!" "on the wagon" is just a metaphor for love.

AND/OR....

  This song is about masturbation.

AND/OR....

  This song is about being in alcoholic.

  HA HA YOU'RE DEAD

  Mike wrote this song. It's about a person that has hurt many people.