Song Details
Sex, Drugs & Violence
  • Track #6 from ¡TRÉ!
  • Released 2012
    Green Day has played this song live 2 times
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    Song Meaning
    This song is about the narrator feeling sorry for himself, more than anything else. But, he thinks he has justified reasons to do so. The lines "I took a wrong turn at growing up" and "Back at school it never made much sense" mean that the narrator considers part of his childhood to be a failure of sorts, in that he didn't pick up on the values that others tried to instill in him. Additionally, the refrain seems to imply that the narrator never understood "English, math, and science" or "safety in numbers," but is able to identify with the dirtier parts of human nature, like "sex, drugs, and violence." Lines like "I don't want to be an imbecile / But Jesus made me that way" and "Too young to die I guess / But that's the way it goes" show that the narrator reluctantly accepts himself and who he has always been. He realizes that there's no sense in fighting it, or trying to change what he truly is (or what he isn't).
    Lyrics
    All my life, trouble follows me
    Like a mystery girl
    I’ve been chasing 'round a memory
    Like a mystery girl

    I’ve been getting lost searching my soul
    All around this town
    I took a wrong turn at growing up
    And it’s freaking me out

    Back at school, it never made much sense
    Now I pay, but I can pay attention
    Teaching me the hardest lessons of my life

    Too dumb to die I guess
    But that’s the way it goes
    Sometimes, I must regress to

    Sex, drugs and violence
    English, math, and science
    Safety in numbers
    Gimme, gimme danger

    Well, I don’t wanna be an imbecile
    But Jesus made me that way

    All my life, I’ve been running wild
    Like a runaway
    Wherever the night takes me
    Like a stowaway

    Back at home, it never made much sense
    Now I pay, but I can pay attention
    Teaching me the hardest lessons of my life

    Too dumb to die I guess
    But that’s the way it goes
    Sometimes, I must regress to

    Sex, drugs and violence
    English, math, and science
    Safety in numbers
    Gimme, gimme danger

    Back at home, it never made much sense
    I can pay, but I can pay attention
    Teaching me the hardest lessons of my life

    Too dumb to die I guess
    But that’s the way it goes
    Sometimes, I must regress to

    Sex, drugs and violence
    English, math, and science
    Safety in numbers
    Gimme, gimme danger
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