I'm the son of rage and love
The Jesus of suburbia
From the bible of none of the above
On a steady diet of

Soda pop and Ritalin
No one ever died for my sins in hell
As far as I can tell
At least the ones I got away with

And there's nothing wrong with me
This is how I'm supposed to be
In a land of make believe
That doesn't believe that don't believe in me

Get my television fix
Sitting on my crucifix
The living room in my private womb
While the moms and dads are away

To fall in love and fall in debt
To alcohol and cigarettes
And Mary Jane keeping me insane
Doing someone else's cocaine

And there's nothing wrong with me
This is how I'm supposed to be
In a land of make believe
That doesn't believe that don't believe in me

Like the center of the earth
In the parking lot
Of the 7-11 were I was taught
The motto was just a lie

It says home is where your heart is
But what a shame cause everyone's heart
Doesn't beat the same
It's beating out of time

City of the dead
At the end of another lost highway
Signs misleading to nowhere
City of the damned, lost children with
Dirty faces today, no one really seems to care

I read the graffiti
In the bathroom stall
Like the holy scriptures
Of a shopping mall

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

City of the dead
At the end of another lost highway
Signs misleading to nowhere
City of the damned, lost children with
Dirty faces today, no one really seems to care

[Repeat: x4]
I don't care if you don't
I don't care if you don't
I don't care if you don't care

I don't care

Everyone's so full of shit
Born and raised by hypocrites
Hearts recycled but never saved
From the cradle to the grave

We are the kids of war and peace
From England to the Middle East
We are the stories and disciples of
The Jesus of suburbia

Land of make believe
And it don't believe in me
Land of make believe
And I don't believe

[Repeat: x5]
I don't care

Dearly beloved are you listening?
I can't remember a word that you were saying
Are we demented or am I disturbed?
That space that's in between insane and insecure

Oh therapy, can you please fill the void?
Am I retarded or am I just overjoyed
Nobody's perfect and I stand accused
For lack of a better word, and that's my best excuse

To live and not to breathe
Is to die in tragedy
To run, to run away
To find what you believe

And I leave behind
This hurricane of fucking lies
I lost my faith to this
This town that don't exist

So I run, I run away
To the light of masochist
And I leave behind
This hurricane of fucking lies

And I walked this line
A million and one fucking times
But not this time

I don't feel any shame, I won't apologize
When there ain't nowhere we can go
Running away from pain
When we've been victimized
Tales from another broken
Home



Lyrics submitted by prayingmantis84, edited by jadethahel, Mellow_Harsher, Tamood

Track duration: 09:08

"Jesus of Suburbia [Live][*]" as written by Billie Joe/wright Iii Armstrong

Lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.

Lyrics powered by LyricFind


Jesus of Suburbia song meanings
Add your thoughts

338 Comments

sort form View by:
  • 0
    General Comment:My all-time favourite song. EVER. I love green day so much, I couldn't live without their music!
    Flag GDobsessedon May 30, 2013   Link
  • 0
    My Interpretation:This song in my opinion is just to relate to a culture. White people who live in the suburbs all have a dark side inside the house. We obsess with rock, alcohol, drugs, cigarettes, and lust. But at the end of the day were from a broken home living in the city of the dead.
    Flag kcundeadon December 19, 2012   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:This is about a famous man from history called Jesus (Christ was his surname, if you want to look him up). He was in this book called The Bible (there's two editions - Old and New Testament - Jesus is in the sequel)
    Flagged shamone12on December 19, 2012   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:In the first part the protagonist struggles with the vicious circle of his mental health and his socioeconomic circumstances. Sitting on the sofa watching the telly, drinking fizzy pop, and self-medicating both with illegal and prescribed substances. He appears to have moved out and the theme is little contact with his parents despite his lack of self-sufficiency. However this contrasts with a strong sense of self: he sees himself as a bit of a messiah, his formative years as the centre of the earth, and "this is how I'm supposed to be". He rationalises his poor lot as the effect of a world that doesn't understand his exceptional nature.

    Leading into the second part he realises other people have grown up in their own ways and begins to question the worth of his own personal experiences. His home city is the "City of the Dead"; the themes are of poverty and no escape. The graffiti is a test of his existing values drawn from this deprived world, and now he is not seeing them as gospel, instead they're leading back to his new view of the town as the end of the world.

    Now we have the third part where apathy and anger are setting in. He rails against hypocrisy, oppression and war and reaffirms the fact he sees the real world as fake.

    The fourth part is after a major life event or breakdown which throws his life into focus. He is attempting to recover lost connections with his dearly beloved (whether this is the town or a lover) and by giving up his ego into the hands of a therapist. This is the most lucid part of the thing.

