Talk:Jesus of Suburbia

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Contents

[edit] voted for deletion

This page was voted on for deletion at Wikipedia:Votes for deletion/Jesus of Suburbia. dbenbenn | talk 15:11, 16 Feb 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Musical Quotes

Part II heavily quotes "Summer of 69" by Brain Adams, Part IV quotes "Somewhere over the rainbow" and "Come On Eileen". Part V quotes "Ring of Fire" by Johnny Cash.

Yep that's covered in Dean Gray's American Edit as the mashup American Jesus. Scrumshus 01:48, 19 July 2006 (UTC)

yOU ARE ABSOLUTELY RIGHT —Preceding unsigned comment added by 85.73.117.78 (talk) 17:10, 4 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] About Jimmy/Jesus

Think about it. Examine Are We the Waiting. This is the song in which Jesus really questions himself and establishes the St. Jimmy persona. "The Jesus of Suburbia is a lie"

Later on, in Letter Bomb, Whatsername tells Jimmy/Jesus this: "The St. Jimmy is a figment of / Your father's rage and your mother's love." Now, what does this line mean? If the letter is addressed to Jesus (if you don't own a hard copy of the album, the lyrics of this section are presented in a letter written by Whatsername, addressed only to "J"), is she telling him is friend is make-believe? Or is she telling Jesus that this persona isn't his true self? If she's talking to Jimmy, would she be telling Jimmy that he is, in fact *gasp* the spawn of his mother and father? Why would she tell him that?

And then, in Homecoming: The Death of St. Jimmy, Jesus describes Jimmy's death like this: "He blew his brains out into the bay / in the state of mind / in my own private suicide" This would indicate that Jesus had committed a form of suicide. How does this work? Jesus has killed off Jimmy, his alter ego.

Furthermore, there's the fact that the lyric booklet (if you don't own the hard copy of the album) is made out to be Jimmy's journal. I think that Jimmy is Jesus' real name--Jesus is just the name that he gave himself because, when he lived in Suburbia, he felt like Jesus, due to his melodramatic suffering.

The name comes up again in the music video for Jesus of Suburbia. First there's the fact that Jimmy's name is tattooed on Whatsername's arm, and this is before Jesus establishes the Jimmy persona. Secondly, he have the writing on the bathroom wall: in the first 'scripture' Jesus writes on the bathroom wal he refers to himself as Jesus; in the second 'scripture', he defines himself as St. Jimmy. I would think that the video would make it clear that Jesus makes a transformation into the St. Jimmy persona.


I think that St. Jimmy and the Jesus of Suburbia may be the same person with the same personality only with different names. When you think about the lines "you're not the Jesus of Suburbia/ The St. Jimmy is a figment of/ Your father's rage and your mother's love/ Made me the idiot America" it all goes back to the beginning of the CD. you have to think about who Jesus is. he's supposed to be the savour and the part about the idiot America is referring to George Bush, who is supposed to represent the U.S., and his attempts of bringing Iraq to a democracy. When they say "you're not the Jesus of Suburbia" they're saying it's not his job to do what he is doing. I'm still trying to sort out the "rage and love" parts but the rest seems to make since.

THANK YOU. Anyone who didn't get that through listening to the album obviously doesn't understand it enough to edit this page. My interpretation of Jesus/Jimmy is that they are two personas a la Fight Club. Jesus is the "name" of the main character in American Idiot, even though his birth name is probably Jimmy. It represents his melodramatic suburban kid suffering. St.Jimmy is the street-smart, badass punk persona that he assumes once he gets to the City. He is Jesus's Tyler Durden, who "comes" to him as a guide to what seems like a more free life devoid of the restraints and the pain he was trying to pull away from. 141.211.34.223 00:03, 10 January 2007 (UTC)
About this:

His real name is Jimmy, which is revealed in the extended music video when a girl calls him that and in the cut version of the video when he writes "Saint Jimmy" on a bathroom stall (Later on in the American Idiot album, he officially changed his name in the song "Saint Jimmy"). The name "Jesus of Suburbia" may just mean he is the savior of the rebels in suburbia.

