i have to admit i like old green day better- it was more punk n less depressing, but this is still godd. here's my interpertation-it might be completely wrong but tell me what u think of it:

part 1-
he is a son of parents that fight but once loved each other, from a suburan town (a perfect looking town but no one it in is close to being perfect). he takes Ritalin - i thought this was singinfacant because most kids today have ADD, n some people think it's not a actualy disorder but just a made up thing- no one caresenough to sit n talk to kids so they just give them pills.he ins't religious but never realy read the bible to no alot about it, just sees and hears about it through people that claim they are reliogous
"But there's nothing wrong with me
This is how I'm supposed to be
In a land of make believe
That don't believe in me"
- but he thinks there's nothing wrong with him not being religous n slowly falling to the bad side-drugs, etc. he's a punk kid n "in the land of make believe"( i think that is how every1 loks at people and judges them n dosen't actulay take the time out n no the person; so much people today r so intertwinded in their mind-i no that sounds weird- there r so much unspoken rules and stero-types we just see someone n unknowing judge them n mark them off when they can be a totaly dif person then u percieved- its all made up in ur mind A LAND OF MAKE BELIEVE) so cuz he's punk people see him as a loser a druggy, no one beleives in him, so he thinks he is soppused to be the way he is n worse- i can kinda relate to that just because ur punk every1 sees u as a druggy so u kinda want to become that way just because people already think it or r like ur not if u don't. He's fixing his tv while his mom n all the hot shots r away trying to find love but gettin addicted to alchol n ciagerettes not knowing the kid is at home alone taking pot n trying cocaine.

part 2- at the center of the earth- core which is hot refering to hell- is where he used to go n where he started t learn about drugs n fall-outs. best lune-
"The motto was just a lie
It says "home is were your heart is"
But what a shame
Cause everyone's heart
Doesn't beat the same
We're beating out of time "
- for most people home is the best place for u but no one can say that cuz people have dif lives home is sometimes the worst place, the place his heart is is at the 7-11. then he talks about the kids today- no one cares about them n they r falling becoming druggies n whores.
"I read the graffiti
In the bathroom stall
Like the holy scriptures of a shopping mall
And so it seemed to confess
It didn't say much
But it only confirmed that
The center of the earth
Is the end of the world
And I could really care less"
- then he reads the things in the stall people wrote which r about suicide drugs etc by kids n compares to the signs in the shopping malls of kids having fun in bikinis etc n then he realized the media is all a lie n where he is bad but reality. also everything was so bad n far from being fixed he started not to care anymore.

part 3- he gets anger at people, how they say they are religous but then do so much sins, n by now he realy isnt against religion but people, cuz its not religion that's ruining them its society n themselves. "hearts recycled but never saved"- every1 falls in love but dosent stay that way they move on to the next guy n do the same.
"From the cradle to the grave
We are the kids of war and peace
From Anaheim to the middle east
We are the stories and disciples
Of the Jesus of Suburbia " - we are all like the Jesus of Suburbia, we are all alike, we have problems n we have good days just like the prophet Jesus. but still no one realizes this so he stops caring.

part 4- self-expalartory

part 5- he starts to think of suicide but decides to die that way is not right but to run away instead n find urself is better. he lost his faith because of this town n he is running away to find it- faith can mean religion or hope. alsoe he wont fell bad for leaving his family because he has been victimzed n is just leavning for his own good.

- tell me what u think n does any1 no how billy joe's life was? i thought he was close to his family

-btw the catcher in the rye is amazing im still reading it i recomend it

coorection- still good*

also im not christian so i dont no if what i wrote makes sense but i read about religions often

THunder HIlls Caf'e were i first heard this hated at start but then loved it

I agree that the "Jesus Of Suburbia" is basically just an outcast teenager.

Also. The line;
" We're beating out of time. "
Actually goes;
" It's beating out of time. "

I was sorely disappointed in the video for this song, but it does back up the largely popular teenager jesus theory.

I love the "Dearly Beloved" bit.
"I can't remember a word that you were saying" also backs up the fact that the Jesus of Sub. is a teenager as a stereotypical teenager doesn't listen to a voice of authority.
x

I love this f'ing song and the video. It tells the story of my life almost down the letter.

omg billie joe has a deepness thats difficult to grasp.....

great song!!
maybe is a dumb question, but you understand the thin link to the weed when billie joe says
"and mary jane...(also...marijuana...) to keep me insane...etc..." don't you??

i was surprised cuz a lot of time traslating in italian the songs they lost their main meaning...but not in this way, cause, mary jane, (that in italy is maria giovanna) is a female's name and also a slang to say weed!

