I think its about love.

Hes questioning whether the relationship is worth fighting for,a mistake he made has burnt and broken the foundation of their relationship.
"Did you try to live on your own,
When you burned down the house and home?"

Should he lay down his guns and give up the fight? or is it worth fighting and dying for?.

Anyway thats my take on the song, i really dont see it as an anti war song.

this song reminds me a lot of the anti-war protest songs of the 70s.

i think its definitely about the soldiers that are fighting in a war they dont believe in. they live in shame about killing people and wish they could find forgiveness anywhere.
"When you're at the end of the road <- after the war
And you lost all sense of control
And your thoughts have taken their toll <- thinking back to what they've, driving themselves into shame
When your mind breaks the spirit of your soul <- your mind convinces you youre bad for what youre done
Your faith walks on broken glass
And the hangover doesn't pass <- it stays with them forever
Nothing's ever built to last"

also, i think it needs to be noted that not all soldiers are male.

i Think This song is About Love. And When Someones Hurt Inside the Relationship and Their Fighting With their Lover.

If You WAtch the Video There is a Girl In It.

So Tht Is a Big Possibility.

love this song. it kicks ass

I hate this song... It is unpatriotic and disgusting.There is not a thing in this world that isn't worth fighting for, and if you think poorly of soldiers that protect the freedoms that you take advantage of everyday, than you are un-American. I stand ready to deploy, engage, and destroy the enemies of the United States of America in close combat. I am an American Soldier.

This song is a smack in the face to the United States and its armed forces. To say that these great soldiers are dying for a worthless cause whether you agree with the war or not is a totally messed up statement. Green Day truly makes me sick with their hippy liberal agenda. Bush isn't in office quit making music ripping on him its old.. this band is the biggest bunch of sellouts I have ever seen and needs to just retire instead of pussifying the world with their whining.

Don't try to call me an ultra conservative either because I don't agree with the war or bush i'm just sick of Green Day and their terrible ass-kissing of all the socialists who are running rampant in the US today.

How old are you guys? Very few of you really know what this song is about.
No - it's not about Bush and war.
Yes - in the context of the album it is about Christian and Gloria.
In general, relating the rest of us, it is about the end of a long term relationship - most likely divorce.

"Do you know what's worth fighting for,
When it's not worth dying for?
Does it take your breath away
And you feel yourself suffocating?"

Your relationship is worth fighting for, but when it fails it is not the end - you feel crushed, but suicide is not the answer. When you realize it's over it hurts so bad that you can barely breath.

"Does the pain weigh out the pride?
And you look for a place to hide?
Did someone break your heart inside?
You're in ruins"

It hurts so much that you will break down in front of people - that's how diminished you're sense of pride has become, but you're still in enough control that you will seek some privacy. You are emotionally and sometimes physically destroyed (not abused - stress can make you sick) - you're in ruins.

"One, 21 guns
Lay down your arms
Give up the fight
One, 21 guns
Throw up your arms into the sky,
You and I"

The "one" can have several interpretations:
* square one - starting over
* refering to the saying "a brave man faces one death, a coward faces many" and a call to face what is in front of you
* one united 21 gun salute - you both agree it's over
21 guns - the only thing everyone gets right: It's the 21 gun salute of respect to the memory of something that was truely exceptional but is now gone.
Lay down your guns, give up the fight - it's over, it's time to stop fighting and move on.
Throw up your arms into the sky - surrender to the fact that it's over otherwise you will never heal.
You and I - if you don't both give up the fight and surrender then the nightmare will continue.

"When you're at the end of the road
And you lost all sense of control
And your thoughts have taken their toll
When your mind breaks the spirit of your soul"

When you realize it is all over and beyond your control, you think about all of the time and energy that went into the relationship that now seems wasted. You consciously make the decision that the relationship must end and it tears your soul apart.

"Your faith walks on broken glass
And the hangover doesn't pass
Nothing's ever built to last
You're in ruins"

Your faith in love and the human spirit has been shredded - it leaves a fog in your brain like a hangover. Even something with the strong foundation of your relationship couldn't last - you're in ruins.

