¡UNO!
Rusty James
Song Meaning
The message for this song in the ¡Uno! deluxe lyric book is: "I read your book... it was a piece of shit. You traded that spiked belt in for a killer job at Peet’s Coffee. Way to go! By the way, I’ve always wanted to smash your fucking teeth in. 🖤"
Billie Joe (Guitar World, 2012): "The song title is from the name of a character in the book Rumble Fish. The song itself is about my old punk-rock scene and the survivors of the initial starters of that scene and how some of them didn't really live up to their promises and just became finger pointers a little bit. And then they disappeared. And just the feeling that Green Day, we're still here. Where are you? What happened to all the values that you were bringing to the table? Now you're gone. All the things you were telling people to fight for, you're not fighting for them anymore. So that's probably one of the more bitter songs I've written."
Billie Joe (Total Guitar, 2012): “Troublemaker and Rusty James are kind of like a fuck you to the old punk scene and the old guard a little bit. There are so many people who get to our age and they become bitter, and maybe their life isn’t going the way they want it to. That’s what those songs are about. There’s a fine line between being an angry young man and being a bitter old fart, you know?”
Fan interpretation: "The line 'Death Wish Kids among the living' refers to an elite club in the East Bay punk scene called the Death Wish Kids. Billie Joe desperately wanted to be a part of it and even had a 'prison tattoo' done with cigarette ash on his shoulder, but he was never really welcome because he wasn't 'punk' enough. However, by the time he wrote 'Rusty James,' those people had become everything they once accused him of ('traded that spiked belt in for a killer job at Peet’s Coffee') whilst Green Day were still around. So the Death Wish Kids are 'among the living' because they're no longer living up to anything they preached about so passionately."
Billie Joe (Guitar World, 2012): "The song title is from the name of a character in the book Rumble Fish. The song itself is about my old punk-rock scene and the survivors of the initial starters of that scene and how some of them didn't really live up to their promises and just became finger pointers a little bit. And then they disappeared. And just the feeling that Green Day, we're still here. Where are you? What happened to all the values that you were bringing to the table? Now you're gone. All the things you were telling people to fight for, you're not fighting for them anymore. So that's probably one of the more bitter songs I've written."
Billie Joe (Total Guitar, 2012): “Troublemaker and Rusty James are kind of like a fuck you to the old punk scene and the old guard a little bit. There are so many people who get to our age and they become bitter, and maybe their life isn’t going the way they want it to. That’s what those songs are about. There’s a fine line between being an angry young man and being a bitter old fart, you know?”
Fan interpretation: "The line 'Death Wish Kids among the living' refers to an elite club in the East Bay punk scene called the Death Wish Kids. Billie Joe desperately wanted to be a part of it and even had a 'prison tattoo' done with cigarette ash on his shoulder, but he was never really welcome because he wasn't 'punk' enough. However, by the time he wrote 'Rusty James,' those people had become everything they once accused him of ('traded that spiked belt in for a killer job at Peet’s Coffee') whilst Green Day were still around. So the Death Wish Kids are 'among the living' because they're no longer living up to anything they preached about so passionately."
Have your own interpretation of "Rusty James"? Leave a comment below.
Lyrics
This whiskey sour, amateur hour
Raise your glass and toast your friends
Someday we will fight again
Your enemies your tragedies
Pocket knives and rusty chains
Where the hell is the old gang at?
And all the losers can't even win for losing
And the beginners don't even know what song they're singing
Well there's no one left around
And you're the last gang in town
And your heart can't even break
When it doesn't even pound
This broken scene is turning green
Like brass knuckles left in the rain
Death wish kids among the living
I wanna ride on the divided
Anything but the mainstream
Where the fuck is your old gang, man?
And all the losers can't even win for losing
And the beginners don't even know what song they're singing
Well there's no one left around
And you're the last gang in town
And your heart can't even break
When it doesn't even pound
So long!
You didn't even say goodnight
So long!
There's nowhere to go when you're hiding in plain sight
Well there's no one left around
And you're the last gang in town
And your heart can't even break
When it doesn't even pound
Raise your glass and toast your friends
Someday we will fight again
Your enemies your tragedies
Pocket knives and rusty chains
Where the hell is the old gang at?
And all the losers can't even win for losing
And the beginners don't even know what song they're singing
Well there's no one left around
And you're the last gang in town
And your heart can't even break
When it doesn't even pound
This broken scene is turning green
Like brass knuckles left in the rain
Death wish kids among the living
I wanna ride on the divided
Anything but the mainstream
Where the fuck is your old gang, man?
And all the losers can't even win for losing
And the beginners don't even know what song they're singing
Well there's no one left around
And you're the last gang in town
And your heart can't even break
When it doesn't even pound
So long!
You didn't even say goodnight
So long!
There's nowhere to go when you're hiding in plain sight
Well there's no one left around
And you're the last gang in town
And your heart can't even break
When it doesn't even pound
Live History
Live History
- Total Plays
- 5 times / #213 most played
- Most Recent
- February 20, 2014 Paddington, QLD
- Earliest Known
- August 11, 2011 Costa Mesa, CA
12 tracks
Comments
Song Comments