It’s officially time to wake up the guy from Green Day.
It’s September 30th! The pumpkin spice is flowing, the leaves are falling, the days are getting shorter, and somebody needs to tell this man his alarm clock has been ringing for approximately 21 years.
Released in 2005 as the third single from Green Day’s massive American Idiot album, “Wake Me Up When September Ends” is one of those songs that somehow manages to be both a giant rock hit and one of the most emotionally heavy songs the band ever recorded. It reached No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100, making it one of Green Day’s biggest American hits.
And despite the fact that we’ve turned the title into a September-ending punchline, there’s a much more personal story behind it.
The song was inspired by the death of Billie Joe Armstrong’s father when Armstrong was a child. What started as a deeply personal song about grief eventually found a much broader audience, with listeners connecting it to their own experiences of loss, memories and saying goodbye.
Which makes the song’s staying power pretty remarkable.
It isn’t really a song about September. It’s about time.
About how you can wish a difficult period would hurry up and end… only to realize that time doesn’t exactly work that way. The calendar eventually turns the page, but the memories come with you.
Twenty-plus years later, “Wake Me Up When September Ends” has become one of those songs that seems to automatically appear on the radio every September like a musical groundhog.
WAKE UP, BILLIE JOE!
Now crank up Green Day’s “Wake Me Up When September Ends” for The 6:30 Clock Radio Classic!
Good morning. September is almost over. You can get out of bed now.
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