I agree with parent that they're clearly different personae to some extent. I haven't seen the extend video, but the line in the quote that he changed his name to "St. Jimmy" doesn't sound right. I can't see how Jesus of Suburbia was the savior of the rebels in suburbia, sounds like 100% original research to me. If anything, I'd say naming his Jesus may have been ironic (or to show contrast), more than anything. He isn't analogous to the Biblical Jesus. I think that quote needs some help. 69.12.143.197 06:13, 23 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Song Title.

Has anyone thought that maybe the title is a reference to the David Bowie album/song "Buddha of Suburbia?"

Perhaps, or perhaps it's mainly just a coincidence, but then again, it seems very coincidental... hmm... I'd never even heard of "Buddha of Suburbia" before you mentioned it, most likely because I don't really like David Bowie. 210.50.189.43 08:22, 2 June 2007 (UTC)

I'd say it is a reference though probably not to "Buddha of Suburbia"'s content. Billie Joe is a fan of Bowie's songs and the album is seems somewhat Bowie-inspired among many other influences. Rosham60 (talk) 11:05, 18 November 2007 (UTC)


To me, it seems it's title is DEFINITELY a reference to Bowie's song. The content, however, does NOT appear to be influenced by the song. That seemed logical to me after I heard the Bowie song for the first time a while ago. So does there really need to be a citation? Does there have to be an interview in which Billie Joe specifically says he is referencing Bowie? 'Cuz it's not exactly hard to figure out considering Green Day has the whole British-esque punk thing going and must have at some point listened to David Bowie.

[edit] What they say

Hi, everyone! I wanted to know if anyone here can tell me what they say in the video? I can understand most of the parts, but I miss some of them... So, thanks... (Darth Angelus Potter 21:57, 23 May 2006 (UTC))

[edit] Lyrics

Do you think someone should put the lyrics to this song in here (if no one answers in about two weeks I'll add it, and I'll probably start doing that to a lot of songs...that would be awsome....) Ed

Don't. ;) I don't know if there's a policy or rule against it, but it's trivial information which would waste a lot of space. There are hundreds of sites all over the internet that are devoted to lyrics; I suggest a link to the lyrics of the song on the "External links" section. And make sure the site is simple to use, doesn't show popups, etc Belard 11:30, 15 June 2006 (UTC)

That's a pretty good idea, I'll try to find a page that has as many lyrics of songs in wiki and add a link to the lyrics... --Eduardo 00:12, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

Try LyricWiki.org - they don't feature pop-ups, and it's a Wiki. 210.50.189.43 08:24, 2 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Music Video

I tagged this section as POV; it's way too pretentious, it isn't written in an encyclopedic tone, and uses too many weasel words; e.g.:

"Green Day's pivotal Grammy-winning album"

"is quoted as saying that he hopes the final video from the album will be a fitting swan-song to his career."

"Bassist Mike Dirnt told VH1 that he expects the video to "shift gears a lot" and this is understandable, considering the conclusive five parts to the power-ballad."

"Bayer himself has heralded the video as one which overshadows and outperforms the seven-minute epic "Wake Me Up When September Ends" video and his famous "Smells Like Teen Spirit" directorial accomplishment."

Belard 11:49, 15 June 2006 (UTC)

Removed Weasel words and removed POV tag if you still have a problem with it than feel free to put it back up --St.daniel Talk 18:31, 2 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Cast

this is random, i kno, but does anyone know the cast of the Jesus of Suburbia track? Mainly who played St Jimmy???

If you're talking about the music video, Lou Taylor Pucci played Jesus of Suburbia, who, later in the concept of American Idiot, changed his name to "Saint Jimmy". Personally, I don't know the rest of the cast, probably some extras and a few other relatively-unknown actors. Maybe do a Google search? 210.50.189.43 08:20, 2 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] More to the trivia

The song "Jesus of Suburbia", running at 9:08, has been noted as the longest ever live performance in the BBC show Top of the Pops, surely that could be noted?88.107.32.244 00:32, 12 January 2007 (UTC)

  • I Added the fact that Samuel Bayer said this was going to be his swan song video, but he went on to direct the working class hero video for green day. im not aware of any other videos hes has directed since but i know for sure he did the working class hero one because it says so in the opening lists on one version of it on the warner brothers records Youtube Channel.
Kssharpe126