Holiday (Green Day song)

"Holiday"
Song

"Holiday" is a song by the American punk rock band Green Day, released as the third single off their seventh studio album American Idiot. The song is in the key of F minor and in 4/4 time signature. 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.

During live performances, lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong liked to introduce this song with a political statement, 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!"

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. It is also played during the Vancouver Canucks goal horn for the 2009-2010 season and was the goal song for the San Jose Sharks during the 2006–2007 NHL season.

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)

Vinyl Box Set

1. "Holiday"
2. "Wake Me Up When September Ends"
3. "Letterbomb"
4. "Governator"

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 portrays 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
Australian ARIA Singles Chart	24
Canadian Singles Chart	21
Canadian BDS Airplay Chart	3
German Singles Chart	50
Irish Singles Chart	13
Japanese Singles Chart	38
New Zealand Singles Chart	13
UK Singles Chart	11
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

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.

In the mash-up album American Edit, "Holiday" is combined with "Doctorin' the Tardis", juxtaposing George W. Bush with Daleks.