Holiday (Green Day song)

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"Holiday" is a rock song by Green Day, released as the third single off of their seventh studio album American Idiot (2004). Though the song is a prelude to "Boulevard of Broken Dreams", Holiday was released as a single later on, in the spring of 2005. The song achieved considerable popularity across the world and performed moderately well on the charts. In the U.S., it reached number nineteen on the Billboard Hot 100 and debuted at number eleven in the UK and at number twenty-one in Canada. Holiday features a spoken word segment that is unique to Green Day songs.

"Holiday"
Song

During live performances, lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong liked to introduce this song with a political agenda as a reaction to the war in Iraq at the time. For example, on Green Day's CD/DVD Bullet in a Bible (2005), Armstrong announces: "This next song's a big 'f**k you' to all the politicians... This song is not anti-American, it's anti-war!"

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 the town. In the second half, they are cavorting in a bar, where each of the band members portray several different characters. Billie Joe Armstrong plays the mentioned Representative of California, two fighting clients, and Weezer's Rivers Cuomo. Tré Cool plays a drunken priest, a patron, and a prostitute. Mike Dirnt plays the barman, a policeman, and a patron who tries unsuccessfully to toss nuts into his mouth. 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 VMA's in the same car, this time pimped out by James Washburn, a friend of the band.

Trivia

  • When Green Day performs live, the lyric "the representative from California has the floor" is usually changed to reflect the show's venue. In Bullet In A Bible, for example, Billie Joe Armstrong said "The representative of United Kingdom now has the floor." Note that he says "now", but in the original song he doesn't say "now". This is presumably to anote the fact that the verse is altered.
  • The German phrase "sieg heil" can be found in this song. One of the song's radio edits censors this phrase. The lyrics read "Zieg [sic] heil to the President Gasman / Bombs away is your punishment."which means they are calling George W. Bush a Nazi and then President Gasman in reference to his invasion of oil-rich Iraq, the presumption being that his motivations were oil-driven.
  • In the lyrics, "President Gasman" is most likely a reference to president George W. Bush, and "pulverize the Eiffel towers who criticize your government" most likely refers to the anti-France sentiment held by the public at the time.
  • The song is in the key of A minor, the same key signature as "Boulevard of Broken Dreams". Tré Cool's energetic drumming contrasts with the almost playful swing eighth notes in the vocals and percussion figures. The song's tempo is a moderately fast 142 bpm in 4/4 time.
  • The instrumental riffs, and the way the lyrics are spoken are oddly similar to Iggy Pop's song "The Passenger".
  • In the videoclip, you see Tre Cool throwing his drumsticks out of the car at the very beginning. Later on in the clip, you see Tre with his drumsticks in his hands.
  • During the bar scene, you can see a picture of Billie Joe with dynamite attached to him on the bar where Mike is serving.
  • The San Jose Sharks play this song whenever the home team scores at the HP Pavilion.

Charts

Chart (2005) Peak
position
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 19
U.S. Billboard Pop 100 18
U.S. Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks 1 (3 weeks)
U.S. Billboard Modern Rock Tracks 1 (3 weeks)
U.S. Billboard Adult Top 40 5
U.S. Billboard Hot Ringtones 35
U.S. ARC Weekly Top 40 8
UK Singles Chart 11
Irish Singles Chart 13
Canadian Singles Chart 21
Canadian BDS Airplay Chart 3
Australian ARIA Singles Chart 24
Japanese Singles Chart 38
German Singles Chart 50
New Zealand Singles Chart 13
Preceded by Billboard Modern Rock Tracks number-one single
May 7 2005
Succeeded by