Powerful song goes with a powerful story

SPOILER
Calling him Jesus gives him signifigance the main character the most agnst. He feels okay bout who he is and wonders why no-one else does and hes marked off as someone with no promise. He no religious guy(me neither). He's got ADD, passion, soul, drive, attitude but he dreams to much about changing the world he lives in and falls into the "same street punk pattern like plenty of others", develops an alter ego from the pressures of the world he snaps, he meets a rebel girl and falls in love with her but doesn't try hard enough to keep the relationship and she leaves him. With no drive he kills his outgoing, angsty, nutty alter ego and after all of the stuff he does, he still ends up killing his outgoing, agnsty, ambitions alter ego/mentor. He becomes more apathetic, laid back and settles back into society and realizes/thinks it was all just an episode that he regrets leaving and longs for more.
Animecards

Start-America continues down crapper

Jesus: I hate this! I can't live here! Suicide? No I need to do something! JoS needs freedom from victimization.

Jesus excited 'bout being downtown and free.

Excitement to loneliness to depression

Jesus: What do I do?
Snap
Jimmy---->\O/

Powerful song goes with a powerful story

SPOILER
Calling him Jesus gives him signifigance the main character the most agnst. He feels okay bout who he is and wonders why no-one else does and hes marked off as someone with no promise. He no religious guy(me neither). He's got ADD, passion, soul, drive, attitude but he dreams to much about changing the world he lives in and falls into the "same street punk pattern like plenty of others", develops an alter ego from the pressures of the world he snaps, he meets a rebel girl and falls in love with her but doesn't try hard enough to keep the relationship and she leaves him. With no drive he kills his outgoing, angsty, nutty alter ego and after all of the stuff he does, he still ends up killing his outgoing, agnsty, ambitions alter ego/mentor. He becomes more apathetic, laid back and settles back into society and realizes/thinks it was all just an episode that he regrets leaving and longs for more.
Animecards

Start-America continues down crapper

Jesus: I hate this! I can't live here! Suicide? No I need to do something! JoS needs freedom from victimization.

Jesus excited 'bout being downtown and free.

Excitement to loneliness to depression

Jesus: What do I do?
Snap
Jimmy---->\O/

shoot sorry for spam! T^T

Jimmy---->O

good music video

Huh?

It's about Suburbia.
The Jesus aspect being *Christian* Suburbia, as well as placing the singer's voice as one realizing it.

Middle-class American culture is a self-contained paradise fit only to create its own little world, separated from all else, (I.E. I don't care) where the population simply lives its own path of life without having to face what the 'real world' actually is. Soda pop and Ritalin is breakfast for most kids, they grow up, hang around doing nothing with life but mess with household things, fall in love and fall in debt, rinse and repeat.

The last verse. Saying "Fuck you!" to the very same and accepting that the world sucks ass instead of pretending it doesn't. Hurts like a MOTHER FUCKER, and there ain't a whole of comfort to be found in it, but it's really hard to jump back into the illusion after you do. Actually, you find hints through the entire song about the bullshit that goes on that gets ignored.



Second verse is just following up the verse, and making it apparent that it's more late-teens early-adults that he's talking about than anyone else.

Third is talking about the general apathy to the state of things outside of our own beautiful suburbia that you find in most of the same. It also throws in about idiot teens going out and pretending they're fighting against it all when it's just another excuse for teenage rebellion.

Fourth, it sounds like a cross between A, the singer asking whether he's onto something or just being a self-righteous douche, and B, actually contrasting the world you know to what you're seeing.



Not a teen angst story.

The line where he sings
"the center of the world is the end of the world"
is definitely pointing towards the islamic relegion as, according to world research, Kiblah (towards which Musilms pray) is situated exactly in the center of the world.

I Think the song means that we all sort of have a "Jesus of Suburbia" in us, a rebellious teenager

i like this song very much.
teehee

You must really love the idea of Billie Joe having sex, you've commented about it in every Green Day song I've looked at recently.

