Give Me Novacaine

maybe its about numbing yourself so you dont have to worry about all the misery and injustice in the world. Everything just seems too much and so useless, in my view its about numbing yourself so you just dont care anymore.

This song takes the listener with them through the drug use. The beginning he's pleading to take away the pain, it's a relaxed beat and then during the chorus, or what I consider the drug trip, it gets heavy and overwhelming. It kind of takes you away from whatever feeling you had in the first verse. The void that is being lifted due to the novacaine.

So there’s some good theories listed about this song. I’m not shooting any of them down or saying that they’re absolutely wrong but I’m going to disagree and build on the theory that it’s the newly transformed Jesus of Suburbia (now Jimmy) talking to/about whatsername. When I read the posts about American Idiot songs, I really notice that people are missing the fact that American Idiot is a Punk Rock Opera, so an idea that may not make sense by itself or may lack evidence of making sense by itself can fit together perfectly with the other songs.

I really don’t think that Jimmy’s talking about drugs, mostly based on the fact that he’s talking about a kiss goodnight. He’s talking about a feeling, but I really think he’s talking about love. He’s never felt it before, because as mentioned in “Jesus of Suburbia,” nobody’s ever been there for him, especially his mom and “Brad,” and I really think this refers more to Billy Joe’s dad, who died when BJ was a kid. The sense that his mom was never there could relate to the fact that she was picking up extra shifts at work to make up for lack of a second paycheck coming in.

It’s a “Bitter sweet migraine” because the love he’s getting feels so good, but because it’s been introduced so recently it’s overwhelming. It makes him feel special and like he belongs, a feeling that he’s never experienced. Whatsername is giving him so much attention and caring that it’s building up inside of him, and because nobody’s ever been around, he himself can’t describe or release the feeling that are bottling up inside of him. He’s asking for the novacain because he just can’t deal with the pressure building up inside of him.

The line “Kiss the demons out of my dreams I get the funny feeling, that’s alright Jimmy says it's better than here” is a bit controversial in my mind, it’s not quite clear to me. I’ve basically established that Jesus of Suburbia transforms into Jimmy, but why does he then talk about Jimmy. The only thing I can come up with is that this is whatsername talking to Jimmy. So depending on where you stand on this issue, you could either see it as Jimmy talking, Whatsername talking, or both of them talking to each other. I really feel strongly about it being Jimmy’s point of view, but it’s only my opinion.

hmmmmm.... this ong is really good! thats all i know.

this song makes me want to be with my girlfriend

Before I caught onto the whole Jesus of Suburbia IS St. Jimmy thing, I really thought this was about suicide. I saw it as: the first bits were about the pain JoS felt in his life and wanting to escape from it. The draining the pressure was a metaphor for shooting himself (creating a hole to release the pressure like trepanning). The "Jimmy says it's better than air" didn't come across clearly for me and I always thought it said "Jimmy says it's better than here" and I thought maybe he thought SJ was speaking to him after having diedo or was alive, telling that it was better after death.

But once I caught onto the theme more, it became obvious that I wasn't right and the drug meaning was easier. But I still love my original interpretation.

I think that both jesus of suburbia and St. Jimmy are in a way their own characters and at the same time they are Billie's alter egos, like they represent different points in his his life or they represent his feelings, like in that one movie about bob dylan where his life is portrayed by a bunch of different people, or its like jesus of suburbia is the angel on one of his shoulders, and ST. jimmy is the devil on the other. For example, when he feels scared or alone, or when he was a kid he's jesus of suburbia, but whe he feels crazy or hardcore, like when he's an awsome rockstar (as he is now :) )he's saint jimmy. I think they intertwine to show Billie's life. As for the song,i think its about when something is really bad in your life happens and you want it to go away (give me a kiss goodnight and everything will be alright tell me that wont feel a thing) but it wont, we sometimes resort to drugs. as for the jesus of suburbia vs. st. jimmy thing, i think billie in this situation is trying to be more of a badboy st. jimmyish about it and trying to get over it with drugs

I think it's Whatsername talking to Jimmy... but I really don't know why.

I think it's Jesus/St. Jimmy turning to drug use.

St. Jimmy seems to be an alter-ego for Jesus. Jesus seems to be the younger, victimized version of St. Jimmy, who is a full-grown punk and refuses to be victimized anymore. Jimmy's a lot more cocky, but both of them glorify themselves. In this song, I think he lapses into acting like his younger self once more, scared and afraid, turning to drugs for comfort. That's why he asks for Jimmy by name at the end, it's a call for the courage he embodies.