"Did you try to live on your own
When you burned down the house and home?
Did you stand too close to the fire?
Like a liar looking for forgiveness from a stone"

Did you drift apart and start finding your identity again and leave your partner behind? Did it tear apart your relationship and make your home an unwelcome place? Did you stand there in the heat of things trying to fix it when your partner said they didn't know you anymore - and what's more - they didn't want to. Did you make promises you couldn't keep (liar) to someone who was no longer listening to you (stone) in an attempt to save it?

"When it's time to live and let die
And you can't get another try
Something inside this heart has died
You're in ruins"

It's time to let the relationship go and move on, but you can't because your heart doesn't want to be vulnerable again - you're still broken - you're in ruins.

"One, 21 guns
Lay down your arms
Give up the fight
One, 21 guns
Throw up your arms into the sky

One, 21 guns
Lay down your arms
Give up the fight
One, 21 guns
Throw up your arms into the sky,
You and I"

This song has very good lyrics with very strong imagery, but it takes life experience to really see and feel it.

The lyrics and the music match so well that it's no wonder the song is so popular.

this song really intrigue me but i cant help getting irritated when people attach religion or whatever to it.

just appreciate the song as it is. you don't have to think if it's abut islam, catholism, christiannity, politics, or whatever. such thinking only serve to create narrow mindedness and more hatred and this world has enough of such negativity. open your mind.

to me this song is about everything from war to relationship problems, be it between lovers, family, friends, etc. war of cox has many considerations, from politics to religion to race or just plain hatred but the focus of the song isn't about all these issues, it is trying to say that it's time to let go, let go of all hatred.

"One, 21 guns
Lay down your arms
Give up the fight
One, 21 guns
Throw up your arms into the sky"

the message is obvious in the chorus and the main reason why it's being repeated. just "one 21 gun" can be seen as all the conflicting issues in the 21st century world, from macro to micro, all this world need is the realisation that so much hatred is not worth dying for.

I like a lot of greenday songs, but I can't stand this one. I don't like the beat or the lyrics at all!

i found that by watching the video this song is about 2 criminals trapped in a room surrounded by cops. they both realise under gun fire that by the lyrics 'do you know wats worth fighting for, if its not worth dying for?' that they should give up the fight n therefore they walk into each others arms realising that wat they hav done was wrong but they hav each other
this scene in the music video relates to the cover of the album.
n also im pretty sure christian n gloria
dont know if that made any sense...
but i still dont get the 'one' before the '21 guns'... anyone figured it out??

I personally love this song. A lot of people (I'm not saying on here) say that it sucks because it's different. It's still Green Day, the band a lot of people grew up with, so I still love it.

♥ The words, the meaning, the feelings, I ♥ GD.

I'm very sure someone has pointed this out but just incase they haven't I'm certain the line "Like a liar looking for forgiveness from a stone" is actually "like a lion looking for forgiveness from the stars". Lol maybe i'm wrong, but i'm sure that's how it goes and its a Lion King reference

uh not rock.
not anything close.
its cool to have an obsession and green day helps you blah blah...but seriously, they arent that good.
AT ALL.
so yeah go fuck yourselves and the little dwarf men.

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Does anyone else see this as a "love gone wrong" song? Maybe not but I can really see the lyrics fitting about someone losing someone else and finally realizing after all the shit that it is over hence the 21 guns to signify the end...maybe not lol just thinking out loud

Once upon a time, this song was good. Then radio stations picked up on it because people just couldn't get enough, forcing the rest of the population who was forced to listen to pop radio in the middle of ceramics class to really hate this song. It doesn't matter what it's about, it doesn't matter who made it, how "cute" and "sexy" the lead singer is (bullshit), it's been overplayed and is now therefore lost all of it's flavor. Like gum that's been chewed for WAY too long.

I've always felt this song is definatly politically based, and a big anti-war song. For me the "one...21 guns" is the repetion of surrerending.
Out of all the lines in this song, I love the first 2. It's a line that has become important to me, because if you wouldn't die for a cause that's really important to you(such as war in this case), then maybe it isn't so important to you afterall.

A terrible song by a band that should have given it up ages ago. This reeks of "I'm famous so listen to my political opinions." Empty, pathetic lyrics fueled only by "HURR DURR BAD W LOL" motives and incorrect ideas that they've fooled themselves into believing are correct despite any real political insight into the real world.

