21st Century Breakdown

Green Day 21st Century Breakdown Lyrics
1.Song of the Century

Sing us a song of the century
That's louder than bombs And eternity
The era of static and contraband
That's leading us to the promised land
Tell us a story that's by candlelight
Waging a war and losing the fight
They're playing the song of the century
Of panic and promise and prosperity
Tell me a story into that goodnight
Sing us a song for me


2.21st Century Breakdown

Born into Nixon I was raised in hell
A welfare child where the teamsters dwelled
The last one born the first one to run
My town was blind from refinery sun

My generation is zero
I never made it as a working class hero

21st century breakdown
I once was lost but never was found
I think I'm losing what's left of my mind
To the 20th century deadline

I was made of poison and blood
Combination is what I understood
Videogames to the tower's fall
Homeland security could kill us all

My generation is zero
I never made it as a working class hero

21st century breakdown
I once was lost but never was found
I think I'm losing what's left of my mind
To the 20th century deadline

We are the cries of the class of '13
Born in the year of humility
We are the desperate in the decline
Raised by the bastards of 1969

My name is 'No one'
The long lost son
Born on the 4th of July
Raised in the barnyards of heroes and cons
That left me for dead or alive

I am a nation
A worker of pride
My debt to the status quo
The scars on my hands
And a means to an end
It's all that I have to show

I swallowed my pride
And I choked on my faith
I've given my heart and my soul
And lied through my teeth
The pillar of damage control

I've been to the edge
And I've thrown the bouquet
Of flowers left over the grave
I sat in the waiting room
Wasting my time
And waiting for judgement day

I praise liberty
The 'Freedom to obey'
It's a song that strangles me,
Don't cross the line

Oh, dream, American dream
I can't even sleep
From the light's early dawn

Oh, scream, America scream
Believe what you see
From heroes and cons


3.Know Your Enemy

Do you know the enemy?
Do you know your enemy?
Well, gotta know the enemy

Do you know the enemy?
Do you know your enemy?
Well, gotta know the enemy

Do you know the enemy?
Do you know your enemy?
Well, gotta know the enemy

Violence is an energy
Against the enemy
Violence is an enemy

Bringing on the fury
The chior infantry
Revolt against the honor to obey

Overthrow the effigy
The vast majority
Burning down the foreman of control

Silience is the enemy
Against your urgency
So rally up the demons of your soul

Do you know the enemy?
Do you know your enemy?
Well gotta know the enemy

Do you know the enemy?
Do you know your enemy?
Well gotta know the enemy

The insurgency will rise
When the bloods been sacrificed
Dont be blinded by the lies
In your eyes.

Violence is an energy
From here to enternity
Violence is an energy
Silence is the enemy
So gimme gimme revolution

Do you know the enemy?
Do you know your enemy?
Well gotta know the enemy

Do you know the enemy?
Do you know your enemy?
Well gotta know the enemy

Do you know the enemy?
Do you know your enemy?
Well gotta know the enemy

Overthrow the effigy
The vast majority
Burning down the foreman of control

Silence is the enemy
Against your urgency
So rally up the demons of your soul


4.Viva La Gloria

Hey Gloria are you standing close to the edge?
Lookout to the setting sun
The brink of your vision
Eternal youth is a landscape of the lie
The cracks of my skin can prove
As the years will testify
Say your prayers and light a fire
We're going to start a war
Your slogans a gun for hire
It's what we waited for
Hey gloria, this is why we're on the edge
The fight of our lives been drawn to this undying love

Gloria, Viva La Gloria
You blast your name
In graffiti on the walls
Falling Through broken glass that's
Slashing through yuor spirit
I can hear it like a jilted crowd

Gloria, where are you Gloria
You found a home
In all your scars and ammunition
You made your bed in salad days
Amongst the ruin
Ashes to ashes of our youth

She smashed her knuckles into winter
As autmns wind fades into black
She is the saint on all the sinners
The one that's fallen through the cracks
So don't put away your burning light

Gloria, Where are you are Gloria
Don't lose your faith
To you lost naivete
Weather the storm and don't look
Back on last November
When your banners were burning down

