2008-09-24 22:48:50

Wake Me Up When September Ends

Filed under: Justice,Music,News,Politics
Posted by: Craig

 

 

The shuffle on my iPod has a remarkable track record of matching my moods.  Not since those groovy mood rings has a device proved so capable of coming alongside my acedia or my euphoria.   Hurricane Ike put quit a hurting on Galveston.  The stock markets free fall finally illuminated the cost of blowing more than $1,000,000,000 per month destroying and rebuilding another country.  And as I followed the Presidential candidates duel over Friday’s scheduled debate (guess we should consider this pre-debate debate the undercard for the main event), I found myself slipping into incredulity.   One friend text messaged, “Are we witnessing the fall of an empire?”  Even President Bush rose from his slumber long enough to hold his first press conference in a year.

What kind of soundtrack could match these desperate times?   My iPod dialed up a tragically relevant song from Green Day’s acclaimed 2004 album, “American Idiot.”   It is punk rock’s greatest (and almost only) concept album.  It follows a teen’s dislocation within a seemingly comfortable suburban setting.   Green Day (and crackerjack producer Rob Cavello) turned up the volume and crafted a haunting, post 9/11 album.   Amidst all our sloganeering and war talk, Green Day suggested all the easy answers lobbed at “Jesus of Surburbia” fall short.   They invite to continue dancing mindlessly, “Now everybody do the propaganda and sing along to the age of paranoia.”   In the end, we/me all look like an “American Idiot.”

 

This afternoon, when I heard Billie Joe Armstrong singing, “Wake Me Up When September Ends,” I absolutely froze.   It is such a simple and wistful song: “Summer has come and passed/The innocent can never last/Wake me up when September ends.”  This is my sentiment.   Dude, where’s my country?   When will this nightmare end?   Billie Joe continues, “As my memory rests/but never forgets what I lost/wake me up when September ends.”  

 

The song obviously has strong echoes of September 11, 2001^th and the historical pivot associated with it.   We have yet to recover from that psychic shock.   Green Day’s music video made poignant connections to the war in Iraq.   Jamie Bell and Evan Rachel Wood play high school sweethearts separated by his enlistment.  Their romantic summer vanishes in an instant. In the epic video, we follow him to the desert where a raging battle awaits. The video ends with question marks–Will he (and we) survive? How long will she (and we) wait?   Yet, Billie Joe wrote the song as a tribute to his father who died of cancer when Billie was only ten.   Clearly, the spectre of such a significant death continues to linger over Billie Joe.  And four years after the song was released, it sounds more resonant than ever.

 

I am eager to hear our current and future leaders profer a plan.   I am hopeful that better days lie ahead (especially for my children).   But I understand where the sixties’ sentiment of “tune in, turn on and drop out” came from.  Lately, reality feels too surreal to be believed.   We all must resist the temptation to sleepwalk through the next few weeks (and months), singing, “Wake Me Up When September Ends.”  Green Day reminded me that anger, outrage, and empathy are needed now more than ever.

Comments (2)

2 Comments »

1. Right on, Craig. Thanks for the reminder … of Green Day’s reminder to you … that anger, outrage and empathy are needed more now than ever. It’s hard to know how to give voice to my feelings, and how to give action to my values and sentiments. I don’t want to add to the chaos, or continue the cycle of brokenness. So, how best to be authentic to who I am in these crazy times … is a difficult path to walk because it’s so easy to “lose my head” when strong feelings want to rush out. Peace.

   Comment by Nick — September 25, 2008 @ 10:49 am

2. [...] of how powerful and beautiful Green Day’s music is. I came across a new, beautifully written post about the poignancy of “Wake Me Up When September Ends.” Yes, it was written about the [...]

   Pingback by A Green Day Fan Site » Wake Me Up… Sigh! — September 26, 2008 @ 8:34 am

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