Double Meaning in Green Day

I find that very often the things I think are the most simple and straightforward turn out to be anything but. This has been the case with the pop-punk leaders, Green Day’s, most recent album American Idiot. Not to say that this was on the surface an overly simplistic album. The title may or may not have been referring to our beloved commander-in-chief, as was the case with Radiohead’s 2003 release, Hail to the Thief.

Then there was the cover, which pretty much reinforced the political undertones of Green Day’s release:

(in case you need me to spell it out for you, the minimalist silhouette of a clenched fist has represented radical revolutionary activism since the late 1960’s (if not earlier) and the heart/grenade and red/white contrast tells us the contents are concerned with the conflict between humanity and violence/war)

But what I really want to focus on is the song that has turned out to be the most effective and powerful on the album. I am talking about “Holiday” – track 3 on the release. Here are the lyrics, so we are all on the same page…

Hear the sound of the falling rain
Coming down like an Armageddon flame
The shame
The ones who died without a name

Hear the dogs howling out of key
To a hymn called “Faith and Misery”
And bleed
The company lost the war today

I beg to dream and differ from the hollow lies
This is the dawning of the rest of our lives on holiday.

Hear the drum pounding out of time
Another protester has crossed the line
To find
The money’s on the other side

Can I get another Amen? Amen.
There’s a flag wrapped around a score of men
A gag
A plastic bag on a monument

I beg to dream and differ from the hollow lies
This is the dawning of the rest of our lives
On holiday

The representative from California has the floor

Sieg heil to the president gasman
Bombs away is your punishment,
Pulverize the Eiffel towers
Who criticize your government
Bang, Bang goes the broken glass, lads
Kill all the fags that don’t agree
Trials by fire seting fire
Is not a way that’s meant for me
Just cause, just cause, because we’re outlaws, yeah!

I beg to dream and differ from the hollow lies
This is the dawning of the rest of our lives

I beg to dream and differ from the hollow lies
This is the dawning of the rest of our lives

This is our lives,
On holiday

There are actually many interesting elements of this song’s lyrics, but the most interesting aspect IMHO is the double meaning of the term “Holiday.” If you’re American, holiday means one thing, but if you’re European, then it has an entirely different meaning in normal usage. Let’s go the dictionaries! Webster’s connects the word “holiday” to its etymology in “holy day” and refers to a “day on which one is exempt from work; specifically : a day marked by a general suspension of work in commemoration of an event” or “a day set aside for special religious observance.” The Oxford English Dictionary (UK) defines holiday as “an extended period of recreation, especially away from home.”

So in America holiday means a special, usually religious (even Civic Religion), day of commemoration, while in Europe it means a vacation. In this one word we can see the vast gulf that has grown between the religious America and the secular Europe, congeling this century with Bush, Iraq, and the highest levels of anti-American sentiment around the world in a long time (if ever).

I would argue that the song’s lyrics are meant to question the current state of devout patriotic nationalist religio-fascist militarism that has gripped America and has led us into the current state of quagmire in the Middle East. Indeed, this is our American lives “on holiday” — meaning wrapped up in the moral imperative of the “neocons” in power.

The band seems to understand the way that fans are interpreting their song. At the recent Live 8 concert in Berlin, when Green Day went to play “Holiday” Billy Joe Armstrong (lead singer) screamed, “This song is not anti-American, it’s anti-Warrrrrrr!” Not so sure about that, but whatever you say Billy Joe.