Green Day: Jesus Of Suburbia Meaning
Song Released: 2005
Jesus Of Suburbia Lyrics
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...
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Song Analysis
This song is sung by Green Day and is the sequel to their song “American Idiot”. All in all, this song is about a male teenager who calls himself Jesus of Suburbia. He lives in a poor town and nothing is working out in his life so he turns to drugs and joins a gang. After he loses his girlfriend he can’t take all of the stress in his life and he runs away from home. The song “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” is the next song in the album and it carries on from where this song leaves off.
Part 1 (Jesus of Suburbia)
The first part of the song talks about his personality, his family, his town, and how he gets hooked on drugs.
The first verse talks about his disorders and personality. In the first line, when he refers to himself as being the son of rage and love, his father is rage and his mother is love. This interpretation can also lead to the hypothesis that he has mixed emotions as an adolescent, which is confirmed later in the verse. The second line is just introducing the listener to the narrator by telling us what he likes to call himself. The third line was a little tricky. When he says he is from the bible of none of the above, I think he is saying that he never did anything significant in his life and he doesn’t deserve to be in any book (the reference to the bible) because he leads an average life and has not accomplished anything important. So basically, he is saying that he is an average guy. I had to look up the word Ritalin online in the next line because I had no clue what it was. Apparently, it is a brand name for a central nervous system stimulant to treat kids with Attention Deficit Disorder. So, this confirms the hypothesis that Jesus of Suburbia (JoS) has emotional problems as a teenager. I also wasn’t sure about the meaning of the next three lines in the verse. I think they mean that nobody ever tried to take the blame off of him and nobody died to try and help fix things for him.
The next verse is the refrain for this part in the song. JoS changes the way he acts to try and fit in to his town. In this verse, he tries to convince himself that the way he is now acting is the way he should and always should have. He changes the way he acts from being an idiot (“American Idiot”) to becoming a punk, the way all the other teens are in the area, to try and fix things. When he changes, he pretends that everything is all right when it really isn’t and it just makes things worse for him. The land of make believe is his town and the last line basically means that all of the adults in the town look down on him since he has become a punk.
The final verse in the first part of the song (not including the last refrain) talks about his life at home, his mother’s relationships, and his addiction to drugs. The first and second line tells us that JoS sits at home all day on his couch (“crucifix”) bored out of his mind because he is all alone. The reference to his private womb gives the listener the impression that he is the only one there. The third line tells us that his mom is never home (she is away getting drunk at parties in the music video) and she is away with her “boyfriend”. The plural on “Brads” infers that JoS’s mother either has a lot of boyfriends or that she is cheating on her current boyfriend. The next line also supports this interpretation (“to fall in love”). The other part of this line (“to fall in debt”) gives the listener the impression that they gamble at the parties. The next line seems like it is supposed to be part of lines three and four, but it’s not. The last two lines are really the one’s that go together. When it says “to alcohol and cigarettes and Mary Jane” this is referring JoS’s turn to drugs to try and fix things as well as the last line.
Part 2 (City of the Damned)
Part two of the song talks about JoS’s town, his participation in a gang, and his mindset.
The first verse talks about the gang and his realization that he doesn’t have a home. The first three lines talks about how JoS is in a gang. He joins a gang to get away from his home and so he doesn’t have to spend time around his mom and her current boyfriend. The first line, “At the center of the Earth” means that his participation in the gang is what he spends his time doing all the time and it is his life. The next two lines are just pure statements telling the listener the gang hangs out and where they usually meet up. The last lines in the verse are an explanation of JoS’s realization that he doesn’t have a home. All of the other teens in the gang teach JoS that the motto of the 7-11 is a lie. JoS says that home isn’t where his heart is because he hates his home, unlike most other people. The other teens have the same feeling and they teach JoS about the lie.
The next verse is the refrain for part two of the song. The first line (“City of the dead”) is JoS referring to his hometown. He calls it a dead city because nothing exciting ever happens in his town. The second and third lines say that JoS thinks his town should be considered as nothing (“Signs misleading to nowhere”). This is also why the highway is considered “lost”, because it leads to nowhere. The fourth line is another opinion of JoS’s town. This line means that his town is poor and it seems like nothing is right and everything is cursed. The last two lines mean that nobody in his town cares about the troubled teens around them. This entire verse can also be considered a metaphor for JoS’s thought process. The city can be a metaphor for is mind, meaning that it is twisted and empty (hence “dead” and “damed”). The signs can be his thoughts, meaning that they are useless. JoS can be considering himself as the lost children of the city because he doesn’t know what to do or where to go and nobody cares about him anymore.
