heartxgreendayx- youve got to remember that when a band says somthing in a song they may be using it as an oppisite of there opinion, so they may be describing the thoughts of an athiest.... or i could just be wrong altogether lol

Does anybody else find that I Don't Care sounds a little like a few songs from Jesus Christ Superstar? If anyone has seen the movie version from the 70s (I don't know if the original production was the same), it kinda reminds me of the part where Jesus is in the cave with the desciples and then Judas comes in.

I really hope this thing doesn’t have a word limit. But anyways, I'll share my interpretation of this song, despite the fact my points may have been covered by somebody else. For all those that are fans of Fuse (TV station)...you may have seen 100% or AOL Sessions with GD or one of the many other Green Day shows…all of which have a blurb about some of the songs. But to get on with it… my interpretation…

[Part I: Jesus of Suburbia]: I think that Billy Joe is describing himself as the JOS. This is basically the introduction to the rest of the CD, American idiot was describing how he was the “American Idiot”, who hates being manipulated by the media and just hates current day America, the “alienation.” In Part one of JOS he’s describing how much he hates himself, but is saying how he’s like every one else in America, so the bad he does doesn’t really matter. “No one ever died for my sins in hell As far as I can tell At least the ones I got away with.” “But there's nothing wrong with me This is how I'm supposed to be” means that that although he doesn’t like who he is, he’s the way he was created by the American government, so he’s the way he’s supposed to be. “The living room of my private womb While the moms and Brads are away” is saying that he’s isolated himself because the people he depends on and looks up to are never there. “To fall in love and fall in debt To alcohol and cigarettes And Mary Jane to keep me insane And doing someone else's cocaine” is the fact that everyone these days is one of the above, and usually hate themselves for being that way.


[Part II: City Of The Damned]: This is the part of the song where Billy Joe decides to break away from the life he’s always led. “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” is saying that he’s not like everybody else, so a regular home doesn’t suit him. At his regular hangout, the 7-11, he decides to leave everything. “City of the dead At the end of another lost highway Signs misleading to nowhere” is the description of JOS’s hometown, a ghostown, so it’s not worth staying. “But it only confirmed that The center of the earth Is the end of the world And I could really care less” is saying that what he read in the “bathroom stall” was only reassuring him that he should leave.

[Part III: I don't care] : He doesn’t care about what other people think. It’s his life and nobody else should give a crap about how he spends it. “Everyone is so full of shit Born and raised by hypocrites” is talking about the government, they raise everybody the same, so there’s no diversity between a land of hypocritical zombies. He refers to non-adults as “disciples of the Jesus of Suburbia” meaning that the smart ones, who have a mind of their own, don’t want to be like everybody else. That line kind of reflects off of some of Green Day’s material, most of which has an underlying theme of being different than everybody else, which also refers to Billie being both the lead of Green Day and the JOS. “We are the kids of war and peace” is saying that no matter where they’re from, teenagers like diversity and don’t like the government. The “land of make believe” refers to America, so the CEOs and officials and whatnot don’t like him, henceforth not believing in him.


[Part IV: Dearly beloved]: Dearly beloved is definitely one of my favorite tracks on the CD. I think it’s the JOS looking back on a memory or thought in his life, because it’s much more mellow and is looking for help, not to escape the hell he’s in during American Idiot and the earlier appendices in JOS. It’s the JOS asking if somebody close to him thought he was truly different (“disturbed”) or if all of America was socially screwed up. I’m not quite sure what Billie Joe’s referring to about the “space that’s in between insane and insecure.” My best guess is the gap between America’s youth and the people who control them. The second half of this appendix is looking to therapy to help him with the void in his life, probably due to the fact that the important people in his life have never been there, as said in the first appendix. He’s asking if he’s retarded or overjoyed because of the fact that he’s different and is happy that he is different. “For lack of a better word, and that’s my best excuse” is saying that he’s being persecuted because he’s different.

[Part V: Tales of another broken home]: This is when JOS finally runs away after contemplating staying where he is. He decides that anywhere is better than where he is, somewhere where he won’t be persecuted and exactly the opposite of the “town that doesn’t exist”. So he runs away, leaving everything he knows behind, and doesn’t regret his choice one bit. He’s “running away from pain” possibly inflicted by the people that were never there, which can be tied in to the death of his father when he was a child.

The whole song is the beginning of the Punk Rock Opera that American Idiot is. Jesus of Suburbia introduces the listener into what the rest of American Idiot is about.

^ Yeah, what she said.

Lol jesus_of_suburbia i was gonna explain the song but after I read yours I though, "Why the Hell would i do that if everything i was gonna say is right there. Great interpretation for a great song lol. Check out my Homecoming interpretation i wanna know what people think of it.

its born and raised by hipocrites not burn first of all.
i love this song its a great one but blvd. is definetaly the best green day song ever

That is one badass interpretation, jesus_of_suburbia. Great job.

thanks man, i try.