Gloria, viva la Gloria
Send me your amnesty down
To the broken hearted
Bring us the season
That we always will remember
Don't let the bonfires go out

So Gloria,
Send you your message of the light
That shadows in the night.
Gloria, where's your undying love?
Tell me the story of your life


5.Before The Lobotomy

Dreaming
I am only dreaming
Of another place and time
Where my family's from

Singing
I can hear them singing
When the rain had washed away
All these scattered dreams

Dying
Everyone's reminded
Hearts are washed in misery
Drenched in gasoline

Laughter
There is no more laughter
Songs of yesterday
Now live in the underground

Life before the lobotomy
Christian sang the eulogy
Sign my love a lost memory
From the end of the century

Well it's enough to make you sick
To cast a stone and throw a brick
When the sky is falling down
It burned your dreams into the ground

Christian's lesson is what he's been sold
We are normal and self-controlled
Remember to learn to forget
Whiskey shots and cheap cigarettes

Well I'm not stoned
I'm just fucked up
I got so high I can't stand up
I'm not cursed cause I've been blessed
I'm not in love cause I'm a mess

Life refugees
We're lost like refugees
Like Refugees
Were lost like refugees
The brutality of reality
Is the freedom that keeps me from

Dreaming
I was only dreaming
Of another place and time
Where my family's from.

Singing
I can hear them singing
When the rain had washed away
All these scattered dreams

Dying
Everyone's reminded
Hearts are washed in misery
Drenched in gasoline

Laughter
There is no more laughter
Songs of yesterday
Now live in the underground


6.Christians Inferno

I got under the grip
Between the modern hell
I got the rejection letter in the mail and
It was already ripped to shreds.
Seasons in a ruin and
This bitter pill is chased with blood.
There's fire in my vein
And it's not pouring out like a flood

Whoa, Christian's inferno
Whoa, Christian's inferno
Whoa, Christian's inferno
Whoa, Christian's inferno

This diabolic state is gracing my existence
Like a catasrophic baby
Maybe Maybe you're the chemical reaction
I am the atom bomb
I am the chosen one
Toxin your reservoir
And then return man to ape

Whoa, Christian's inferno
Whoa, Christian's inferno
Whoa, Christian's inferno
Whoa, Christian's inferno


Whoa, Christian's inferno
Whoa, Christian's inferno
Whoa, Christian's inferno
Whoa, Christian's inferno


7.Last Night On Earth

I text a postcard, sent to you
Did it go through?
Sending all my love to you.
You are the moonlight of my life every night
Giving all my love to you
My beating heart belongs to you
I walked for miles til I found you
I'm here to honor you
If I lose everything in the fire
I'm sending all my love to you

With every breath that I am worth
Here on earth
I'm sending all my love to you
So if you dare to second guess
You can rest assured
That all my love's for you

My heart belongs to you
I walked for miles til I found you
I'm here to honor you
If I lose everything in the fire
I'm sending all my love to you

My beating heart belongs to you
I walked fo rmiles til I found you
I'm here to honor you
If I lose everything in the fire
Did I ever make it through?


8.East Jesus Nowhere

Raise your hands now to testify
Your confession will be crucified
You're a sacrificial suicide
Like a dog that's been sodomized
Stand up! - All the white boys
Sit down! - And the black girls
You're the soldiers of the new world

Put your faith in miracle
And it's non-denominational
Join the choir we will be singing
In the church of wishful thinking

A fire burns today
Of blasphemy and genocide
The sirens of decay
Will infiltrate the faith fanatics

Oh bless me lord for I have sinned
It's been a lifetime since I last confessed
I therw my crutches in 'The river
Of a shadow of doubt'
And I'll be dressed in my Sunday best

Say a prayer for the family
Drop a coin for humanity
Ain't this uniform so flattering?
I never asked you a god damned thing

A fire burns today
Of blasphemy and genocide
The sirens of decay
Will infiltrate the faith fanatics

Don't test me
Second Guess me
Protest Me
You will disappear

I want to know who's allowed to breed
All the dogs who never learned to read
Missionary politicians
And the cops of a new religion

A fire burns today
Of blasphemy and genocide
The sirens of decay
Will infiltrate the inside


