anonymous September 15th, 2005 02:07PM  

Contrary to popular belief, this song is not about 9/11

This song is the first time that Billie Joe has written about the death of his father, who died in September of 1982 (when Billie was 10 years old)

This is the one song that veers off the story line that is American Idiot...it can however, be tied in with JOS mourning the loss of Whatsername...either way it is a song about the parting with a loved one...which can relate to Billies story, the music video, the American Idiot story line, or 9/11

anonymous October 3rd, 2005 06:44PM  

There's no right or wrong way to interpret music. A good writer will leave it open ended so lots of people can find answers to their problems and troubles in the writers music. Green Day did an extraordinary job in doing this with American idiot where anyone can relate to the characters or the songs in the album. Music is the key to the soul and thats what its all about.

anonymous October 13th, 2005 10:47AM  

This song is about Billie Joe's dad dying of throat cancer when he was 10 years old he never got over that, so he wrote the song. His father, Andy Armstrong, died on September 10th and he says "Here comes the rain again." This is saying he is crying again.

The video however is how the Director Samual Bayer saw it and Billie Joe agreed it would be good to do that, as including his father would be too personal to him.

anonymous November 2nd, 2005 03:14PM  

I agree that there are multiple interpretations, but video's interpretation of the song hits close to home for me because my boyfriend left for the military this September, and this song embodies all of the feeling I have inside.

cherryxbliss November 4th, 2005 04:27PM  

I was wondering why some of the kids at school were looking at me funny when I said "Poor Billie's dad" when this song came on the radio during detention. They are the moron's who think it's about 9/11 and wars.

The song itself has nothing to do with war. For the individual, it can embody all the feelings of war, but that's not what the actual song is about.

anonymous November 5th, 2005 08:55AM  

Thats the great thing about music and lyrics, you can interpet anything and everything. The lyrics are so open and healing that it can transfer to any sad situation. This song helps heal the soul, and I am sure that's what it did for him. GREAT SONG!

anonymous November 6th, 2005 12:12PM  

Billie Joe did write the song "Wake Me Up When September Ends" about his father who died of cancer in September of 1982, but the album is supposed to be a rock opera. The song was written about his father but it is supposed to imply a feeling of loss. In the album, it comes after "Letterbomb." On this track, Jesus of Suburbia finds out that none of his friends or girl friend like him anymore. Now the Saint Jimmy or Jesus of Suburbia character has lost all of his friends and girl friend. He left home to find something better but now, he's lost everything he came there for is gone. What he had been was innocent but his innocence didn't last. His "friends" broke him down and now he's just "dead" inside.

anonymous November 8th, 2005 02:51AM  

Yeh this song is about losing his dad and the pain that he still feels. I can relate to this - my father passed away in February this year, and being 21 I've been able to deal with it better than if I was 10 (he was ten). It would have been really hard - and the lyrics express it perfectly. You feel his pain.

There isn't a day that goes past without me thinking of my dad, and I'm sure he is the same. He probably wanted to express those feelings for ages and now choose to do it as a song on his album.

Great Stuff.

anonymous November 13th, 2005 03:38PM  

This song is about Billie Joe's Dad who died of cancer when Billie was only 10 years old. (in September of 1982) The Wake Me Up When September Ends part comes from the painful memories that return in the month of his father's pass (obviously September) and Billie just wants to sleep through the month, wake up and the whole thing was just a horrible dream. The video is about 9/11 so that people can relate to it (some people just want to wake up and realize it was a bad dream too).

EdDEE November 17th, 2005 12:57PM  

This song is about Billie coping with the death of his father. When he says "seven years has gone so fast" he's referring to when he was 17 (when Dookie came out) and how his fater died when he was 10 and never got too see his rise to fame. When he also says "twenty years has gone so fast" hes referring to how he's now 30 (he wrote the song a few years ago) and his father didn't get to see what he has accompished and his children grow. Also to support this, his father died in September. This song was NOT written for Jonny Ramone, even though Billie says in concert that he's dedicating it to him, it's about his father.

hogfan1205 November 19th, 2005 05:12AM  

I agree that this song is ultimately open ended, however, I strongly feel that it is about the death of Billie Joe's father. This song hits so close to me as I lost my brother when I was 12. He was killed in a car accident on September 17, 1982 and I have yet to come to grips with it. He was such a beautiful soul and a dear friend as well as a most wonderful brother. Thanks to Billie Joe, I have this song to help me with those feelings!!

anonymous November 29th, 2005 05:13PM  

This song is about Billie Joe's Father and how he died from cancer when Billie was ten. This song means a lot to Billie because his father was very close to him and still effects him badly because on their latest dvd, Billie starts crying..... Listen to the words carefully and you will understand what the song means. GREEN DAY ROCKS! :)

anonymous December 5th, 2005 08:45PM  

It means both Billie Joe's fater died when he was ten, but all the tradgedy that's going on now and all the meaning of god has really put a lot into the song.

naturepants9 December 17th, 2005 07:00PM  

There are many possible interpretations. I can see how it could be about losing a loved one, or about September 11, or personally about Billie Joe's father dying. Personally, here's what I think:

I think it's from the point of view of a person who is SICK of happy people, a depressed person. Nothing annoys a depressed person like happy people. He wants to just sleep through the Spring and Summer, when all the happy people are out and bouncing around, the happy people who can't stand or acknowledge hard times (or the fall and winter). When he wakes up in the winter, all the annoying, happy people will be gone or hibernating.

