Song Details
X-Kid
  • Track #5 from ¡TRÉ!
  • Released 2012
    Green Day has played this song live 30 times
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    Song Meaning
    "'X-Kid' from Tre! deals with the suicide of a close friend of Armstrong's. 'I don't really want to get into it,' he says. 'It's too heavy.'" -- excerpt from Guitar World (Now. 2012) interview

    This song was written in response to the 2009 suicide of a close friend that Billie Joe grew up with in Rodeo, CA. However, the song is as much about the entire "Generation X" (those born from roughly 1960-1980) as it is about this one specific tragedy. Billie Joe has repeatedly identified himself as an "Ex-Kid" in recent interviews. The narrator is able to relate to his late friend, in that they were both "Ex/X-kids." But, he was able to push through the struggles that came with growing older, while his friend was not. His friend, unfortunately, found an escape in suicide, thus the line "Here goes nothing, the shouting's over." The narrator sees facets of himself in his late friend. He feels as if, sadly, there wasn't much that could have been done to help his friend, though he wishes someone could have found a way to help him before it was too late.
    Lyrics
    Hey, little kid
    Did you wake up late one day?
    And you’re not so young, but you’re still dumb
    And you’re numb to your old glory
    But now it’s gone

    I fell in love, but it didn’t catch your fall
    Then I crashed into a wall
    Then I fell to pieces on the floor
    Now you’re sick to death

    Bombs away
    Here goes nothin', the shouting’s over
    Hey X-Kid, bombs away
    Here goes nothin', the shouting’s over and out
    Over and out again

    I once was old enough to know better
    Then I was too young to care, but who cares?
    I probably would, but Hollywood is dead and gone

    You fell in love, but then you just fell apart
    Like a kick in the head you’re an X-Kid
    And you never even got started again

    Bombs away
    Here goes nothin', the shouting’s over
    Hey X-Kid, bombs away
    Here goes nothin', the shouting’s over and out
    Over and out

    And you were searching your soul
    And you got lost and out of control
    You went over the edge of joking
    Died of a broken heart

    Hey, little kid
    Did you wake up late one day?
    And you’re not so young, but you’re still dumb
    You’re an X-Kid, and you never even got started again

    Bombs away
    Here goes nothin', the shouting’s over
    Hey X-Kid, bombs away
    Here goes nothin', the shouting’s over

    Here goes nothin', the shouting’s over and out
    Over and out
    Over, and over, and out


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