Song Details
Too Dumb to Die
Green Day has played this song live 9 times
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Song Meaning
"That one is more personal. It's about growing up totally working class and not knowing what the future was going to be, and being sort of a dope-smoking kid. And then it's also a reference to my father, who was in the teamsters and watching him go out to work in the picket line. I remember my father being on strike a lot. The song is kind of like feeling like, "Is anything really changing?"" - Billie Joe (Rolling Stone, Aug. 11, 2016)
"After a low-fi intro, the song breaks into a melody and chord progression that could've fit in on Dookie, married to lyrics that dip into straight autobiography: 'I was a high school atom bomb,' Armstrong sings, 'going off on the weekends/ Smoking dope and mowing lawns/And I hated all the new trends … I'm hanging on a dream that's too dumb to die.'" (Track by Track Guide, Rolling Stone)
"After a low-fi intro, the song breaks into a melody and chord progression that could've fit in on Dookie, married to lyrics that dip into straight autobiography: 'I was a high school atom bomb,' Armstrong sings, 'going off on the weekends/ Smoking dope and mowing lawns/And I hated all the new trends … I'm hanging on a dream that's too dumb to die.'" (Track by Track Guide, Rolling Stone)
Lyrics
Oh, oh
I loved you
Oh, oh
I do
I got a sentimental illness for you
Please don't go away
Oh yeah
I was a high school atom bomb
Going off on the weekends
Smoking dope and mowing lawns
And I hated all the new trends
Me and my friends sang "Whoa! Here's to the middle of the road!"
At least it's better than here
Looking for a buzz
But all I got was Santa Claus
I'm hanging on a dream that's too dumb to die
I feel like a cello
Lost somewhere over the rainbow
Way up high
Too scared to dream
But too dumb to die
My daddy always was on strike
Going off with the teamsters
He said that everything will be all right
Not every Sunday can be Easter
The picket line screamed "Whoa! Don't cross!"
Don't cross the line because you'll be a scab not a martyr
Looking for a cause
Well all I got was camouflage
I'm hanging on a dream that's too dumb to die
I feel like a cello
Lost somewhere over the rainbow
Way up high
Too scared to dream
But too dumb to...
Looking for a cause
Well all I got was camouflage
I'm hanging on a dream that's too dumb to die
I feel like a cello
Lost somewhere over the rainbow
Way up high
Too scared to dream
But too dumb to die
I loved you
Oh, oh
I do
I got a sentimental illness for you
Please don't go away
Oh yeah
I was a high school atom bomb
Going off on the weekends
Smoking dope and mowing lawns
And I hated all the new trends
Me and my friends sang "Whoa! Here's to the middle of the road!"
At least it's better than here
Looking for a buzz
But all I got was Santa Claus
I'm hanging on a dream that's too dumb to die
I feel like a cello
Lost somewhere over the rainbow
Way up high
Too scared to dream
But too dumb to die
My daddy always was on strike
Going off with the teamsters
He said that everything will be all right
Not every Sunday can be Easter
The picket line screamed "Whoa! Don't cross!"
Don't cross the line because you'll be a scab not a martyr
Looking for a cause
Well all I got was camouflage
I'm hanging on a dream that's too dumb to die
I feel like a cello
Lost somewhere over the rainbow
Way up high
Too scared to dream
But too dumb to...
Looking for a cause
Well all I got was camouflage
I'm hanging on a dream that's too dumb to die
I feel like a cello
Lost somewhere over the rainbow
Way up high
Too scared to dream
But too dumb to die
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