The next verse is the last verse of part two (besides the last refrain) and is when JoS realizes that joining the gang is just making things worse. In the first two lines, he reads his own graffiti that he has added to the bathroom stall in the mall. The rest of the lines are about him realizing his mistake. The graffiti teaches him a lesson, that the “center of the earth” (his participation in the gang) is just making things worse and he is leading a bad life by staying active in the gang. But JoS doesn’t care if he is leading a bad life and making wrong decisions anymore.
Part 3 (I don’t care)
Basically, as you can guess by the title of part three, JoS talks about how he doesn’t care about anything anymore.
The first five verses in this part are just JoS trying to convince himself that he doesn’t care if nobody cares about him, even though he does. You can tell by the music video that it really does affect him if you look at his facial expression during this part of the song.
The last verse talks about the kids in the gang that JoS is in. In the first two lines, JoS is talking about the kids in his town, and how they are all like him. The hypocrites he refers to are the adults that raised the children. The next two lines tell us about JoS’s faith in religion, or in this case lack of faith. Jesus was a savior, someone who saved peoples hearts. But the third line says that the hearts are recycled instead of being saved, meaning that he doesn’t believe in Jesus, or at least his ability to make things better for people. The next line, “From the cradles to the grave”, means that his belief about Jesus is that he can’t fix things anytime in his life. The next four lines talk about the other kids in the gang, and we find out that JoS is the leader. “We are the kids of war and peace” means that the teenagers in the town are basically the troublemakers. The next line, “From Anaheim to the middle east”, is talking about how there is always war and peace in the gang. Anaheim is a peaceful city in California and there are a lot of disputes in the Middle East. The two lines after that basically mean that the kids in the gang follow JoS and look up to him. The rest of the lines are just JoS talking about the land of make believe again (his town) and how he doesn’t care about anything.
Part 4 (Dearly beloved)
In this part of the song, JoS talks about his breaking up with his girlfriend.
This part is all just one verse and is directed towards his girlfriend. The first four lines are JoS talking to his girlfriend about their relationship before they break up, and the last four lines are JoS talking to himself after they break up. The first two lines tell us that JoS often forgets what he and his girlfriend were talking about either meaning that he was distracted or he just didn’t really care. Both of these facts lead to the conclusion that he didn’t like his girlfriend that much. In the next two lines, JoS talks to his girlfriend about their relationship. He basically means that he doesn’t think they belong together because there is space in between them. The next line (and the three after it) is after he breaks up with his girlfriend. The therapy he refers to is drugs, meaning that he, once again, has turned to drugs to try and make himself feel better. The void he refers to is the emptiness that he feels when his girlfriend has left him. In the next three lines, JoS is saying that he doesn’t feel anything now for the girl he broke up with, and he tries to lie that she broke up with him because he said something wrong, which isn’t true. She broke up with him because of the way he had been acting and the choices he had been making. There can also be an alternative interpretation of the last two lines. JoS can be criticizing society and the laws that have been put forth and approved by the government.
Part 5 (Tales of another broken home)
This is the last part of the song and it is about JoS running away from home and leaving behind his town.
The first two lines in the first verse of part five is JoS talking about how he feels that he is messed up (hence the first line) and it feels like dying. He compares his life to these two lines because it can be interpreted as “To live and to know nobody cares feels like dying in a tragedy”. JoS says in the next two lines that running away is his only solution to getting away from his terrible town. The next two lines talk about him leaving behind his town when he runs away. He compares his town to a hurricane of lies because he was never told the truth about anything in his town. You can tell that he is angry at his town because of the word use in the last line of the first verse.
The next verse is also talking about him running away and leaving his town behind as well. The first line tells us that JoS doesn’t believe his town can get better and the second line tells us that he doesn’t think his town deserves to exist. In the next three lines, he is leaving his old life behind and running away towards the life of a masochist, someone who gets sexual pleasure through humiliation. Then he repeats the line we encountered in the first verse about running away from his town of lies. The next three lines are a metaphor for his decision about running away. The first two lines mean he has thought about leaving his town a million and one times and the “line” of which he refers to is the choice of staying or leaving. So basically he is saying he has walked the line of decision many times. The last line tells us that he has finally been driven over the edge and has made his decision and is leaving his home.
