Holiday-Greenday

"Hear the sound of the falling rain

Coming down like an Armageddon flame."

The above two lines represent a military assault on a city. The falling rain symbolizes bullets and bombs and the Armageddon flame is the fire and destruction and loss of life it ensues. The word "Armageddon" means the end of the world and to many, it's the end of their world (their lives) and their way of life. Also note the religious the connotation of Armageddon flames coming down from the sky like rain, or coming from the heavens, the opposite of the flames coming from the ground, or hell.

"The shame, the ones who die without a name"

The ones who died without a name represent both the citizens of the attacked city or town or the soldiers who lost their lives in the attack. The lost names represent how their lives essentially mean nothing as no one even knows their name. They are mere pawns in a political conflict. They are just a number. The no-names can also represent people who have no choice, because they have no voice against the assault.

"Hear the dogs howling out of key

To a hymn called Faith and Misery"

A hymn is a song to honor God, a deity or a nation. The dogs represent the dogs of war who are howling, not singing this hymn, and how they are in the conflict for both Faith, something pure and good, and Misery, something horrible and undesirable.

"And bleed, the company lost the war today"

These dogs of war bleed in the conflict, yet the only bleeding the attacking country's government experiences is not the pity or anguish of losing its men and women in conflict, it's the bottom line of it's corporate affiliates (Halliburton). The company lost the war because of something not going right (the Iraq conflict), not the country's "liberation" of an oppressed nation.

"I beg to dream and differ from the hollow lies

This is the dawning of the rest of our lives"

The song then shifts to first person, symbolizing the individual and pointing out that the speaker is not a no-name, and refuses to believe the hollow, or empty lies the government and media portray about the war. The line "This is the dawning of the rest of our lives" emphasizes the urgency for Americans to vote as the election is the dawning of the rest of everyone's lives.

"On Holiday."

Holiday represents how everyone just sits back, on vacation, and lets it happen. Those who don't vote or care about what's going on around them are those on Holiday, or those who vacation from reality.

"here the drum pounding out of time

Another protester has crossed the line (Hey!)

To find, the money's on the other side"

The drum pounding out of time represents the drums of war and by them pounding out of time it symbolizes how unnecessary the conflict (war) is. The drums of war are not synchronized because they are unnecessarily beating. The protester crossing the line symbolize the people speaking out against the conflict only to realize that the money, the fuel for the war, favors those who support it and are on the other side of the picket fence. Those on the other side are the government and the rich.

"Can I get another Amen (Amen)

There's a flag wrapped around a score of men"

The line "Can I get another Amen" represents the role religion plays in the conflict and how it is a fuel and motivation for the conflict and often times an excuse for it. The flag wrapped around the score of men represents the flag draped coffins of our soldiers in whos bodies come back to the US for burial in the name of Old Glory.

"A gag, A plastic bag on a monument"

A gag, represents the silence of the war and how no one speaks out against its atrocities. The plastic bag represents how the good of America is suffocating and unable to speak against it's government. The word monument symbolizes the good of America which is being suppressed. The plastic bag is also symbolic for a body bag, which the good of America is being placed inside of.

"The representative from [California] has the floor."

The above line is what the speaker of the US House of Representatives would say when the said representative makes a motion. This line points out that the attacking country is the United States as this government's representatives make motions to continue the conflict.

"Zieg heil to the president gasman"

"Zieg heil" is German for "We Will Win." A once popular belief in the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts. A gasman is someone who produces, distributes, or sells gas for industrial or commercial use. The president, or in this case George W. Bush, is considered a gasman, someone who seeks oil. Zieg heil is also an allusion to Nazi Germany and it's quest for global domination. Green Day is comparing Hitler and Germany to present day United States and George W. Bush.

"Bombs away is your punishment

Pulverize the Eiffel towers

who criticize your government"

Bombs away, or military conflict, is the US response to those who "criticize" our government or way of life. Pulverizing the Eiffel towers would be an allusion to the US citizen's response (boycott, Freedom Fries, etc.) to France for not aiding in the Iraq or Afghan conflict.

"Bang bang goes the broken glass"

The broken glass is the shattered government of Iraq and essentially our own government as well. The glass representes stability.

"Kill all the fags that don't agree"

The word "fags" is used to represent bigotry and how being anti-war, or anti-military can leave you branded as a "fag" or homosexual. It's commonly used in the military and society to represent those who aren't considered strong or masculine.