9.Peacemaker

Well, I've got a fever
A non-believer
I'm in a state of grace
For I am the Caesar
I'm gonna seize the day
Well, call of the banshee hey hey
Hey hey hey hey hey
As God as my witness
The infidels are gonna pay

Well, call the assassin
The orgasm
A spasm of love and hate
For what will divide us?
The righteous and the meek
Well, call of the wild hey hey
Hey hey hey hey hey
Death to the girl at the end of the serenade

Vendetta, sweet vendetta
This beretta of the night
This fire and the desire
Shot's ringing out on a holy parasite

I am a killjoy from Detriot
I drink from a well of rage
I feed of the weakness with all my love
Call up the captain hey hey
Hey hey hey hey hey
Death to the lover that you were dreaming of

This is a stand off
A molotov cocktail
On the house
You thought I was a write off
You better think again
Call the peacemaker hey hey
Hey hey hey hey hey
I'm gonna send you back to the place where it all began

Vendetta, sweet vendetta
This beretta of the night
This fire and the desire
Shots ringing out on a holy parasite

Well now the caretaker's the undertaker
Now I'm gonna go out and get the peacemaker
This is the neo St. Valentines Massacre
Well call up the gaza hey hey
Hey hey hey hey hey
Death to the ones at the of the serenade
Well, death to the ones at the of the serenade
Well, death to the ones at the of the serenade
Well, death to the ones at the of the serenade


10.Last Of The American Girls

She puts her makeup on
Like graffiti on the walls of the heartland
She's got her little book of conspiracies
Right in her hand
She is paranoid Like
Endangered species headed into extinction
She is one of a kind
She's the last of the American girls

She wears her overcoat
For the coming of the nuclear winter
She is riding her bike
Like a fugitive of critical mass
She's on a hunger strike
For the ones who won't make it for dinner
She makes enough to survive
For a holiday of working class

She's a runaway of the establishment incorporated.
She won't cooperate
She's the last of the American girls

She plays her vinyl records
Singing songs on the even of destruction
She's a sucker for
All the criminals breaking the laws
She will come in first
For the end of the western civiliazation
She's an endless war
She's a hero for the lost cause
Like a hurricane
In the haert of the devastation
She's a natural disaster
She's the last of the American girls

She puts her make up on
Like graffiti on the walls of the heartland
She's got her little book of conspiracies
Right in her hand
She will come in first
For the end of western civilization
She's a natural disaster
She's the last of the American girls


11.Murder City

Desperate
But not hopeless
I feel so useless
In the murder city
Desperate
But not helpless
The clock strickes midnight
In the murder city

I'm wide awake
After the riot
This demonstration
Of our anguish
This empty laughter
Has no reason
Like a bottle
Of your favorite poison

We are the last call
And we're so pathetic

Desperate
But not hopeless
I feel so useless
In the murder city
Desperate
But not helpless
The clock strickes midnight
In the murder city

Christian's crying
In the bathroom
And I just want to
Bum a cigarette
We've come so far,
We've been so wasted
It's written
All over our faces


Desperate
But not hopeless
I feel so useless
In the murder city
Desperate
But not helpless
The clock strickes midnight
In the murder city
Desperate
But not hopeless
I feel so useless
In the murder city
Desperate
But not helpless
The clock strickes midnight
In the murder city


12.Viva La Gloria (Little Girl)

Little girl, little girl
Why are you crying?
Inside your restless soul your heart is dying
Little one, little one
Your soul is purging
Of love and razor blades
Your blood is surging

Runaway
From the river to the street
Find yourself with your face in the gutter
Your a stray for the salvation army
There is no place like home
When you got no place to go

Little girl, little girl
Your life is calling
The charlatans and saints of your abandon
Little one, little one
The sky is falling
The lifeboat of deception is now sailing
In the wake all the way
No rhyme or reason
Your bloodshot eyes
Will show your heart of treason

Little girl, little girl
You dirty liar
You're just a junkie
Preaching to the choir

Runaway
From the river to the street
Find yourself with your face in the gutter
Your a stray for the salvation army
There is no place like home
When you got no place to go

The traces of blood
Always follow you home
Like the mascara tears
From your getaway
Your walking with blisters
And running with shears
So unholy
Sister of grace

Runaway
From the river to the street
Find yourself with your face in the gutter
Your a stray for the salvation army
There is no place like home
When you got no place to go


13.Restless Heart Syndrome

I've got a really bad disease
It's got me begging
On my hands and knees
Take me to the emergency
'Cause something seems to be missing

Somebody take the pain away
It's like an ulcer bleeding in my brain
Send me to the pharmacy
So I can lose my memory
I'm elated
Medicated
Lord knows I tried to find a way to run away.