The next verse is short, only two lines, and he is talking to his mother. JoS is so fed up with his home, his town, and his family that he won’t apologize to his mother for running away.
The next verse is JoS explaining why he has to leave home. Home is supposed to be a place of safety, where you can be safe from everything, but JoS feels like this is not what his home is like. The last line is saying that all of the song before that line is just another story of an unfortunate teenager like himself.
The last verse is just JoS telling the listener that he has made his final decision and he is leaving home.
Figurative Language and Sound Devices
Similes
- JoS compares the graffiti on the wall to Holy Scriptures using a direct comparison. He compares the graffiti to Holy Scriptures because Holy Scriptures teach lessons, and the graffiti is teaching him a lesson. (Part 2, Verse 3, Line 3)
Metaphors
- JoS calls himself the son of rage and love, indicating that his father is usually angry all the time and that his mother is a woman of love, someone who changes her mind about guys all the time. (Part 1, Verse 1, Line 1)
- JoS uses the word bible to say that he is not worthy enough to be in any kind of book. He compares the book to a bible because the bible tells of significant and important things that have been done, but JoS has never done anything significant or important. (Part 1, Verse 1, Line 3)
- JoS calls his town a land of make believe. He says this because he is trying to pretend that everything is all right in his town when it really isn’t. (Part 1, Verses 2 and 4, Line 3)
- JoS calls the gang the center of the Earth because it is what he does all the time and it is basically his life. (Part 2, Verse 1, Line 1)
- JoS talks about people’s hearts and how the beat differently. This is a metaphor for people’s thoughts about their homes and how much they trust in them. (Part 2, Verse 1, Lines 7-9)
- JoS calls his hometown the city of the dead. This basically means that nothing exciting ever happens in his town (Part 2, Verses 2 and 4, Line 1)
- JoS calls his hometown the city of the damned. It isn’t really cursed, but it means he lives in a poor town where it seems like everything is wrong. (Part 2, Verse 2, Line 4)
- Verses 2 and 4 in part 2 could also be entire metaphors for JoS’s thought process. The city can be a metaphor for is mind, meaning that it is twisted and empty (hence “dead” and “damned”). The signs can be his thoughts, meaning that they are useless. JoS can be considering himself as the lost children of the city because he doesn’t know what to do or where to go and nobody cares about him anymore. (Part 2, Verses 2 and 4, Lines 1-6)
- JoS says that everyone is full of shit. Everyone isn’t really full of poop, but JoS means that everybody always tells lies and nobody tells the truth. (Part 3, Verse 6, Line 1)
- JoS says that hearts are recycled but never saved, this doesn’t mean that everyone’s hearts are recycled, but that they are never saved from depression, despair, and grief. (Part 3, Verse 6, Line 3)
- When JoS says from the cradle to the grave, this is a metaphor saying ‘from birth to death’. (Part 3, Verse 6, Line 4)
- JoS says “We are the kids of war and peace” this is a metaphor meaning that the gang always has mixed personalities and that there are always fights and truces. (Part 3, Verse 6, Line 5)
- Anaheim and the Middle East are metaphors for war and peace. (Part 3, Verse 6, Line 6)
- When they say “We are the stories and disciples of (the Jesus of Suburbia)” JoS is saying that they are his followers and that he is the leader of the gang. (Part 3, Verse 6, Lines 7-8)
- JoS talks about the land of make believe again which is a metaphor for his town. (Part 3, Verse 6, Lines 9 and 11)
- JoS asks “Are we demented…” and he isn’t really asking if they are crazy. He is just asking if they really do belong together. (Part 4, Verse 1, Line 3) (*NOTE*: I am not sure if this is actually considered a metaphor)
- JoS refers to the space that’s in between. It isn’t really a space, it’s just a metaphor for their closeness of their relationship. (Part 4, Verse 1, Line 4)
- JoS asks the therapy to fill the void. There are two metaphors in this one line. The therapy is a metaphor for drugs and the void is the emptiness he feels after he is dumped. (Part 4, Verse 1, Line 4)
- “To live and not to breathe | Is to die in tragedy” is JoS saying that he feels that he is messed up (hence the first line) and it feels like dying. He compares his life to these two lines because it can be interpreted as “To live and to know nobody cares feels like dying in a tragedy”. (Part 5, Verse 1, Lines 1 and 2)
- JoS calls his town a hurricane of lies because nobody ever told him the truth. (Part 5, Verse 1, Line 6)
- “…The light of masochist” is a metaphor for the life of a masochist. (Part 5, Verse 2, Line 5)
- The last three lines in verse two of part five are a metaphor for his decision about running away. The first two lines mean he has thought about leaving his town a million and one times and the “line” of which he refers to is the choice of staying or leaving. So basically he is saying he has walked the line of decision many times. The last line tells us that he has finally been driven over the edge and has made his decision and is leaving his home.
