Wake Me Up When September Ends

"Wake Me Up When September Ends", the fourth single by Green Day from their seventh studio album, American Idiot, takes the form of a melancholic ballad, on the theme of the passing summer and memories of a deceased father.

Some speculate the song is an elegy to 9/11. Indeed, the booklet, which takes the form of a diary, puts the song's lyrics at the date Sept. 10, but immediately beneath it features the number 11 (the song's track number).

Green Day lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong wrote this. It is the first song he wrote about the death of his father. His father died of cancer when Billie Joe was 10. Before he died, he gave Billie Joe his first guitar, a Ferdnandez Stratocaster copy, which Billie Joe now calls "Blue."

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

The music video is not too shabby either. Except for the overly-sentimental starting and the over-the-top hysterics from the female lead it really brings across the harsh realities and isolation of post-9/11 Americana.