Holiday (Green Day song)

Background

One of two explicitly political songs on the album (the other being fellow single "American Idiot"), "Holiday" took two months to finish writing, because Armstrong continually felt his lyrics were not good enough. Aided by the encouragement of Rob Cavallo, he completed the song. "Holiday" was inspired by the music of Bob Dylan. Armstrong wanted to write something stronger than "American Idiot", with harsh language to illustrate his points. The song takes aim at American conservatism. Armstrong felt that Republican politicians were "strategic" in alienating one group of people—for example, the gay community—in order to buy the votes of another. He later characterized the song as an outspoken "fuck you" to then-President George W. Bush. Armstrong for the first time imagined how he would perform the songs he was writing, and envisioned an audience responding to his lyric "Can I get another Amen?". The song's bridge, which Armstrong hoped to be as "twisted as possible", was designed as a "politician's worst nightmare".

The chorus's refrain—"This is our lives on holiday"—was intended to reflect the average American's apathy on the issues of the day. Armstrong characterized the song as "not anti-American; it's anti-war." This sentiment has frequently been reiterated in live performances over the subsequent decades, including on the live album Bullet in a Bible.

Music video

The first half of the video takes place in a car (a 1968 Mercury Monterey convertible), where Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt and Tré Cool are partying around in Las Vegas. In the second half, they are cavorting in a bar where each of the band members portrays several different characters. Billie Joe Armstrong plays the mentioned Representative of California, two fighting clients, a punk rocker and a nerd. Tré Cool plays a drunken priest, an arrested patron, and a female prostitute. Mike Dirnt plays the barman, another punk, and a policeman. There are also scenes featuring seemingly worn-down can-can dancers. At the end of the video, the car smokes to a halt in the field that "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" begins in. Like the video for "Boulevard of Broken Dreams", this video was directed by Samuel Bayer.

The band arrived at the 2005 MTV Video Music Awards in the same car, this time "pimped out" by James Washburn, a friend of the band.

Live performances

"Holiday" has been included on the set lists of numerous Green Day concert tours, some of which played American Idiot in its entirety to promote the album. The song was included on the set list for the Revolution Radio Tour in 2016, where the songs lyrics were adjusted to protest against Donald Trump's presidential campaign. It was later included on the set list for the Hella Mega Tour, a concert tour for Green Day, Fall Out Boy, and Weezer that began in 2021. The song was later included on the set list for the Saviors Tour, alongside every other song from American Idiot.

Track listings

UK 7-inch picture disc

• All live tracks were recorded on September 21, 2004, at the Irving Plaza in New York City.

Personnel

Personnel are adapted from the UK-European CD1 liner notes.

• Green Day – music, production
  • Billie Joe Armstrong – words, lead vocals, guitar
  • Mike Dirnt – bass guitar, backing vocals
  • Tré Cool – drums
• Rob Cavallo – production
• Doug McKean – engineering
• Chris Lord-Alge – mixing
• Chris Bilheimer – art direction
• Marina Chavez – band photo

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

References

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