I think they found another cure
For broken hearts and feeling insecure
You'd be surprised what I endure
What make you feel so self-assured?

I need to find a place to hide
You never know what could be
Waiting outside
The accidnets that you could find
It's like some kind of suicide

So what ails you is what impales you
I feel like I've been crucified to be satisfied

I'm a victim of my symptom
I am my own worst enemy
You're a victim of you're symptom
You are your own worst enemy
Know your enemy

I'm elated
Medicated
I am my own worst enemy
So what ails you is what impales you
You are your own worse enemy
You're a victim of the system
You are your own worst enemy
You're a victim of the system
You are your own worst enemy


14.Horseshoes And Handgrenades

I'm not fucking around
I think I'm coming out
All the deciever and cheaters
I've think we've got a bleeder right now
Want you to slap me around
Want you to knock me out
Well, you missed me kissed me
Now you better kick me down

Maybe you're the runner up
But the first one to lose the race
Almost only really counts in
Horsehoes and hand grenades

I'm gonna burn it all down
I'm gonna rip it out
Well, everything that you employ
Was meant for me to destory
To the ground now
So don't you fuck me around
Because I'll shoot you down
I'm gonna drink, fight and fuck
And pushing my luck
All the time now

Maybe you're the runner up
But the first one to lose the race
Almost only really counts in
Horsehoes and hand grenades

Demolition, self-destruction
What to annihilate
The age-old contradiction


Demolition, self-destruction
Demolition, self-destruction
What to annihilate
What to annihilate
The old age
The age-old contradiction
Demolition, self-destruction
What to annihilate
The old age

I'm not fucking around
I think I'm coming out
All the deceivers and cheaters
I've think we've got a bleeder right now
I'm not fucking around
G-L-O-R-I-A


15.The Static Age

Can you hear the sound of the static noise?
Blasting out in stereo
Cater to the class and the paranoid
Music to my nervous system
Advertising love and religion
Murder ont he airwaves
Slogans on the brink of corruption
Vision of blasphemy, war and peace
Screaming at you

I can't see a thing in the video
I can't hear a sound on the radio
In stereo in the static age

Billboard on the rise in the dawn's landscape
Working your insanity
Tragic a'a madness and concrete
Coca Cola execution
Conscience on a cross and
You're hearts in a vice
Squeezing out your state of mind
Are what you own that you cannot buy?
What a fucking tragedy, strategy
Screaming at you.

I can't see a thing in the video
I can't heart a song on the radio
In stereo in the static age

I can't see a thing in the video
I can't hear a sound on the radio
In stereo in the static age

Hey hey it's the static age
This is how the west was won
Hey hey it's the static age millenium

All I want to know
Is a god-damned thing
Now what's in the medicine
All I want to do is
I want to breathe
Batteries are not included
What's the latest way that a man can die
Screaming hallelujah?
Singing out 'The dawn's early light'
The silence of the rotten, forgotten
Screaming at you.

I can't see a thing in the video
I can't hear a sound on the radio
In stereo in the static age

I can't see a thing in the video
I can't hear a sound on the radio
In stereo in the static age

I can't see a thing in the video
I can't hear a sound on the radio
In stereo in the static age

I can't see a thing in the video
I can't hear a sound on the radio
In stereo in the static age
The static age


16.21 Guns

Do you know what's worth fighting for?
When it's not worth dying for?
Does it take your breath away
And you feel yourself suffocating?

