When I Come Around

"When I Come Around"
Single by Green Day
from the album Dookie
Released	January 31, 1995
Format	CD single
Recorded	1993
Genre	Punk rock, alternative rock
Length	2:58
Label	Reprise, WEA International
Writer(s)	Billie Joe Armstrong / Green Day
Producer	Rob Cavallo, Green Day
Certification	Gold (RIAA)
Green Day singles chronology
"Basket Case" (1994) "When I Come Around" (1995) "She" (1995)

"When I Come Around" is a song by American punk rock band Green Day. It was released as the fourth single from their third album, Dookie. "When I Come Around" was Green Day's most popular radio single in their early career, peaking at number 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 Airplay. This was their highest charting radio single until 2004's "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" peaked at number 2. It was one of the most successful alternative rock songs of 1995. The song was also their breakthrough hit in most of the world. It topped the Modern Rock Tracks for seven weeks, and also hit number two on the Mainstream Rock Tracks. "When I Come Around" has sold 639,000 copies as of August, 2010.,which makes it the band's second best-selling single of the 1990s, only behind the 1997 hit "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)".

Billie Joe Armstrong wrote the song after breaking up with his girlfriend, Adrienne Nesser (whom he later married).

Track listing

Initial pressing

1. "When I Come Around" – 2:58
2. "Coming Clean" (live) – 1:36
3. "She" (live) – 2:14

• (Live tracks recorded November 18, 1994 at Aragon Ballroom, Chicago)

AU single

1. "When I Come Around" – 2:58
2. "Longview" (live) – 3:30
3. "Burnout" (live) – 2:11
4. "2,000 Light Years Away" (live) – 2:48

• (Live tracks recorded March 11, 1994, at Jannus Landing, St. Petersburg, Florida)

7" picture disc

Side A

• "When I Come Around" – 2:58

Side B

• "She" (live) – 2:14

Other versions

• The infamous live performance at Woodstock '94 before a mud fight
• A live version found on Foot in Mouth (recorded live January 27, 1996 at Harumi Arena, Tokyo)
• A live performance on Saturday Night Live
• The older version "Better Not Come Around" can be heard live on the Live at Gilman Street EP. There are also older versions included in the Dookie Demos.
• Second Time Around, a band message left on the official website. The lyrics are mostly unintelligible but it is recognizably similar to When I Come Around.
• Vonnegutt released a single featuring the Hey Monday's lead vocal Cassadee Pope.

Music video

The music video shows the band walking to different places, like the Mission District and the Powell Street Station in San Francisco and Berkeley, California at night, along with various scenes of people doing common things all inter-related. One of the first scenes of the video eventually leads back to the scene at the end. The band's friend and now backup guitarist Jason White can be seen in the video with his girlfriend at the time. Mark Kohr directed this video.

Before the video was filmed, MTV aired a live performance of the song by the band at the 1994 Woodstock Festival.

MTV's Ultimate Albums: Dookie special credited the simple horizontally-striped sweater worn by Billie Joe in the video for starting a fashion trend of similar sweaters.

Chart positions

Chart (1995)	Peak position
Canadian RPM Singles Chart	3
German Singles Chart	45
Sweden Singles Chart	28
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Airplay	6
U.S. Billboard Top 40 Mainstream	2
U.S. Billboard Modern Rock Tracks	1
UK Singles Chart	27

Preceded by "Bang and Blame" by R.E.M.

Billboard Modern Rock Tracks number-one single January 7 – February 18, 1995

Succeeded by "Lightning Crashes" by Live