This week's song is "Scattered", track number five on Green Day's fifth full-length album. Nimrod was released on October 14, 1997, three years after they broke into the mainstream with Dookie. The immense popularity of "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)" helped to take the album to #10 on the Billboard Chart and sell nearly six million copies since its release.

With the opening lyric "I've got some scattered pictures lying on my bedroom floor," it is clear that this song is about looking back on memories. As the song progresses into the chorus, it is made clear that the song is about fixing the "loose ends tied in knots" and salvaging a relationship on the fritz. It seems most plausible that the relationship he is speaking of is his marriage, based on the line "Now it seems I've forgotten my purpose in this life." "Scattered" fits in with the theme of a lot of Nimrod's songs - Billie seems to be evaluating his life at that moment as a husband and father of two boys and asking where it will all end up in the future.

Although this was never released as a single, it certainly strikes a chord with many fans and has been played as a rarity at a handful of shows, generally to great reception. I was lucky enough to see it performed live on the second leg of the 21st Century Breakdown tour in Mansfield, MA when a fan requested it and Billie obliged. Here's a pretty good quality video from that night, preceded by a video of the boys performing the song acoustic at Bridge School Benefit in 1999:



Mansfield, MA Performance

Lyrics and download info can be found here and the song's thread on the forum is here.