BOULEVARD OF BROKEN DREAMS – GREEN DAY

 

"Boulevard of Broken Dreams" is a song by the American punk rock band Green Day. It was released as the second single from their seventh album, American Idiot.

Green Day was part of the California punk scene. The band consists of lead vocalist and guitarist Billie, bassist and backing vocalist Mike, drummer Tré, and guitarist and backing vocalist Jason. Billie and Mike, childhood friends, formed their first band, Sweet Children, when they were 14 years old. In 1989 two more people joined them, and changed their name to Green Day. Since then they have released eleven albums and have been very successful. They are one of the world's best-selling groups of all time, having sold over 75 million albums worldwide.

The song speaks from the point of view of American Idiot's main character, Jesus of Suburbia, and is characterized by its somber and bleak lyrics. It talks about the loneliness of the main character, who hopes to find the love of his life. He has always felt alone and lost, and wish that someone makes him feel loved. He walks a lonely road on the Boulevard of Broken dreams, but this is a metaphor to describe the sorrow and sadness in his life. He feels so alone that his shadow is the only one that walks beside him. The song was the ninth biggest selling single of the 2000-2009 decade, with worldwide sales exceeding 5 million copies. It won the Grammy Award for Record of the Year. In response to Hurricane Katrina and the popularity of "Boulevard of Broken Dreams", Green Day donated all of the iTunes profits from this song for the year to the American Red Cross for Katrina aid efforts.

The award-winning music video for "Boulevard of Broken Dreams”, shows the band members after their car has broken down in the desert, and they begin a melancholy walk down a dusty road. Some scenes are taken from Los Angeles, and show homeless people and other miserable sights. Special techniques are used to achieve the aged look of the "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" video, damaging the negative. The video of "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" won six awards at the MTV Video Music Awards in 2005, most notably for Video of the Year.

I like this song because it remembers me going in the car with my parents on Christmas holiday. Those were very happy moments. I was about ten years old, so my English wasn’t good enough to understand the lyrics of the song. However, I liked its catchy rhythm. Seven years later I understand the song and I see the sadness of the lyrics, but it makes me feel happy instead.

 By MARCOS