The song Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong wants played at his funeral: “It’s a bit more positive”
To people who grew up on the euphoric churn of pop-punk, Billie Joe Armstrong is El Capitano. With his distinctive drawl and choppy riffs, the Green Day guitarist and vocalist is the embodiment of 1990s teen rebellion and has been responsible for introducing countless kids to the joys of guitar music.
While his penchant for punk rock has long been established, Armstrong is a lover of all kinds of music and, having devoted his life to it, has often joined in when discussing the ultimate muso pastime: soundtracking. Providing the perfect playlist extends way beyond the party listen and has seen music lovers of all ages agree and disagree on what might or might not be the perfect song for any occasion — including a funeral. Like all of us, Armstrong is looking for the perfect exit music. Although it’s still a while off yet, the musician recently shared the song he wants to be played at his funeral.
When Entertainment Weekly asked Armstrong to name the track he wants playing on that sad day, he named The Rolling Stones’ ‘Waiting On A Friend’ from their 1981 album Tattoo You. “It’s one of the best songs they’ve ever written,” he explained. “When you’re up in heaven, or wherever you’re at, you’re just waiting for friends to come along. For something dark like a funeral, it’s a bit more positive.”
Originally recorded in 1972 during the sessions for Goats Head Soup, it wouldn’t be until the 1980s that ‘Waiting On A Friend’ would finally find its place in the group’s impressive canon. Nine years after Mick Jagger and company coined the track, it was released as a single. Thanks to MTV, which was launched in 1981, it did very well in America, reaching new audiences thanks to its tailor-made music video.
It would be a momentous occasion for Jagger and the band, who finally found a new route to a young audience with the advent of the music video. Tailored specifically for the song, the clip is no longer considered a stand-out moment, but it landed with aplomb upon release and gathered interest for the group with an audience no longer glued to the radio but with their eyes and ears firmly trained towards the television.
Many regard ‘Waiting On A Friend’ as marking a new maturity in The Stones’ songwriting. For a band with a reputation as red-blooded bad boys, the track is indeed a refreshingly tender offering. With a Latin-infused groove at its root, ‘Waiting On A Friend’ can be seen to reveal Mick Jagger’s desire to meet a woman he can be friends with. After all that talk of sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll in the 1960s and ’70s, the frontman expresses his dissatisfaction with the nature of his romantic relationships, deeming them superficial compared to the depth of real love.
Jagger was a little more cynical in his interpretation. “First of all,” he said shortly after the song’s release, “It’s really NOT about waiting on a woman friend. It’s just about a FRIEND; it doesn’t matter if it’s a man or a woman. I can see people saying, Oh, we’re all much older now, Mick’s writing this much more compassionate stuff, must be about a real person. But that’s only in their perception of it.”
Whatever your interpretation, the song remains one of the most poignant offerings from The Rolling Stones’ catalogue. But for Billie Joe Armstrong, it’s more than a good song; it’s the perfect way to say goodbye.
