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Wake Me Up When September Ends The music video for Green Day's song "Wake Me Up When September Ends" has a meaning that far surpasses the meaning of the lyrics of the song itself. The band wanted to capture the feelings of countless Americans during the time of war by showing the heartbreaking story of an ordinary couple.
The young man in the video decides to enlist in the army as a way of showing his love for his girlfriend. In return, she feels like he is breaking a promise and leaving her.
The video captures not only the violence and terror of war, but also the tragic effect it has on the people the soldiers are forced to leave behind. The line, “As my memory rests, but never forgets what | lost”, describes this theme perfectly. As time goes by, one learns to accept the fact that the soldier is gone, but it does not heal the wound that is left by their absence.
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The director behind the video, Samuel Bayer, has been questioned about the video in countless interviews and has stated that it is his favorite video that he has directed.
"Wake Me Up When September Ends” uses multiple instruments to help the listener feel a sense of sadness and torment while listening to the song.
It starts out with nothing but an acoustic guitar and Billie's voice. After the first verse and chorus, the drums pick up and an electric guitar is added.
Even though the instruments get louder, Billie's voice is still somber.
The beginning feels more like a sad ballad. The drums help grab the listener's attention and gives the song a certain type of intensity. The agony can be heard in Billie Joe's voice as he sings, which adds to the powerful meaning of the song. The music can represent the different feelings that Americans were experiencing at the time. The slow beginning represents the sense of sadness and grief people felt about the war. The rapid change in musical tone represents how that initial sadness can quickly turn to anger and confusion.
Green Day: The Voice of the People Green Day has been a prominent band ever since the 1990s, however, they reached the masses with their 2004 release of American Idiot. Lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong describes how he and the entire nation was in a state of confusion. He wanted to speak out against the war and act as the voice for the American people. He describes America as being, “one nation controlled by the media". Many people were frustrated with the media and how they were portraying the war. The band members talk about how every time they turned on the news, they would see images of tanks and soldiers in Iraq. The band not only wrote songs that describe the anger and frustration of the war as shown in "Holiday", but also the devastating loss the people involved experience shown in “Wake Me Up When September Ends".
The band still writes songs that deal with a corrupt government. The album is an anthem for millennials today because of the protest against foreign wars.
Armstrong and the band are very vocal about the meaning behind the songs as well as their personal political views. The band has voiced their opinions in many interviews as well as during their live concerts.
There is no denying that "Wake Me Up When September Ends" is a very powerful song with a very real and emotional message, both in the meaning behind the lyrics as well as the meaning of the music video. The music video is very real for me because my dad has been deployed twice. It is impossible for someone to fully understand those emotions unless they have gone through the same experience. The video and somberness of the song help to put those emotions into perspective as it expresses the emotions of war to millions of people.
An Interpretation of Wake Me up When September Ends, a Video by Green Day. (2022, Apr 22). Retrieved from https://studymoose.com/an-interpretation-of-wake-me-up-when-september-ends-a-video-by-green-day-essay
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