Ollie January 6th, 2006 11:13AM  

Unfortunately I see there`s an argument about the meaning of this song. This song is very important for me so I thought a lot about its meaning.

In the opera of the American Idiot, this song tells about the desperate Jesus of Suburbia who lost his only friend and so a part of himself died. But I think there`s a very personal note in this song that was already mentioned.
Surely Billie Joe wrote this song about his father`s death,
he died 20 years ago. " 20 years have gone so fast" The rain falling from the stars might be the tears of him. The most interesting part is " As my memories rests, but never forgets what I lost"
His father died many years ago and he was forced to live his life, he had problems and a lot of things to care about, but if he remembers the time of his father he is faced with all the pain again. This is a message to his father: I won't forget you, all my effort is a tribute for you! So it`s also a song about losing a person he really loved, you see, there's the connection to the video where the girl loses her boyfriend in war.

As a third meaning I thought about peole in general. In times of prejudice and terrorism its a message to all the people to wake up, to begin feel individual. September is presented as a bad dream connected with the hope to wake up.

Also I think everybody has an own meaning for this song, everybody who has lost someone he loved, who wishes for better times to come.

As an personal statement, I really love this song for the hope and thoughts he gave to me.

Greez, from Germany

anonymous January 14th, 2006 03:15PM  

I believe personally that this song is NOT about 9/11 (not really, anyway, though it has been applied that way because it fits). It's about Billie Joe's father, as previously mentioned by many people.
Many people have speculated that Jesus of Suburbia's story is semi-autobiographical, and elements of Billie-Joe's life are in there, along with the fictional story line. Therefore, I think this song fits both Billie-Joe's story and JOS's story, because the two stories are intertwined.
JOS could have lost HIS father too.
They are both mourning. This song is also a lament for how fast life passes, and how before you know it JOS (and Billie-Joe) have both grown from boys to men, and their father's have died, maybe before they could come to terms with them over somethings. (After all, JOS ran away from home and obviously his home life and relationship with his dad wasn't real good, maybe he was already gone at that point, but a lot of time has passed since then, JOS is a man now and wishes he could've cleared some things up, or come to terms with his past and his father, or whatever, and he feels truely sad and empty because of his father's passing.) You could also cross-apply other arguements about losing his friends, St. Jimmy (who was like a father-figure, even if he only might be a split personality), etc, as they fit into this as well. But that's just how I feel.

Whatshername January 30th, 2006 06:47PM  

This is not really what I think the song is about coz I have lots of different meanings and if I tried to explain it I would go on for ever and ever... but I really think it is a powerful song and everytime BJ sings it he relives what it's about (mostly his father).. When I went to their concert one month ago he started crying like he does in many of the concerts when he sings this song. But one of the most amazing things was that when he was at our concert he sang the line "Here comes the rain again falling from the stars..." and to everyones suprise a miracle happened and it started raining!! At that point I realised how much emotion had gone into the song and that Billie Joe must have had so many things go on in his life to be able to write the songs full of emotion the way he did with every single word!!! I LOVE YOU BILLIE JOE!!!!!

anonymous March 23rd, 2006 11:03PM  

Let me make a few things clear.

A good song writer does not write leaving things open-ended for other people to figure out. It isn't some sort of code. Song writers write songs for themselves and about whatever they want. A song writer knows what his or her songs are about.

If Billie said this song was about his dad, guess what? It probably is.

7 years = the timeline between when his dad died and Green Day formed (known as Sweet Children at the time)

20 years = not totally sure about this reference

I wish all you guys would stop being so self-righteous and acting like you know exactly what somebody else was writing about. The video was made about the war probably because nobody would give a crap less if the video had a bunch of black n white photos of Billie's dad in it.

And for those of you who think you're Green Day fans, try learning how to spell Billie's name...

bet430 April 24th, 2006 07:47PM  

If you have seen the video, you might think that it is about a young couple that are really close but then he gets drafted into the military. But that is not it. His father died when he was only 10. "as my memory rests, but never forgets what I lost" He is refering to losing his father, that even though he is not thinking about his father he will never forget what could have been. While Green Day was making a video they did not want to show the true meaning of the song they wanted you to think that you knew it while watching the video. In the video the man leaving for war is playing the part of his father, and the woman plays the part of him, "Just remember you will always have somebody here for you, I'll never leave you"

razberiblood June 27th, 2006 09:14PM  

Wake Me Up When September Ends has three meanings.

1) Billie Joe's father died in September and this song is his way of dealing with it 20 years later.

2) This song DOES go along with the American Idiot rock opera about the Jesus of Suburbia. Whatsername broke up with him in the song "Letter Bomb," so this song is about Jesus being alone and depressed again.

3) This song could have reference to 9/11, because the music video is about a young couple being in love, and then the boyfriend goes off to fight in the war in Iraq. The girl feels alone and wants to accept the fact that her boyfriend may never come home. This song probably wasn't originally written about 9/11, but the could have later realized the relation.