Green Day – Holiday
This week Mikey gets to pick the song of the week. Although this wouldn’t be his number one choice (you may get that in the future), this is a song that he really likes.
Green Day is an extremely successful American rock trio formed in Berkeley, California in 1987. The band consists of Billie Joe Armstrong (vocals, guitar), Mike Dirnt (bass guitar, vocals), and Tré Cool (drums, percussion). Armstrong and Dirnt had been friends since middle school and became interested in punk music after hearing the Sex Pistols. Tré Cool joined the band in 1990 when the original drummer, John Kiffmeyer, left the group to go to college. Apparently he left on bad terms as Armstrong and Dirnt only found out he left from another source.
In 1994 the group achieved huge success with their album Dookie which included three number one singles. Subsequent albums which had a change in music style were less successful and the groups popularity dropped. But in 2004, the group released their album American Idiot which reached number one on every rock chart and went multiple platinum everywhere and included five hit singles. Holiday, the prelude song to Boulevard of Broken Dreams, was released in 2005 and although it was not as big a hit as Boulevard… it still reached number one on the Alternative and Modern RockBillboard charts. Armstrong says that the song is not anti-American but anti-war and is a “big fuck you to all the politicans”. The group’s most recent album, 21st Century Breakdown was released in May of this year and reached number one on most charts.
Holiday
Say, hey!
Hear the sound of the falling rain
Coming down like an Armageddon flame (Hey!)
The shame
The ones who died without a name
Hear the dogs howling out of key
To a hymn called “Faith and Misery” (Hey!)
And bleed, the company lost the war today
I beg to dream and differ from the hollow lies
This is the dawning of the rest of our lives
On holiday
Hear the drum pounding out of time
Another protester has crossed the line (Hey!)
To find, the money’s on the other side
Can I get another Amen? (Amen!)
There’s a flag wrapped around a score of men (Hey!)
A gag, a plastic bag on a monument
I beg to dream and differ from the hollow lies
This is the dawning of the rest of our lives
On holiday
Hey! Say, hey!
Three, four
The representative from California has the floor
Sieg Heil to the president Gasman
Bombs away is your punishment
Pulverize the Eiffel towers
Who criticize your government
Bang bang goes the broken glass and
Kill all the fags that don’t agree
Trials by fire, setting fire
Is not a way that’s meant for me
Just cause, just cause, because we’re outlaws yeah!
I beg to dream and differ from the hollow lies
This is the dawning of the rest of our lives
I beg to dream and differ from the hollow lies
This is the dawning of the rest of our lives
This is our lives on holiday
Everyone loves going to the DMV, right? Well, maybe not. Anyway, I had to take a run over there at lunch time and it was empty, as you can see from the photo I took. When I arrived there were only 4 people in front of me. Just a few minutes and I was up to the front where I was given my number. Yes, that was the line where you get your number based on what it is you want to do at the DMV. So I sat down and waited to be called. In spite of the place being empty, I had to wait 30 minutes to finally be called up where my information was handled and I was given a new number. This was the number for going to the cashier. Another 30 minutes and I was called up to the next person who took all my paperwork including my check and let me leave. So even though the place was empty, I was still there for over an hour. What must it be like when the office is crowded? I have to take Beth for her learner’s permit at a different office which I was told is always crowded. I’m not looking forward to it.
Once again, Mikey wanted to go for a drive but this time the weather was much nicer. I had to pick up Beth from a sleepover so I couldn’t go for a long drive so we decided to drive the length of the Bethpage State Parkway. This Parkway is one of the least used Parkways so there is never traffic on it. It’s only two lanes and ends at a traffic circle in Bethpage Park, which you might have heard of from the US Open Golf Tournament. It was supposed to go further north but due to community opposition, the road was never extended so the right-of-way that was purchased was turned into Trail View State Park, which is one of the narrowest parks you will ever find.
We used to get morning fog a lot on Long Island. Being surrounded by the ocean tends to produce a lot of fog especially in the spring and fall. For some reason the amount of fog has dropped off significantly and fog is now a rare event. We did get a little bit of fog yesterday but only in the ball fields around the schools. I guess the large expanse of grass helped produce the right conditions. I spotted this while driving Beth to school around 7AM.
Mikey loves to go for rides in the car. He usually asks to go to McDonald’s but as soon as we are in the car he asks to go for a longer ride like down to the beach. He doesn’t want to get out of the car… he just wants to take the 45 minute round trip (with a stop for french fries and soda at the end). The weather on Saturday was cloudy and windy but it wasn’t raining so we went. As you can see, Mikey enjoyed the ride. He makes me put the Decemberists on as he really loves “The Rake Song,” a song about infanticide! Beth taught him a sign for the song so we know when that is the one he wants to hear.