- JoS calls his home broken. It isn’t really broken, it is just a metaphor meaning that he doesn’t feel like it’s home and everything is messed up there. (Part 5, Verse 4, Line 4)
Allusions
- JoS says he is the son of rage and love which is alluding to his mother and father. (Part 1, Verse 1, Line 1)
- “We are the kids of war and peace” and “We are the stories and disciples” alludes to the members of the gang that follow JoS. (Part 3, Verse 6, Lines 5 and 7)
- JoS is talking to “Dearly beloved…” which is alluding to his girlfriend (Part 4, Verse 1, Line 1)
Hyperbole
- A hyperbole is used in the fifth part of the song: “And I walked this line a million and one fucking times”. He didn’t really walk the line a million and one times, he is just saying that he feels like he has walked it too many times for his liking. (Part 5, Verse 2, Lines 8 and 9)
Repetition
- JoS repeats verses two and four of part one to convey that he lives up to the low expectations of the others around him. (Part 1, Verses 2 and 4, Lines 1-4)
- JoS repeats verses two and four of part two to convey that his town really just plain out sucks. (Part 2, Verses 2 and 4, Lines 1-6)
(*NOTE*: The repetition mentioned above is mainly repeated because it is the main meaning of the song, the parts that are not repeated are just details).
- JoS repeats verses one through four and sort of five. He uses the repetition here to say that if he kept telling himself he didn’t care, it eventually would come true. (Part 3, Verses 1-5, Lines 1-4 and 1)
- JoS repeats Land of make believe to sum up what his town is to him. (Part 3, Verse 6, Lines 9 and 11)
- JoS repeats “And I leave behind | This hurricane of fucking lies” twice to tell the listener that he really hates how everybody has lied to him in his life. (Part 5, Verses 1 and 2, Lines 5 and 6; 6 and 7)
- JoS repeats “You’re leaving” three times to make his point clear that he has finally decided on leaving home. (Part 5, Verse 5, Lines 1-3)
Rhythm
- The rhythm in this song changes a lot. There is basically a different rhythm for each part of the song and they vary from fast to moderately slow.
Rhyme
- In this song there is a lot of internal rhyme and there are a lot of couplets appearing in the lyrics. The rhyme scheme is different for each part of the song. I think that Green Day did a very good job rhyming the words while still conveying the same tone and meaning of the song.
Melody
- This is considered a rock song because of the percussion and all of the electric guitars used. There is also a piano and the percussion mentioned before is a drum set. There are parts when all of the instruments are used together and, along with the lyrics, it makes it seem like the person singing is angry about things. When the piano solo is used towards the end of the song, it seems sad and it seems like JoS might even seem regretful about leaving his home. -
It was inspired by the band (or at least Billie) quitting their drugs.
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Jesus Of Suburbia is the main character of American Idiot. He's a kid who hates his family, friends, and home.
