WAKE ME UP - Green Day

There once was much debate about what this song was about. In this melancholy ballad, Billie Joe, backed by the support of the other members of Green Day, takes a trip back to his painful childhood and thinks about the day he lost his innocence when his father died. Like any traumatic event, Billie Joe never truly recovered, and he can't believe that twenty years have passed since the day. As Armstrong associates pain with the month September, the death month of his father, he would rather not deal with anything related to the month prompting him to sing, "As my memory rests, but never forgets what I lost... Wake me up when September ends..."

The music video for "Wake Me Up When September Ends" is a portrait of war. The video is seven minutes long and the song doesn't begin until about a long time into it. It begins with the title of the song against the backdrop of a teenage couple cuddling in a field.

The video strays from the original meaning of song and instead focuses on the teenage couple as the boyfriend promises never to leave his girlfriend. In the third minute, the girlfriend confronts him about something he did (open-ended), repeatedly yelling the line, "How could you do this to me?". Although the audience's initial assumption may be that he was unfaithful, subsequent scenes reveal that he in fact enlisted in the Marines without her knowledge. The video then shows the boyfriend in battle being ambushed by enemy forces. Meanwhile, the girlfriend is shown waiting for the boyfriend to come home. The video is open-ended, leaving the viewer to guess the fate of the young marine. The video also symbolizes that going off to war while you are in love is wrong.


The song is actually about Billy Joe Armstrong's Father, whom he lost to Cancer many years ago. The lyrics "like my fathers come to pass seven years has gone so fast wake me up when september ends" are a good example of this. This song has nothing to do with 9/11 (I can understand why people think it is, because of the reference to September).I'm not sure why the video is about War, but I guess people can relate to the song more that way.

GREEN DAY LYRICS
"Wake Me Up When September Ends"
Summer has come and passed
The innocent can never last
wake me up when september ends

like my fathers come to pass
seven years has gone so fast
wake me up when september ends

here comes the rain again
falling from the stars
drenched in my pain again
becoming who we are
as my memory rests
but never forgets what I lost
wake me up when september ends


summer has come and passed
the innocent can never last
wake me up when september ends
ring out the bells again
like we did when spring began
wake me up when september ends

here comes the rain again
falling from the stars
drenched in my pain again
becoming who we are
as my memory rests
but never forgets what I lost
wake me up when september ends

Summer has come and passed
The innocent can never last
wake me up when september ends
like my father's come to pass
twenty years has gone so fast
wake me up when september ends
wake me up when september ends
wake me up when september ends