    At the end he decides to leave the town and all it represents like his personality which was shaped by his growing up there. It's difficult, he's going towards the light of masochists, but he knows it would be a tragedy to carry on on the sofa with his Ritalin. At the end he underscores that the problems began with his parents being separated or at least that the town has been a surrogate parent which is itself dysfunctional.
    Flagged blobblon December 14, 2012   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:In the first part the protagonist struggles with the vicious circle of his mental health and his socioeconomic circumstances. Sitting on the sofa watching the telly, drinking fizzy pop, and self-medicating both with illegal and prescribed substances. He appears to have moved out and the theme is little contact with his parents despite his lack of self-sufficiency. However this contrasts with a strong sense of self: he sees himself as a bit of a messiah, his formative years as the centre of the earth, and "this is how I'm supposed to be". He rationalises his poor lot as the effect of a world that doesn't understand his exceptional nature.

    Leading into the second part he realises other people have grown up in their own ways and begins to question the worth of his own personal experiences. His home city is the "City of the Dead"; the themes are of poverty and no escape. The graffiti is a test of his existing values drawn from this deprived world, and now he is not seeing them as gospel, instead they're leading back to his new view of the town as the end of the world.

    Now we have the third part where apathy and anger are setting in. He rails against hypocrisy, oppression and war and reaffirms the fact he sees the real world as fake.

    The fourth part is after a major life event or breakdown which throws his life into focus. He is attempting to recover lost connections with his dearly beloved (whether this is the town or a lover) and by giving up his ego into the hands of a therapist. This is the most lucid part of the thing.

    At the end he decides to leave the town and all it represents like his personality which was shaped by his growing up there. It's difficult, he's going towards the light of masochists, but he knows it would be a tragedy to carry on on the sofa with his Ritalin. At the end he underscores that the problems began with his parents being separated or at least that the town has been a surrogate parent which is itself dysfunctional.
    Flagged blobblon December 14, 2012   Link
  • 0
    My Interpretation:The song is about a fictional anti-hero, the Jesus of Suburbia. He hates everyone around him, and he hates everyone so much that he decides to move to the city (the city of the damned) where he finally finds out what its like to be alone (boulevard of broken dreams). There, he "meets" St. Jimmy. When i say meets, St.Jimmy is a part of his mind. He is the "insubordinate" part, who gets him to do drugs and stuff (St. Jimmy). Because of this part of him, he meets Whatsername. He falls on love with her ("and marry Mary Jane/to keep me insane"). But when the St.Jimmy part of him "dies" (end of St. Jimmy "St. Jimmy diets today/He blew his brains out into the bay") Whatsername doesn't love him anymore, and he looses all contact with her. At the end of the song (Home-coming) he finally comes home.

    thats me and my dads way of explaining it....... so yeah.....
    Flag UnicornsAreCoolon June 19, 2012   Link
  • +2
    General Comment:I don't really know, but I think it's about how people are ignorant and don't care about what is going on around them as long as it doesn't affect them. Maybe he calls himself the jesus of suburbia because jesus was the one to bring the good news and change people's ways of thinking, only billy is doing this at another time and place.
    I interpreted the last piece of the song very different than most people. When he says to live and not to breathe is to die in tragedy to run, to run away to fight what you believe, it's like if you are religious, you're not allowed to do a lot of thing for example drinking, smoking, pre-marital sex etc. so you are alive, but you aren't really enjoying life.

    And I leave this hurricane of fucking lies behind
    I lost my faith to this, this town that don't exist
    Here I feel like he's saying, he's leaving behind what he has learned as a child about the good and bad, heaven and hell. So he lost his faith in heaven. Heaven is the town that doesn't exist.

    So I run, I run away to the lights of masochists. Here I think he means that since he doesn't believe in God etc. he is choosing to go to hell where he will eternally suffer and like it.

    He's not ashamed to say what he really thinks, feels and believes. There are so many broken homes who ruin their children. He's telling those children that soon they get to leave. They get to run away from those messed up homes. Freedom will come.
    Flag christelle7on February 02, 2012   Link
  • 0
    Song Meaning:This song is about how you become a great person and you then turn bad and start doing things you hate, and you run away from home.
    Flag Coach45on November 22, 2011   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:This song is about people liveing in a broken home and also about how nobody cares about homless children
    Flag jimsters2on April 18, 2011   Link
  • 0
    Lyric Correction:I'm pretty sure they're saying "While the moms and brats are away" not "While the moms and Brads are away"

    I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure.

    Great song, btw
    Flagged JaykOlion December 17, 2010   Link

Add your thoughts

Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.

Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!

Back to top
explain