This song is broken down into 5 sections:Part I. Jesus Of SuburbiaThis is an introduction of the character and tells about his home life.Part II. City Of The DamnedThis takes place in a 7/11 parking lot where he got into a fight and first realized he hated his friends and home: "The 7/11 where I was taught, the motto was a lie, it says home is where the heart is, but everyone's heart doesn't beat the same." The lyric, "At the end of another lost highway" refers to the group of kids who hang out under the highway where once again he doesn't fit in.Part III. I Don't CareThis is where he becomes an outcast hating everyone and everything, and also in the story this is where St. Jimmy (a character Jesus created to heal the pain of a lost girlfriend) ties in, saying he hates everything now. This is where he considers leaving home.Part IV. Dearly BelovedNot much is known on this part, it's believed to be the peaceful, yet hard twilight between anger and happiness where you are content.Part V. Tales From Another Broken HomeThis is where Jesus just gives up and leaves. He doesn't know where he's going but he's just going far away: "Running away from pain when you've been victimized." This is where he's leaving everyone that hated and hurt him, sort of starting over and beginning a new life. (thanks, Zach - Oklahoma City, OK, for above 2)
Billie Joe Armstrong stated on VH1 Storytellers that the line, "While the mums and Brads are away" means that in this day and age children speak to their step parents on a first name basis. (thanks, Stacy - Sunbury, Australia)
In the video, the Jesus of Suburbia character has tattoos similar to Billie Joe Armstrong: a skull and crossbones on his upper arm, and "EPBM" on his left wrist. The actor who played Jesus of Suburbia is Lou Taylor Pucci, who appeared in the movies Fifty Pills and Thumbsucker. (thanks, September Heaven - lawton, MI) -
Jesus of suburbia is a bible of one life syle..and he is Jesus of suburbia a land of make believe he's never died of sins in hell...hates his mom and siblings..when speaking of love it means that we fall in debt....maryjane alcohol to keep us or him insane..nothing wrong with me this is supposed to be-means that..the motto is home is were the heart is what a shame cause every ones heart don't beat the same.and the motto was just a lie.city of the damed is lost children with dirty faces...mean those kids are lost and confused...and no one cares. and we are the kids of war and pease..we are the stories and disciples of the Jesus suburbia and from that you can tell I'm kinda right...just listen to the song watch the video at times the video goes by the meaning not always.....so I think you can figure the rest out from there....
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This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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st jimmy is a part of jesus of subaria.. and many others too
not the ones in the video.
he is another saint and lives for his own means.
[{(he aint 1 of those who r trying to be exttraodinary)}]
there is a lot but this is nowhere to write -
I think that Jesus of suburbia is a metaphor for his life. "in a life of make believe,that don't believe in me" is his world that doesn't think he can achieve his dreams(That don't beleve in me.) "To fall in love and fall in debt" is a something to do with his parents. The city of the dead part of the song is him describing what he thinks will happen to him when he dies.I don't care part of the song is him confessing he has lost all feeling for other people and for his life. Dearly beloved part of the song is him trying to fill the void in his life. I don't know what the last part is about though... P.S. This guy is so freaking over dramatic!
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Jesus of Suburbia is about a boy finding his way in life, even if he is misunderstood. A lot of people think that St. Jimmy and JoS are the same people. They are incorrect, they are two different people. JoS is pretty much the beginning of the cd's story line. Jesus of Suburbia, St. Jimmy, Extrodinary Girl, She's a Rebel, and Whatsername are charecters that bring the cd to life.
...At least, thats what I think... -
Guys My Bestfriend Calls Me St.jimmy Cause I Have Been Through All The Things Just As J.O.S So This Is My Story And J.O.S. Story
Truly What I Think Is Going On Is That St.Jimmy And J.O.S. Are The Same Person
(st.jimmy-his inner demon side)
(J.O.S.-a little more calmed down)
And Easily You Can Tell He Is Sick Of His Life (But Just Like Me I Dont Blame Myself For My Pain)
And Seems That He Tries To Make Things Right And Not Be Different But When Ever It Come's To That Time Everyone Shit's On Him And He Just Start's To Go Crazy With Life Wondering What The Fuc* Is Going On (am I retarded or am I just over joyed)(Pretending To Be Happy)
He Meet's A Girl And Seem's That She Makes Him Very Happy And Thats All He Need's
But She Cheats On Him And That Just Pushes Him Over The Limit Like He Would Expect It From His Mom And Everyone Else But Not Her Soo He Starts To Leave (and I leave behind this hurricane of fuc*ing lie's)
(I Dont Feel Any Shame I Wont Apoligze When There Aint No Where You Can Go)I Think He Is Telling His Ex-Girlfriend (whatsername) But Not To Her Face And His Mother Goodbye
And He Is Saying Dont come To Me For Help Or Tell Me YOur Problem's
This May Not Be 100% Correct But To Me It Makes Sence. -
guys jos and jimmy are the same person! and jos's dad was in the military so jos felt he left him. i have proof for this. see the music videos for jesus of suberbia and wake me up when september ends.
