She's a Rebel

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"She's a Rebel"
Song by Green Day
from the album American Idiot
Released	21 September 2004
Recorded	23 February 2003-January 2004
Genre	Punk rock, Pop Punk
Length	1:58
Label	Reprise
Writer(s)	Billie Joe Armstrong, Tré Cool, and Mike Dirnt
Producer(s)	Rob Cavallo and Green Day
American Idiot track listing
Give Me Novacaine (7)	"She's a Rebel" (8)	Extraordinary Girl (9)

"She's A Rebel" is the eighth song on Green Day's 2005 rock opera album, American Idiot. At one minute and fifty eight seconds, it is also the shortest song on the album and continues the story of the Jesus of Suburbia character, introduced in earlier tracks. It modulates from the previous track's key signature of A down a step to G major. Its chord structure is simplistic even by the standards of punk rock, progressing in an ordinary I-V-IV pattern in power chords (which changes to the equally common I-IV-V in the verse). This song is Whatsername's "introduction" song, much like the songs Jesus of Suburbia and Saint Jimmy. However, this song is not written from the point of view of the person it describes. Whatsername's "voice" is later heard in "Extraordinary Girl" and "Letterbomb." The song bears striking similarity to Molly's Lips by The Vaselines (covered by Nirvana) and Motivation by Sum 41.

Whilst on the streets, the Jesus of Suburbia meets a girl known as Whatsername. This results in love at first sight for the main character, who is instantly captivated by the girl. This emotional feeling is conveyed with the lyric "She's holding on my heart like a hand grenade", which is also a reference by Billie Joe Armstrong to the main emblem of the album, a hand holding a heart-shaped hand grenade. There is also a meaning that this song could be about America, as the song is dated on July 4th and the song makes sense if you replace the word "she" with "America". Or in more popular interpretations you could view she as the statue of liberty considering the emphasis of the song on symbolic representation. It's also important to note, that the song holiday that has a direct link to this song through the lyric dawning of our lives. In which case there is a strong sceptic view of US politics as it stands. In this case, the rebel is the statue of liberty who will always represent the same rebellion and liberation no matter how politics change. This makes her a good symbol for uprising and defiance, in the face of popular politics and ideas. And running against the grain is another important point that links directly to the statue. (a gift from the french)