"Trails by fire setting fire

Is not a way that's meant for me"

A trial by fire is a state of pain or anguish that tests patience, endurance, or beliefs. The trial by fire symbolizes the American will and tolerance of it's government's wrong doings and how what it is doing is "setting fire," or causing more pain, violence and conflict. The following line "Is not a way that's meant for me" emphasizes the speaker's rebellion toward just sitting back and enduring the pain and anguish and is wholeheartedly questioning his government and is voicing his own beliefs.

"Just cause

Just 'cause we're outlaws yeah"

The "Just Cause" would be the justice of liberating the nation of Iraq, one of the original purposes of the Iraq war. The speaker than alludes the Just Cause to a slang in modern English or emphasizing an accent to the word "because" shortening it to "'cause." The just 'cause we're outlaws" is an allusion to George W. Bush's cowboy diplomacy and how the United States being "outlaws" violates the law and order of war and peace set forth by the United Nations.

"This is our lives on Holiday."

The final line in the song further emphasizes how our lives are all on vacation from reality and how we just sit back and allow the media to feed us the "hollow lies" of the war and how we don't vote for change. The line also symbolizes what happens when everyone becomes apathetic toward their government and doesn't force it to be accountable for it's actions.  

I think that many songs on American Idiot have double meanings. Holiday, is one of them. As Billie Joe often says in concert, "This song is a big f*** you, to George W Bush", I think it also relates to the Jesus of Suburbia (JOS) story. This song is about the JOS leaving home because he's fed up with a lot of things, so he's out on the streets, hence "here the sound of the falling rain..." the part where the JOS says, 'i beg to dream and differ from the hollow lies' shows that hes feeling a bit like a rebel.

but, this song is also very much about war and whatnot for very obvious reasons.

This song is both an anti-war rant against the Bush Administration and Co and just a feel-good us-against-them anthem about rebelling against the status quo, against the Establishment (whatever that may be) and just going against the mediocrity and blandness and hypocrisy of everyday life. 

The title of the song refers to the amount of time President Bush spent on Holiday in the lead up to 9/11 (42% of the 8 months preceding) when he should have been looking at reports pointing towards an attack. The 'armageddon flame' and 'ones who died without a name' are from the twin towers. It later moves on to Bush speaking. 'Zeig Heil to the President Gas Man (Saddam Hussein, who gassed the Khurds), bombs away is you're ... pulverise the Eiffel Towers ...' is referring to the countries who failed to join USA and UK in the war and that they can expect revenge. It then moves on to war in Iraq etc. (I know a slightly different view but that's how it seems to me, I am English though).  

Well I was lucky enough to go to a Green Day concert one month ago and I had loved them for ages so when I got to go I was sooo excited.. anyway at the concert as someone says Billie Joe does say this next song is a big f*** you to george bush but then he says when the music starts.. "This song isn't Anti-American, it's anti-waaarrrrrrrrrr!!!" So it's not really just all about the American wars although I do believe some of the references have to do with Bj's dislike of the American president George W Bush.. Anyway one day I would love to talk to Billie Joe, Mike and Tre about what all of their songs mean coz they are such a big part of my life.. You can always have your own interpretations but I would really love to know sometimes what they were thinking when they wrote soem of their masterpieces. Anyway great song, bloody awesome band!!!!! 

trích http://www.lyricinterpretations.com/Green-Day/Holiday

2001: A space Odyssey

Kubrick described the end of the film:

No, I don't mind discussing it, on the lowest level, that is, straightforward explanation of the plot. You begin with an artifact left on earth four million years ago by extraterrestrial explorers who observed the behavior of the man-apes of the time and decided to influence their evolutionary progression. Then you have a second artifact buried deep on the lunar surface and programmed to signal word of man's first baby steps into the universe -- a kind of cosmic burglar alarm. And finally there's a third artifact placed in orbit around Jupiter and waiting for the time when man has reached the outer rim of his own solar system.

When the surviving astronaut, Bowman, ultimately reaches Jupiter, this artifact sweeps him into a force field or star gate that hurls him on a journey through inner and outer space and finally transports him to another part of the galaxy, where he's placed in a human zoo approximating a hospital terrestrial environment drawn out of his own dreams and imagination. In a timeless state, his life passes from middle age to senescence to death. He is reborn, an enhanced being, a star child, an angel, a superman, if you like, and returns to earth prepared for the next leap forward of man's evolutionary destiny.