^good post^ -
Jesus of Suburbia is a five part suite. Each part tells of a part about the main character's (Jesus of Suburbia) life.
I.) Jesus of Suburbia
Part one tells about Jesus of Suburbia's personality. He is filled with his father's rage and his mother's love. These two sides of his personality become manifest in the later characters of St. Jimmy (rage) and Whatsername (love). Now whether or not either or both St. Jimmy and Whatsername are real and fake is entirely up to interpretation, but back to the song at hand. Jesus of Suburbia is frustrated with his unextraordinary life. It is about him becoming self aware and unsatisfied.
II.) City of the Damned
This part describes the town of Suburbia (The City of the Damned). Jesus of Suburbia feels isolated by the residents of Suburbia and repulsed by their uncaring attitudes. It's about him feeling like a stranger in the place he has lived all his life home.
"They say home is where the heart is, but what a shame
Because everyone's heart doesn't beat the same."
III.) I Don't Care
This part is his proclamation that he does not care how they feel and that Suburbia doesn't matter. It is a "land of make believe.
IV.)Dearly Beloved
This part is almost the flip side of Jesus of Suburbia's view of Suburbia. He acknowledges that he is far from perfect and that perhaps the people of Suburbia are not as bad as he may have thought. This polar opposite, conflicting reflection coupled with his mention his need of therapy can be viewed as foreshadowing to the view that St. Jimmy is actually a split personality of him or at least a hallucination brought on by some sort of mental illness.
V.)Tales from Another Broken Home
Jesus of Suburbia realizes that he must stick to his convictions and leave Suburbia. That despite his sympathetic thoughts he must search for bigger and better things, or at least something new. He leaves, planning to never return for to him, Suburbia is dead. The title "Tales from Another Broken Home" alludes to the fact that his parents are divorced and that he lives with one of them, with which one is up for interpretation, I prefer it to be his mom. This also reveals his age. He is a teenager, independent, but unaware of how misguided he may be. -
Jesus of suburbia and st.jimmy are different people. St. jimmy is the cocky , arrogant teen who thinks he is better than everyone else. The fact that he is called st.jimmy says it all, he has changed jesus of suburbia into a slangy nickname, st. for the holiness of jesus and then jimmy, a nickname I presume for jesus.
the tone of each chapter is completely different, and would like to interpret that as this guys two sides of his personality, battling it out. St. jimmy is one side. he is rebellious and sees himself as a product of everyone elses mistakes, not his own. we see this coming through in the first chapter (overall message there is nothing wrong with me), the third (I don't care) and last(this is a joke, I'm better than this, I want to live my life, I'm leaving home).
Throughout all of this, nothing is his fault. Its the drugs, the people.
His alter ego comes through in the other alternate verses, and the tone of the song is slower, softer. It is who he really is (billy Joe if that is who this song was based on). In the second verse, he still hints JoS but just explains how no one really cares. Its much slower, much deeper, much more cutting rather than just a young, arrogant "so what" attitude that st.jimmy has. In the fourth verse 'dearly beloved' again he still hints JoS with his biblical language, but he questions his own sanity, is he really perfect, is he insane? he recognises in his insecurities. He is only human.
he leaves home and st.jimmy, this dominating, rebellious side of his personality takes him through the next few songs. He fals in love, he takes drugs and in the end, he just wants to go home. "st. jimmy died today, he blew his brains out into the bay, in the state of mind, its my own provate suicide". This proves that st.jimmy is a figment of his imagination, and when he finally decides its time to go home, to be HIM again, he 'kills' jimmy, aka this other part of his personality. -
Jesus of Suburbia is a mini-opera involving our character, Jesus of Suburbua.
I'm the son of rage and love
The Jesus of Suburbia
This part is Jesus telling us who he is. Rage is his father who might have been an alcoholic. His mother is Love but is not very caring for him. I think of him as being closer to 16 than 18 but that's just me.
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
He is explaining that he might be athiest or at least not sure of his beliefs. I picture him being a non active Christian. He is ADD hence ritalin. He then goes on to say that he has had no one die for him. He basically feels alone. This is one of Green Day's emo songs.
And there's nothing wrong with me
THis is how I'm supposed to be
In a land of make believe
who don't believe in me
He is trying to convince himself that he is not abnormal at all. But he feels that his city(Jingletown) is completely unethical. His town doesn't trust him.