Does the pain weigh out the pride?
And you look for a place to hide?
Did someone break your heart inside?
You're in ruins

One, 21 guns
Lay down your arms, give up the fight
One, 21 guns
Throw up your arms into the sky, you and I

When you're at the end of the road
And you lost all sense of control
And your thoughts have taken their toll
When your mind breaks the spirit of your soul

Your faith walks on broken glass
And the hangover doesn't pass
Nothing's ever built to last
You're in ruins

One, 21 guns
Lay down your arms, give up the fight
One, 21 guns
Throw up your arms into the sky, you and I

Did you try to live on your own
When you burned down the house and home?
Did you stand too close to the fire
Like a liar looking for forgiveness from a stone?

When it's time to live and let die
And you can't get another try
Something inside this heart has died
You're in ruins

One, 21 guns
Lay down your arms, give up the fight
One, 21 guns
Throw up your arms into the sky

One, 21 guns
Lay down your arms, give up the fight
One, 21 guns
Throw up your arms into the sky, you and I


17.American Eulogy (Mass HysteriaModern World)

Sing us a song of the century
That sings like American eulogy
The dawn of my love and conspiracy
Of forgotten hope and the class of 13
Tell me a story into that goodnight
Sing us a song for Me

Mass Hysteria
Mass Hysteria
Mass Hysteria
Mass Hysteria

Red alert is the color of panic
Elevated to the point of static
Beating into the heart of the fanatics
And the neighborhood's a loaded gun
Idle thought leads to full-throttle screaming
And the welfare is asphyxiating
Mass confusion is all the new rage
And it's creating a feeding ground
For the bottom feeders of hysteria

Mass Hysteria
Mass Hysteria
Mass Hysteria

True sounds of maniacal laughter
And the deaf-muste is misleading the choir
The punch line is a natural disaster
And it's sung by the unemployed
Fight fire with a riot
The class war is hanging ona wire
Because the martyr is a compulsive liar
When he said
'It's just a bunch of niggers throwing gas into the hysteria'

Mass Hysteria
Mass Hysteria
Mass Hysteria

There's a disturbance on the oceanside
They tapped into the reserve
The static response is so unclear now
Mayday this is not a test!
As the neighborhood burns, American is falling
Vigilantes warning you
Calling Christian and Gloria

I don't want to live in the modern world
I don't want to live in the modern world
I don't want to live in the modern world
I don't want to live in the modern world

I'm the class of 13
In the era of dissent
A hostage of the soul
On a strike to pay the rent
The last of the rebels
Without a common ground
I'm gonna light a fire
Into the underground

I don't want to live in the modern world
I don't want to live in the modern world
I don't want to live in the modern world
I don't want to live in the modern world

I am a nation
Without bureaucratic ties
Deny the allegation as it's written

I want to take a ride to the great divide
Beyond the 'Up to date'
And then neo-gentrified
The high definition for the low resident
Where the valve of your mind
Is not held in contempt
I can hear the sound of
A beating heart
That beelds beyond a system
That's falling apart
Without money to burn
On a minimum wage
'Cause I don't give a shit
About the modern age
I don't want to live in the modern world
I don't want to live in the modern world
I don't want to live in the modern world
I don't want to live in the modern world
Mass Hysteria
I don't want to live in the modern world
Mass Hysteria
I don't want to live in the modern world
Mass Hysteria
I don't want to live in the modern world
Mass Hysteria
I don't want to live in the modern world
Mass Hysteria
I don't want to live in the modern world
Mass Hysteria
I don't want to live in the modern world
Mass Hysteria
I don't want to live in the modern world
Mass Hysteria
I don't want to live in the modern world
Mass Hysteria


18.See The Light

I crossed the river
Fell into the sea
Where the non-believers
Go beyond belief
Then I scratched the surface
In the mouth of hell
Running our of service
In the blood I fell

I just want to see the light
I don't want to lose my sight
I just want to see the light
I need to know what's worth the fight

I've been wasted
Pills and alcohol
I've been chasing
Down the pool halls
Then I drank the water
From a hurricane
And I set a fire
Just to see the flame

I just want to see the light
I don't want to lose my sight
I just want to see the light
I need to know what's worth the fight

I crossed the desert
Reaching higher ground
Then I found the pavement
To take the liars down But it's gone forever
But never too late
Where the ever after
Is in the hands of fate

I just want to see the light
I don't want to lose my sight
I just want to see the light
I need to know what's worth the fight