Lyrics for American Idiot as interpreted by animated456

American Idiot Lyrics
Don't wanna be an American idiot.
Don't want a nation under the new mania.
And can you hear the sound of hysteria?
The subliminal mindfuck America.

Welcome to a new kind of tension.
All across the alien nation.
Everything isn't meant to be okay.
Television dreams of tomorrow.
We're not the ones who're meant to follow.
Well that's enough to argue.

Well maybe I'm the faggot America.
I'm not a part of a redneck agenda.
Now everybody do the propaganda.
And sing along in the age of paranoia.

Welcome to a new kind of tension.
All across the alien nation.
Everything isn't meant to be okay.
Television dreams of tomorrow.
We're not the ones who're meant to follow.
Well that's enough to argue.

Don't wanna be an American idiot.
One nation controlled by the media.
Information nation of hysteria.
It's going out to idiot America.

Welcome to a new kind of tension.
All across the alien nation.
Everything isn't meant to be okay.
Television dreams of tomorrow.
We're not the ones who're meant to follow.
Well that's enough to argue.

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Abeer
09-21-2004

Rated +1 
Woohoo! First to post! Ahem.
This song has a pretty apparent meaning...Billie is speaking about the current state of America - how it's controlled by the media, and how it controls it's citizens by means of paranoia, etc. A catchy, anthemic song that is relevant to our times.

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joeytheboy
09-21-2004

Rated 0 
im not sure these lyrics are 100% accurate but its pretty much the jist of it.
i agree with "Abeer" its obvious of the meaning and its a good song.
i think this song is a good return to form for greenday and i think this album is going to be really good. i can imagine though based on this single that the lyrics arent going to be the most intellegent and/or thought provoking as their really meant to speak to people who might have no-idea what to think without being told, if you know what i mean.
still i think Greenday succeed there where NOFX fail.

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Jonnyxx
09-22-2004

Rated +1 
i love the bit in the video where it kicks back in and Billie-joe shoots himself with his fingers, kick-ass!

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some1_named_no_1
09-23-2004

Rated 0 
The lyrics looks fine to me.

and NOFX is good dammit.

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Thunderbolt
09-25-2004

Rated 0 
Obviously a diatribe against Republicans.

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Sgt. Pepper
09-25-2004

Rated 0 
"Maybe I'm the faggot America, I'm not a part of a redneck agenda." I love that line. The song's pretty obvioius what it's about.

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shadowwiththeeyes
09-26-2004

Rated 0 
The lyrics are a bit screwed in places.

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Minifin4BillieJoe
09-27-2004

Rated 0 
i love the song just hate the fact its in the charts for all of these non-fans to go on about how much they love greenday for a couple of weeks then forget them again! nice to get that off my chest!

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tommyhaych
09-27-2004

Rated +1 
i like the song for it's melody, not for it's lyrics.

I just preferred the poppier dontgiveashit green day, not this 'lets be cool and slag off american politics' effort.

Sorry, but thats the way i feel.

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hollowportraitbitch
09-28-2004

Rated -2 
i think it is awesome, it's my favorite song, and i think that it means that mentaly chanllenged ppl and blacks are coming and takin away our jobs and shit like that. i'm not racis or anything it's just what i think it means

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3 Replies
TheFedman2002
09-29-2004

Rated 0 
this one isnt my favorite off of the new album, its still good though, anti-bush

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HerHeartCries
09-30-2004

Rated 0 
Well, FDR once said that Fear is what we have to fear. In Michael Moore's movie, he stated that "America is a nation based on fear.." We are based on fear because of the lies the media feads us. I am really not a big Green Day fan, but I like this song.

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theflyingfrigger
10-01-2004

Rated 0 
I like this song, even though I support Bush or flip flop Kerry. But I do think that the media tries to control our beliefs and feels about things, and a lot of dumb people fall for it

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JasperAvi
10-01-2004

Rated 0 
I love Green Day and they kick ass.....but to use the Anti-Bush bandwagon to hop back onto the airwaves is some pussy assed bull shit.

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1 Reply
OpinionHead
10-01-2004

Rated 0 
Welcome to the wonderful world that is the debate over the First Amendment. Is it just me or should we stop debating over the validity of freedom of speech. If you can talk, then you have the right to speak. If you inflame and threaten, then you will be silenced and expunged from the census rolls without any other human knowing about it. That's the simplest case and why must it continued to be argued? Fighting over free speech is retarded and I wish the debate would shrivel up and die!

Way off topic, but the Anti-Bush sentiment made me rant...I like this song.

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37lmb
10-02-2004

Rated 0 
I know you guys are all registered to vote huh? Ok if you're eighteen.

I'm doing an editorial for a research class at school and I wanna know if you agree with me that this is sort of an editorial song. They have an opinion and they put it out there. Great song, I love it more because it expresses a really good opinion in a fresh way.
Yeah the media tries to control our beliefs. There isn't a person alive who doesn't have their own agenda about a topic they choose to write about or report...whatever.
Don't believe everything you read!! If you really want to be out of the idiot america space, start thinking for yourself and really read between the lines. Who is the author of what your reading? Do they belong to any special groups say KKK or something stupid like that? Can they back it up? You know, evidence?
Hey I think Green Day did a great job of speakin out and keepin it real.

