American Idiot Musical Cast
Before the Lobotomy
Song Meaning
Billie Joe Armstrong (Q Magazine, 2009): "It's about how self-destructive behaviour can overshadow parts of your ambition: there's this shiny red button you want to push."
Billie Joe Armstrong (Guitar World, 2009): "I got [Before the Lobotomy] from a headline in the San Francisco Chronicle. The article was about a guy who'd written a book about how he'd gotten a lobotomy because his dad thought he was too hyperactive. He was a problem child, so his father made him get a lobotomy. So the title of the article was 'Before the Lobotomy.' Or maybe that was the title of the book. I don't remember now. And the song could be about the dumbing down of society, but it all comes from personal experience, you know! Dumbing yourself with drugs and alcohol. Overdoing it."
Billie Joe Armstrong (Guitar World, 2009): "I got [Before the Lobotomy] from a headline in the San Francisco Chronicle. The article was about a guy who'd written a book about how he'd gotten a lobotomy because his dad thought he was too hyperactive. He was a problem child, so his father made him get a lobotomy. So the title of the article was 'Before the Lobotomy.' Or maybe that was the title of the book. I don't remember now. And the song could be about the dumbing down of society, but it all comes from personal experience, you know! Dumbing yourself with drugs and alcohol. Overdoing it."
Have your own interpretation of "Before the Lobotomy"? Leave a comment below.
Lyrics
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
Like refugees
We're lost like refugees
Like refugees
We're 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
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
Like refugees
We're lost like refugees
Like refugees
We're 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
Live History
Live History
- Total Plays
- 72 times / #80 most played
- Most Recent
- November 19, 2013 San Francisco, CA
- Earliest Known
- April 7, 2009 San Francisco, CA
22 tracks
More From American Idiot: Broadway Cast
1
American Idiot
2
Jesus of Suburbia
3
Holiday
4
Boulevard of Broken Dreams
5
Favorite Son
6
Are We the Waiting
7
St. Jimmy
8
Give Me Novacaine
9
Last of the American Girls/She's a Rebel
10
Last Night on Earth
11
Too Much Too Soon
12
Before the Lobotomy
13
Extraordinary Girl
14
Before the Lobotomy (Reprise)
15
When It's Time
16
Know Your Enemy
17
21 Guns
18
Letterbomb
19
Wake Me Up When September Ends
20
Homecoming
21
Whatsername
22
When It's Time (Green Day version)
Comments
Song Comments