i didnt read it all, but i thought this song was about anti-angst lol. like, he saying, no more excuses, about being a 'broken' and 'effed up' and using it as an excuse to stay there in that decadent 'place' and that 'victimized' state of mind. and using that as an excuse instead of believing in themselves and doing something for themselves to change the situation? because as he said "no one is perfect." everyone has problems and stuff they deal with. and people expecting him to stay like that as he has 'sold out' if he doesnt or is successful and not being a 'screw up' or insecure anymore/ broken the continuous cycle that pervades the whole mentality of his town and continues to be passed down. about also the thinking they are insane and a hopeless case, and that they are victims, and this is their life, so they must die like jesus for the sins of (their parents? society?) and they will too, if they think that way. but it will be for nothing, because this sort of conformist, perhaps "punk" mentality is 'make-believe', it is not rebelling against what the 'others' think, they are not rebelling against the world, but buying into the lies that taught them that they were hopeless cases etc. dunno if i explained that right...that's how i read this song anyways...

fucken aye no one has meanings on the song on here haha i'm trying to write an essay on this atm

ok my bad there are some meanings on here lol

other than the song american idiot, this song is a briliant intro for the entire album, i think it touches just a bit on all the things he sings about in all the songs. jesus of suburbia comes up quite a bit throughout all the songs. i think billie means that jesus does not exsist to ppl of middle class or lower class society. examples in "are we the waiting".. jesus of suburbia is a lie. and in homecoming... "jesus filling out paper work... hes not listening to a word now". he feels like he doesnt care obviously to those in real need. as far as the song it just goes about his depression of a broken home and his dearly beloved, which he goes more into detail in other songs

Yea this song is actually just a little bit of the story that the whole album tells. It's called a "Rock Opera" but this is an absolutely amazing song. I don't like Green Day's new stuff too much, but this is awesome.

My opinion; it might not be the best one; but here's my interpretation.

Part 1: Jesus of Suburbia.

Jimmy; if we believe that to be his real name; is established in this chapter. He describes his life of drugs and harshness; and you can sort of feel that he has a sense of hanging desperation. He despises his life the way it is; but feels that it's the way he's supposed to be. I think "JOS" is a metaphor for him wanting to save his "people", which are probably a large group of people in his condition in the land of Suburbia.

Part II: City of The Damned

He sees his people; even the children; struggling to simply survive and feels an immense burden for this. This scene takes place in a local 7-11; where he reads the "holy scriptures" and realizes how horrible he believes this land to be.

Part III: I Don't Care!

In desperation and extreme anger; Jimmy runs away from his own feelings and decides that he doesn't care. He echoes the entire world's apathy towards his people; and he maybe realizes this.

Part IV: Dearly Beloved

After his bout of anger; Jimmy worries about his own sanity and searches for an excuse for the condition of his thoughts. He finds nothing; and looks to his beloved people for answers. He soon receives an "accusation" of his perfection by one of them. This does not comfort him.

Part V: Tales of Another Broken Home

Hating the idea of wasting away forever in a "hurricane of lies" and completely losing his faith in his hometown; he attempts to make his escape to the city. In a far more adamant way than ever before; he feels like what he's doing is right and doesn't blame himself for it. He runs away; which leads his followers to follow his example.

I think the last bit just beats the whole damn song! its so....un-understandable!! simple though it may seem I think it has deeper levels, there are only so many ways to look at the word 'retard'.

First of all Greenday probabley hate organized relgion and this song definetly has no christian message in it. If anything it mocks what churches are all about. the Jesus symbol is symbolic for two reasons ronts. 1.) Jesus = Matryr. (ill explain later)2.) and Jesus as a symbol religon in America.

The songs over all meaning has to do with the experiance of growing up as a an alienated, confused and depressed youth. Jimmy is suppost to represent your average generic american kid, perhaps like a little Jimmy kid from a not so distant past i.e the 1950's, when American Morality was still strongly held by the populous. To show how society has turned from a utopian 1950's everybody loves beaver type society they mockingly use the name jimmy. However Jimmy is also a "J" name, or in other words shares a resemblance to "Jesus".


The idea of Jesus is that Jesus himself suffered for the other sins of humanity and withthat cruxified as a martyr. In this respect Jimmy this symbolic troubled American teenager also suffers the emotional trauma of a dissallusioned society. And insted of partaking in it,,,he chooses to rebel and run away " leave home". In this sense he is depressed, angry and hostile not for his own life but for the external world in front of him. His suffering is thus at the hands of a morally decrepit and perhaps a sinful society. and now he is on the 21st century cross....the couch in the living room.

This song and the Jimmy charecter is also extremly influenced by the book the chatcher in the rye, with holden caulfields charecter ( this book was also john lennons favorite book). so look into that story and the idea of "Jimmy" will make more sense.

My life is a mess. I feel as if I am going through the stages. I may be at part the IV stage now. Jesus of Suburbia. I'm livng in a broken home. Help. That is how I interpret this song. I'm mind-fucked at the presently. Sorry.