Get my television fixed
Sitting on my crucifix
a living room, or my private woam
while the moms and brads are away
He spends his time sitting on his couch(crucifix)in his living room. He feels happy or at least at peace when his mom and current boyfriend are away.
TO fall in love and fall in debt
with alcohol and cigarettes
and mary jane to keep me insane
doing someone elses cocaine
He explains his only pleasure is drugs but he does not think he needs them, he just likes them. He might be the target of a few drug dealers because he stole or hasn't paid them back for drugs yet.
At the center of the earth in the parking lot
of the 7/11 where I was taught
the motto was just a lie
it said home is where the heart is
but what a shame
cause everyone's heart doesn't beat the same
He is kind of the king of his local 7/11. It was there he was taught the laws of surviving in this place. He starts to believe that he doesn't belong here because he hates it here.
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 a
and no one really seems to care
He basically just explains his towns crap and mocks it.
I read the grafitti in the bathroom stall
like the holy scriptures of the shopping mall
it always seems 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
He continues to talk crap about his city. He tells us that his town is a perfect example why the world is like it is.
I don't care
He doesn't care.
Everyone's so full of shit
born and raised by hipocrites
hearts recycle but never save
from the cradle to the grave
we are the kids of war and piece
from anaheim to the middle east
we are the stories and deciples of
the Jesus of Suburbia
He once again is just talking shit about his city. He hates the hipocracy of it all and it also goes political when he talks about the war
Dearly beloved are you listening
I can't remember a word that you were saying
are we demented or am I disturbed
the space that's in between
insane and insecure
THis could be a two way conversation
His mom: are you listening
Jesus: no
His mom: am I stupid are you spaced out
Jesus: your insane and I'm insecure
Oh, therapy can you please fill the void
am I retarded or am I just over joyed
no body's perfect but I stand accused
for lack of a better word
and that's my best excuse
He once again tells us about his mother's overbearing expectance of him.
To live, and not to breathe
to die, in tradgedy
to run, to run away
to find, what you believe
He is fed up with this hipocritical town and this hipocritical way of life.
And I leave behind this hurricane of fucking lies
I lost my faith in this, this town that don't exist
so I run, I run away
the lights, of mesochist
He tells us he is leaving and about his disbelief in society.
And I walk this line a million and one fucking times
But not this time
He is fed up. Plain and Simple.
I don't feel any shame, I won't apoligize
When there ain't no where you can go
Running away from pain
when you've been victimized
Tales from Another Broken Home
He is not ashamed of leaving and he is ready to finally be rid of this place.
You're leaving home!
He's leaving home! -
The first part is just an introduction to his life.he talks about how his mom dates a bunch of losers "brads".and from the line "doing someone elses cocaine" I'm guessing he's either taking drugs from his moms boyfriend or his mom.
in the second part he's seeing how hopeless his life seems and that the center of the earth is the end of the world.he feels that his life is at a dead end and hanging out at the 711 is all his life holds in store for him.
in I don't care he feels there is no point to life and he just decides to stop caring.hes sick of all the hypocrites in his life and says to hell with all of it.
in dearly beloved he's confused if his former girlfriend was in the wrong or if he was.he starts to think its his fault for her fooln' with that other guy.
in the last part him deciding to leave his hometown for somewhere new and get a fresh start. but from the other songs you can tell it just all spirals out of control.
i also believe that st.jimmy and jos are the same person.and gimme novacaine does make sense if its just one person cause he could be talking to himself.it seems that greenday got their inspiration for this album from the who's quadrophenia album because it's pretty much the same story just a different setting. -
It's about a guy named St.Jimmy (you see in the video that he writes St.Jimmy on the wall) and he has a multi-personality disorder, and his other side is Jesus of Suburbia, at first this song points at it being just what he fancys himself being, but if you notice in the other songs on AI you realize that its more of an multi-personality disorder. but at first he's partying non stop, but is very upset about his life in general, and wants to get out, the second "scene" is him talking about his town, and how much it sucks, and using a lot of metaphores to explain it, in the next one, he's sick of everything and just stops caring, "I don't care if you dont, I don't care if you dont" and so on, and then the next one, dearly beloved, he is talking to the woman in the video, not whatsername, but a different one before it, about what to do? and then in the next one, he's leaving town, to get out of his horrible life and such.
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