What's notable for me is that this pretty much jives with my thoughts on the film, and I feel like I was on the right path in my analysis. Still, as Kubrick intended, I came away with my own interpretation of what happened in the film, an interpretation that's largely influenced by reading and analyzing The Invisibles a few years ago. I think 2001 was a huge influence on Grant's work, particuarly in the creation of Barbelith. In the Invisibles, Barbelith was a sattelite on the dark side of the moon that sent messages to select humans to help them evolve to the next stage of consciousness. In 2001, the monolith serves basically the same function. It appears at crucial times to provide guidance for humanity and help them progress forward evolutionarily.
The sequence that seems most periphery at first, but in retrospect is absolutely essential is the ape sequence. This is a microcosm of everything that happens later and is a good guide for understanding later events. Here, we see ape beings on the verge of evolution, but unable to make that leap. They are visited by a mysterious alien force, incarnated in the monolith, and this force gives them the impetus to use tools. This creates a schism in the ape community, the tool users go on the path to evolution, while those who don't use tools head for extinction. The use of tools is such a mind blowing leap for these beings, what seems commonplace for us is compeletely alien to them, but with this little nudge, they find their way to a higher mental plane.

Leaping forward thousands of years, we once again find ourselves with a humanity on the verge of a major evolutionary breakthrough, this time moving out into the stars. The Heywood Floyd sequence doesn't add that much to the thematic development, the most interesting thing is comparing the reaction of humans there with the apes in the past. There's still the same wariness about the monolith, but there's much more angst over what to do here, and when they finally do get there, the technological leap is less clear.

The HAL sequence is the most famous from the film and for good reason. HAL represents the limits of man's current evolutionary paradigm. What began with a bone has turned into a computer whose intellect arguably surpasses man's own. So, now rather than tools aiding man in his progress forward, it is actually limiting him, HAL sabotages the mission and this sabotage is indicative of the fact that man has lost control of what once aided him. This is why man needs to evolve, because the tools have become too powerful. This menace is implied in the cuts to the dying animal during the first sequence where the ape figures out how to use the bone as a destructive tool.

So, Dave uses his ingenuity to defeat HAL and in essence kills man of the present. Man has advanced beyond using tools, where can he go now? The answer lies beyond the infinite. What is it that happens during this sequence? I think Dave is transported to an alien planet, a completely different world, the light show is this journey, as he leaves behind earth and finds himself on another world. According to Kubrick, this is a 'zoo,' I see it more as a holding area, Dave must first leave behind his body before the alien intelligence can transform him into the new version of humanity. He sees his life passing quickly, and by extension, humanity itself grows older, eventually dying and transforming into a new younger version of itself, the starchild, a new type of being. This leap is as great as the intelligence leap between man and ape and the implications for humanity's future potential as great. I think we can only understand this jump by considering the leap from the bone to the spacecraft, that sort of advancement will be replicated. What this entails we can only speculate upon, apes couldn't guess what we'd be doing today, and we can't guess what this new Starchild race will be doing in the future.

Something else that should be addressed in the 'hotel room' is the breakdown of linear time. This is another idea that's quite similar to The Invisibles, the idea that when we evolve we will become 4D beings who are able to view our lives from a detached perspective, taking in the entirety of life all at once. In that room, Dave has that perspective. He finds himself aged by his journey, but then he ages a lot more, not in a linear fashion, rather he sees older versions of himself and then we transfer over to them. A question that lingers is whether the cut to the new version indicates a transfer of the current Dave's consciousness to an older body or if it's a leap through time. Dave himself may live thirty years in that room, but because he, and by extension us, are no longer bound by the conventions of linear time, we can just move through his passing much quicker. We don't get enough information to make a definitive statement, but that's what works best for me, the idea that the thirty years are there, but we don't have to see them because we have moved beyond the need to stay within time, it's just a part of the evolution into a higher form, first we're not bound by time, then we're not bound by a physical body.

The entire film is about this evolution, showing us man's roots, his present status and then his future. It's about our journey as a species towards higher and higher planes, leading to this eventual massive evolutionary jump. It's the same thing as The Invisibles 2012 event or the Promethea 'apocalypse,' they're all describing a move beyond simple physical reality towards a heightened existence.