Know something about this song or lyrics?
Add it to our wiki.
Don't want to be an American idiot.
Don't want a nation under the new media.
And can you hear the sound of hysteria?
The subliminal mind-fuck America.
Welcome to a new kind of tension.
All across the alien nation.
Where everything isn't meant to be okay.
Television dreams of tomorrow.
We're not the ones who're meant to follow.
For 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 to the age of paranoia.
Welcome to a new kind of tension.
All across the alien nation.
Where everything isn't meant to be okay.
Television dreams of tomorrow.
We're not the ones who're meant to follow.
For that's enough to argue.
Don't want to be an American idiot.
One nation controlled by the media.
Information Age of hysteria.
It's calling out to idiot America.
Welcome to a new kind of tension.
All across the alien nation.
Where everything isn't meant to be okay.
Television dreams of tomorrow.
We're not the ones who're meant to follow.
For that's enough to argue.
Don't want a nation under the new media.
And can you hear the sound of hysteria?
The subliminal mind-fuck America.
Welcome to a new kind of tension.
All across the alien nation.
Where everything isn't meant to be okay.
Television dreams of tomorrow.
We're not the ones who're meant to follow.
For 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 to the age of paranoia.
Welcome to a new kind of tension.
All across the alien nation.
Where everything isn't meant to be okay.
Television dreams of tomorrow.
We're not the ones who're meant to follow.
For that's enough to argue.
Don't want to be an American idiot.
One nation controlled by the media.
Information Age of hysteria.
It's calling out to idiot America.
Welcome to a new kind of tension.
All across the alien nation.
Where everything isn't meant to be okay.
Television dreams of tomorrow.
We're not the ones who're meant to follow.
For that's enough to argue.
Lyrics submitted by animated456
Track duration: 02:56
"American Idiot" as written by Billie Joe/wright Iii Armstrong
Lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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!
Billie Joe has explained how he began writing the song. Listening to a song in which the artist expressed his admittance of being a redneck but also rejoicing in that status, Billie Joe felt disgusted. He wondered how anyone could be proud of being a redneck, one of the worst things to be in Armstrong's opinion. He supposedly got back to the studio and began writing "American Idiot" to sort of "counter" songs like the one he had just heard.
So going through the lyrics:
Armstrong doesn't want to be an American Idiot like that redneck singer (and many other 'mericans). Our nation is under the media in the sense that we believe anything that were told. Luckily, a handful of us have been able to understand that you can't trust anything you read on the internet, but sometimes those people forget to apply that logic to everything, believing everything they hear in books or TV. I interpret the "subliminal mind-fuck" of America to be saying that the government and media have subliminally snuck their way into our minds, controlling us when we don;t ever realize it, creating a mind-fuck of a country where individuality is lacking, and crazy shit happens all the time because of it.
I think this "new kind of tension" is how the struggles seem to be more about current social issues that were never really problems for our country during earlier time periods. The television likes to show us all the happy lives of the Kardashians etc. as if they're living the American dream that we are all supposed to want but never will get.
Billie Joe would rather be called a faggot, a common word that bigoted conservatives use to attack liberals, than be associated with the redneck agenda of Bush and an unfortunately large number of far-right-winged people. America likes to use propaganda to get us riled up about some issue, so that we will let it attack our personal liberties. We all end up with this "paranoia" that unconsciously changes our minds and stops us from caring if our country infringes upon our rights.
Basically, Billie Joe is disappointed in our country, and wants us to be better by beginning to question things (as expressed in "Warning"). He's not Anti-American, as many believe because of this song. It's more like he's disappointed in the beliefs and actions of someone he cares about. Just like how we may speak rudely to those we are comfortable with (yelling at our sisters and wives, but silently accepting whatever our distant teachers/bosses say) Instead of accepting America, Armstrong would rather show it where its mistakes are and allow it to better itself, which it can only do if its citizens' mindsets change.
This story is part of the reason it was possible for the album to be adapted for broadway.