To add to the list of musical influences on this track, the melody of section 4 bears a resemblance to "Sixty-Eight Guns" by the Alarm.

mqan this is the best song on earth. I can't wait until they make the movie

i hope they dont make a movie, it usually ruins everything, but ive heard that theyre already writing the scripts.....

Ilove the end of Tales of another broken home when he's like: Tales from another broken................HOME!!!!!!!! The best bit!

YEA THIS SONG IS LIKE COOL BEANS!!!!!!!

I just found out that on the 12th Green Day is going to play this on Last Call with Carson Daly, I can't wait!

This song is fuckin' amazing. Jesus_of_Suburbia, great explanation. The song seems a lot deeper than just a great flow now. And I'd have to agree with you, the Dearly Beloved part is my favorite of the song. This song is definitely the best on their album.

WOW.........brilliant song!

I LIKE THE PART WHERE IT SAYS, "I DON'T CARE" BECAUSE IT IS IMPLYING THAT HE DOESNT CARE- WHICH IS GOOD AND COOL AND SWELL. I CAN RELATE TO IT AS I AM ALSO SOMEONE WHO DOESN'T CARE.

i dont know what it means but i like it...

By the end of the album, in Homecoming, Jesus starts asking for people to care (when Jimmy kills himself). Also: his town's motto: "Home is where the heart is" may be one of the reasons Jesus returns home in "Homecoming." The first line of Homecoming is "My heart is beating from me" meaning he's losing it, so by returning home, he might get it back.

I don't feel any shame I wont apologize- i think that line is amazin cus its like hes proud of what he's done n he isnt gunna b sorry 4 it!!! its amazin ...

I finally had the chance to listen to the entire CD since my dad's been listening to it nonstop lately, and this CD is amazing. "City of the Damned" and "Tales of a Broken Home" are my favorites.

This is my interpretation of American Idiot. Not saying it’s the right one, but this is what I got. Also, I tend to take things pretty literally, so bear with me. My interpretation starts here; I’m not going to start with the title track because I find that out of place/unnecessary in the plot.

Jesus of Suburbia is pretty much like any modern day America’s regular teenager. He’s pretty rebellious, and he feels that the world should revolve him. He thinks that there’s nothing to life, but as we see later, he’s pretty ignorant of what the real word is. He’s frustrated by the society he lives in as it puts him down; he strives against it.

One thing about Jesus of Suburbia that we learn in City of the Damned is why he’s known as Jesus of Suburbia. It somewhat parallels with Jesus Christ and what he did. Jesus of Suburbia basically “preaches” to his friends, (“disciples”), and is persecuted by most everyone else for what he believes in. As we see in City of the Damned, Jesus explains what he sees as the “truth about the world,” hidden from the eyes of pretty much everyone. It can only be found in the most unexpected places where no one would actually think to look (“The bathroom wall”). He wants to shed the cover that he thinks society is using to blind people from the truth of the world. He also feels that he cannot trust anyone, feels that everyone is either against him or just spreading lies and they don’t care about his feelings. He’s trapped.

I Don’t Care is Jesus’ comeback to the harshness of society. He retorts by “not caring if everyone else doesn’t,” and explains that no one else should care about what he does. When the disciples sing (“Everyone is so full of shit…the Jesus of Suburbia”), they’re basically conveying Jesus’ meaning of not being able to trust anyone, and they explain the oppression of teenagers, the only people with “free thought.”

Dearly Beloved introduces us to another part of Jesus’ personality. It’s basically a soliloquy from Jesus to anyone willing to listen. He’s asking why things are like they are, of if he’s really the only one who thinks like this. He appears to be apart from his disciples, who, although they seem to merely “follow” him, put a social peer pressure on him. He asks if it is he needs help (mentally), or if he’s actually supposed to be different.

In Tales from Another Broken Home, Jesus really starts to feel that he needs to escape before he totally loses his freedom. He really begins to shun the people he’s closest to, and beliefs that he needs to find out what life is really like, out *there* somewhere, where he won’t be attacked for what he believes in. There’s at attitude that has been placed on him over and over again, and at last, it breaks him, and he leaves.

Something important to note. This song introduces us into one of the main themes of the story, “What is home?” Throughout the story, Jesus asks of where his “home” is, whether it be on the streets, of “where his heart is,” or where he’s able to be free.

Well.. for an interpretation, everything I think has pretty much been said already. But this song is pretty kick-ass. Though I heard somewhere that this song is about what Jesus or something is to Billie Joe because he wasn't really raised in a Christian setting. Hence, "no one's ever died for my sins in Hell as far as I can tell".

i was jst wondering what the land of make believe is?

so basically JOS rebels because he thinks everyone is lying to him abotu the real world and wants to find out for himself????/