The Green Day song dedicated to Billie Joe Armstrong’s favourite book
Green Day are often heralded as one of the bands that fits especially well with teenage angst. Using their powerhouse pop-punk stylings, the group tore through reams of tales about teenage revolt and adolescent anger. However, even amid the angst, there’s still room for a bit of literary inspiration.
Inspiration can strike anywhere, and there are plenty of musicians that write songs about their favourite literature. Everyone from PJ Harvey to Lana Del Rey to Rainbow Kitten Surprise has historical and literary references, and Green Day is no different.
In fact, Green Day actually has a song that’s quite obviously inspired by literature, and it’s after one of Billie Joe Armstrong’s favourite books. The song in question is ‘Who Wrote Holden Caulfield?’ off their 1991 album Kerplunk. For those already in the know, it’s a little obvious what book the song is referencing. However, for those who haven’t read Catcher In the Rye by J. D. Salinger, Holden Caufield is the main character of the novel.
Billie Joe Armstrong has said of the song, “It’s a song about forgetting what you’re going to say. It’s trying to get motivated to do something because your elders tell you, you have to get motivated. So then you get frustrated and you think that you should do something but you end up doing nothing. But then you enjoy it.” Naturally, Armstrong uses the themes of the book in his own writings.
The chorus echoes the sentiments in the novel, saying, “There’s a boy who fogs his world and now he’s getting lazy/ There’s no motivation and frustration makes him crazy/ He makes a plan to take a stand but always ends up sitting/ Someone help him up or he is gonna end up quitting.” It speaks to the aimlessness of youth and the loneliness that the confusion can bring.
Catcher in the Rye‘s Holden Caufield is an iconic character because of how much he embodies that teenage angst, leading to many people considering the work to be the very first instance of mainstream young adult fiction. Even so, it’s a relatively deep and important classic. In fact, Armstrong didn’t fully appreciate the book until he re-read it as an adult, as he didn’t like it when he read it for school.
Now, however, the musician maintains that the song is one of his favourites on the album. If you want to take a listen to ‘Who Wrote Holden Caufield?’ you can find it down below—and it might even make you want to pick up the book!
