Holiday (Green Day song)

"Holiday"
Song

"Holiday" is a song by the American punk rock band Green Day, released as the third single off of their seventh studio album American Idiot. Though the song is a prelude to "Boulevard of Broken Dreams", "Holiday" was released as a single later on, in the spring of 2005. The song achieved considerable popularity across the world and performed moderately well on the charts. In the U.S., it reached number nineteen on the Billboard Hot 100 and number one on the Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks and Hot Modern Rock Tracks charts. It debuted at number eleven in the UK and at number twenty-one in Canada.

"Holiday" features a spoken word segment during the bridge that is unique to Green Day songs. While it caused controversy, this speech is generally regarded as anti-fascist, with Green Day accusing George W. Bush of being a fascist.

During live performances, lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong liked to introduce this song with a political agenda, or alternatively, a disclaimer. For example, on Green Day's CD/DVD Bullet in a Bible, Armstrong announces, "This next song's a big 'fuck you' to all the politicians. This song's called Holiday! This song is not anti-American; it's anti-war!" Which some consider to be similar to the way in which Bono of U2 would introduce "Sunday Bloody Sunday"; "This is not a rebel song...".

"Holiday" was played in the movie Accepted and parts of the song were played in the movie Surf's Up. The song is also featured in the video game Tony Hawk's American Wasteland. It was also played in the original trailer for the motion picture, War, Inc.

Track listing

CD 1

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Holiday"
2.	"Holiday" (live)
3.	"Boulevard of Broken Dreams" (live)

CD 2

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Holiday"
2.	"Minority" (live)

7" picture disc

Side A

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Holiday"

Side B

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Minority" (live)

• (live tracks recorded September 21, 2004 at Irving Plaza, New York)

Music video

The first half of the video takes place in a car (a 1968 Mercury Monterey convertible), where Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt and Tré Cool are partying around the town. In the second half, they are cavorting in a bar, where each of the band members portray several different characters. Billie Joe Armstrong plays the mentioned Representative of California, two fighting clients, and Weezer's Rivers Cuomo . Tré Cool plays a drunken priest, a patron, and a prostitute. Mike Dirnt plays the barman, a policeman, and Sid Vicious from The Sex Pistols. There are also scenes featuring seemingly worn-down can-can dancers. At the end of the video, the car smokes to a halt in the field that "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" begins in. Like the video for "Boulevard of Broken Dreams", this video was directed by Samuel Bayer.

The band arrived at the 2005 MTV Video Music Awards in the same car, this time "pimped out" by James Washburn, a friend of the band.

Political references

• The spoken bridge of the song makes references to Nazi Germany, George W. Bush and France's refusal to support the 2003 invasion of Iraq:

Sieg Heil to the President Gasman, Bombs away is your punishment

Pulverize the Eiffel Towers, Who criticize your government

Bang bang goes the broken glass and Kill all the fags that don't agree

Trials by fire setting fire, Is not a way that's meant for me.

Charts

Chart (2005)	Peak position
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	19
U.S. Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks	1
U.S. Billboard Hot Modern Rock Tracks	1
U.S. Billboard Adult Top 40	5
U.S. Billboard Hot Ringtones	35
U.S. ARC Weekly Top 40	8
UK Singles Chart	11
Irish Singles Chart	13
Canadian Singles Chart	21
Canadian BDS Airplay Chart	3
Australian ARIA Singles Chart	24
Japanese Singles Chart	38
German Singles Chart	50
New Zealand Singles Chart	13

Cover versions

"Holiday"
Song

The song was first covered by the Irish pop punk band Scuba Dice in 2006 and charted at No. 8 on the Irish Charts, No. 2 on the download chart that week, and went on to be 42nd best selling single of 2008 for an Irish artist.

Hayseed Dixie also performed a bluegrass cover of the song on their album A Hot Piece of Grass.