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gop_rock
10-04-2004

Rated -3 
I've always liked Greenday's shit but I hate to say MTV and musicians are a big part of the media and I am tired of all this Left Wing propaganda. Just FUCKIN sing mother fuckers we don't give a shit about your opinion.

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BlueCrystalMirror
10-04-2004

Rated +2 
Music has always been political..I think it's scary when music isn't somewhat political..because then you have to think, what's happening? Where's the free speech?
People like Neil Young, Beatles, Rolling Stones, have all had political themes in their songs..this is nothing new..artists are supposed to express what they FEEL in their songwriting, and Green Day is obviously doing that...You dont have to agree with their feelings..
"Redneck agenda," is obviously a hit at Bush ...and couldnt be anymore true. This isn't "left wing propaganda." It's called FREE SPEECH, I know lots of republicans havent heard of it...there is plenty of "right wing propaganda" in country music, it's no different!

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amarquez
10-05-2004

Rated -2 
Please wake-up and smell the coffee. Music is NOT political. For anyone getting their political information from "Rock Stars," please wake the fuck up! Don't expect the true information out there to fall on your lap via Dave Mathews at the fucking concert. Alice Cooper couldn't have said it better when talking about the Vote for Change tour:

"If you're listening to a rock star in order to get your information on whom to vote for, you're a bigger moron than they are. Why are we rock stars? Because we're morons. We sleep all day, we play music at night and very rarely do we sit around reading the Washington Journal."
"Besides," he continued, "when I read the list of people who are supporting Kerry, if I wasn't already a Bush supporter, I would have immediately switched. Linda Ronstadt? Don Henley? Geez, that's a good reason right there to vote for Bush."

It's not about Right or Left, it's about right and wrong. They're Islamic Extremist (Osama, Al-Sadr) out there that have all ready DECLARED WAR ON THE U.S.! Why not bring the fight to there house? Now we have a battlefield, that is Iraq. NOT Iowa! Support our troops in Iraq, they're making history in that region!

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prayingmantis84
10-05-2004

Rated +1 
Dude, do yourself a favor and shut the hell up. Just because Alice Cooper is an idiot doesn't mean the rest of them are. Dexter Holland, for example, has a PhD in Microbiology. They don't just hand those babies out, you know.

Second, music is political and always will be. Whether or not you subscribe to the musicians political views is an entirely different thing altogether, but that doesn't change the fact that many songs and many artists put political and social themes into their music. Look at Rage Against the Machine. Fucking political. Doesn't mean you have to buy into it, and many people that do are fucking stupid. But hey, Art Alexakis of Everclear was a delegate to the national democratic convention. So maybe he knows what he's talking about, huh?

As far as right or wrong goes... who the hell are you to decide what makes right or wrong? Who gave Bush the authority to say, "Look, whatever I do here is right, because I'm president of the United States I can do whatever I want"? Right and wrong are relative concepts. It's only through understanding of the problem and exhaustive reasearch can a real solution be reatched. And neither of those has happened.

After all, you are aware that Osama isn't hanging out in Iraq, right? Because that's where the troops are. Don't get me wrong, I support the troops. What I will not support, however, is the reason they are there.

Pull your head out of your ass, dude.

To everyone else; sorry about that. The song is fucking awesome. Something that hasn't been mentioned is how the concept of an "American Idiot" is carried throughout the CD. Any thoughts?

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holy-shit-batman
10-06-2004

Rated 0 
Oh shit now musicians are scholars! The whole point of this song is crap because he is complaining about the same thing he represents. Media Bias! I love rock but I and a lot of people are getting sick of the liberal bias. Maybe that is way Rap is getting so popular because they don't bitch and moan about everything. All liberals do is bitch and moan about just about every US policy hell they bitch about not getting enough attention from there daddies. Grow the fuck up! That’s why we need more bands like Deftones that just sing and don’t cry about everything.

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1 Reply
amarquez
10-06-2004

Rated 0 
I concur!

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1 Reply
rock_bunny
10-06-2004

Rated 0 
Theyre complaining about the state of the media-controlled nation, but theyre jumping on the bandwagon a bit late - Rage did it years ago, when it wasnt cool. Nothing against Green Day (great band!) but I just think they shouldnt try to put politics into their music unless theyre really sure what theyre getting themselves into...

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prayingmantis84
10-06-2004

Rated 0 
To quote George Carlin: "All music is the blues. All of it."

And yes, they're talking about the fact that the entire fucking nation is controlled by the nightly news.

And FYI, conservatives whine about just about every damn thing too. Watch the debates.

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netadmin_rocker
10-06-2004

Rated -1 
I want to know why musicians aren't talking shit about the Arabs. They started this shit! But all they do is put down America. Some times I think they are anti-america. That said, I think this song rocks if you just ignore the lyrics.

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