I've never gotten why all of a sudden bands think that they should whip political opinion into their music when they didn't do so before. Rage made no attempt to mask the message in their songs, and started with them there. Green Day suddenly decided to sling their useless, uneducated opinion at me while pretending to simply be a punk band. Punk has been dead for years. Eyeliner does not make you punk.

As another once said, this is only famous because it has the name Green Day attached. If this were "Jimmy's Garage Band You Never Heard Before" you wouldn't care whatsoever.

In any case, this is a waste of my local radio stations rotation slots. 0/10.

"Do you know what's worth fighting for,
When it's not worth dying for?"
is a refrence to we should do something about the situation in iraq but we are doing it the wrong way and dying for that cause is pointless.

"Does the pain weigh out the pride?"
i think this line is refering to how killing someone never seems okay but you have a sence of pride for fighting for your country

"And you look for a place to hide?"
i think this line is talking about trying to find a place inside yourself to stay sane and happy

"Did someone break your heart inside?
You're in ruins"
i belive that this is mentioning how people in america loseing their loved ones to the war feel like they have no hope anymroe because their family "man" is gone

"One, 21 guns
Lay down your arms
Give up the fight"
i think this is a refrence to only one vailliant solider getting the 21 gun salute because other people should be a solider like him trying to stop the anger, the violence, and the hatred.

"When you're at the end of the road
And you lost all sense of control
And your thoughts have taken their toll
When your mind breaks the spirit of your soul"
i think this part is mentioning soliders getting out of the war going crazy because they cant stop thinking about how they had to kill someone and watch them die. and their thoughts haunt them.

"Your faith walks on broken glass
And the hangover doesn't pass
Nothing's ever built to last
You're in ruins"
i think this line is saying that the things soliders are asked to do compromsie their morals and that their morals become usless because they have to follow orders.

"When it's time to live and let die
And you can't get another try
Something inside this heart has died
You're in ruins"
i think this lines means that when youve done something horrible you want to be in solidtude and theres no going back and an innosence dies inside of you becuase your hardened and mroe of a brutal person.

so this song is obviously anti war wiht a bit of a guilt trip being played on americans because they let this war happen and its cause everyone to suffer when we could have tried ot do things diffrent ways and about an individual who did something terrible so he laid down his arms to promote peace and he may have gotten killed for it thus the 21 gun salute.

How many times does this shit need to be spewed out of the radio?

I have liked Green Day since I first heard Dookie and have watched them grow as a band and I wasn't disappointed when they chose to use there music a podium to sermonize on the negatives of war, i mean Green Day has always been "anti-establishment" but I think they chose to use their music in this fashion more because it fits their style. Green Day hasn't always been the deepest band and I think when they start to preach it sounds really contrived.

My interpretation of this song is that its aimed toward the troops and people that believed in Bush. I agree with Echo2echo in this respect but I don't think that Green Day has accurately captured what they meant too. I'm sure that this song appeals to people who have never been in the armed forces and never made a "real" choice about their own pride, or their own sacrifice.

"One, 21 guns" is refering the death of a soldier. Every soldier that has ever served and been given a honorable discharge is afforded this honor at burial. That the death of one soldier in a war that the writer of this song doesn't agree with is too much and we should all throw down our arms and surrender. He thinks it's just not worth it. The You and I I think refers to him speaking to the listener asking them to join him.

The first verse is VERY subversive. I mean this guy watches the news and thinks he knows whats going on in a world he has experienced through a music career and he wants to ask people if THEY know whats worth fighting for, or whats worth dying for? Does the pain outweigh the pride? Once again, very subversive. The writer might think he's struck a nerve, or stumbled upon some great truth he's revealing to his listeners but I've served two extended tours in Iraq and there are days when a person's pain can be alot to handle but its not pride that outweighs this, but honor.

Anyway I'm rambling. The rest is more contrived lyrics. Its done and over and your looking back and your faith is wavering or whatever he's trying to say.

I am glad to live in a country where people can speak thier mind and I just couldn't pass the opportunity to speak mine. One, 21 guns is catchy but I just can't get behind the meaning. It just doesn't have any truth to it in my opinion.


1 Reply

This song sux utterly, other than the
part were he sings "1 21 Guns" in that
high pitched voice. GreenDay was
ok before they got so political!
Now they just plain suck they havn't
had a decent song since "Holiday"
which if I recall was somewhat political.
~Peace~

An Army of One. One who bought into the Bush administration lies, enlisted, and ran off looking for glory, 21 guns. You're One...of the Few, the Proud. Does the pain out weigh the pride? You believed it all at first, but now your faith walks on broken glass. Now that you understand, you struggle with what you did. You stood too close to the fire and you got burned. But who can understand? Maybe the liar responsible for all of this, who must also look to the dead for forgiveness.

You only get one chance in life. You will never fully get over what happened to you, but you can give up the fight and together we can search for peace. You and I.

I've listened to this song over and over and read the lyrics. I've always thought Green-Day to be an OK band. Often a little annoying after a few listens but I fell into this song more and more as I heard it.

My take on this song is simple.

He's talking to the current government in general. Saying that our government has fallen to ruins and its time to change it out. Kind of a cry out to the politicians saying "you've had you chance and lost it, yet you still continue to do things improperly and against what is best."

1 21 gun salute to honor the once great government that has fallen yet continues to struggle on.

From my point-of-view, it's an advice from a lover. The situation is such that their relationship may come to an end soon. Therefore the persona is giving an imagery as to what would happen if his lover keeps on doing what she is doing, in hopes that she would surrender and therefore renew their relationship.

Both of them have something in common, namely the fact that they are very convinced with their own ideas and opinions, as well as having a great sense of pride, as can be conveyed from "Do you know what's worth fighting for, when it's not worth dying for? Does it take your breath away" and "Does the pain weigh out the pride?" respectively. But it is due to that that they are in constant conflict with each other. The line "Did someone break your heart inside?" indirectly tells the person that she is killing herself (and the relationship) by being too persistent with her own thoughts and pride. He knows it for sure because he was doing the same thing, except that at some point he realised it and is now trying to make her realise it as well.

The repetition of "You're in ruins" implies strongly that she is dying on the inside because of her conviction and pride. The chorus basically prompts the person to surrender; "lay down your arms" means to drop your weapons ie your arguments, whether it is valid in one way, or in many ways, hence "one, 21 guns". "Throw up your arms into the sky" is similar to what people do when cops say "freeze!", which is to surrender. "You and I" strongly indicates that if she is willing to surrender, that he would do the same.

The 2nd verse talks about what would happen at the end of the relationship. It talks about how the relationship cannot be pieced together no matter how she argues and that all that she's ever believed doesn't even seem to matter anymore. "Nothing's ever built to last" tells her that his patience is wearing thin, thus if this continues, their relationship would have to end.

The bridge harps on the possible aftermath, where she is alone and tries to see why their relationship, which she burned, actually ended. "..Stone" refers to their relationship that would never come back, and she is trying to convince herself that she had done nothing wrong to deserve it, as a result, get hurt even more.

The second part of the bridge stills refers to the aftermath, telling her that there is no second chance in their relationship, and that at the end of the day, she will realise that something is missing despite ALL the arguments that she went through to convince him that she's right.

In saying so, the persona hopes to convince her that surrendering and complying is the best course of action.

Overall the song is quite good :D. My friend can't get enough of it. There goes my two cents.

1 Reply

it's about making people realise that the war that they are fighting is not worth their lives. it could be related to the war in iraq. people have been sucked into the lie that fighting for your country is a noble act "Does the pain weigh out the pride?". are the emotional traumas and gruesome deaths worth the pride of fighting for your country?
"And you lost all sense of control
And your thoughts have taken their toll
When your mind breaks the spirit of your soul
Your faith walks on broken glass"
the soldier has seen so much murder of innocent children, sadistic and gruesome deaths that he actually debates the existence of God.
"And the hangover doesn't pass"
these horrors do not pass like a hangover. they are with him for the rest of his life. the song is ultimately about showing people that there is no honour in war. the 21 gun salute is supposed to be the highest honour for a soldier. but what good is it if you are dead? people need to stop suffering in wars that have been started by higher orders who do not even know who they are.