Frenzied and fun, full of pugnacious pop and lilting lyrics, Green Day’s “Saviors” is perfectly titled.
It’s January 19th and we have the album of 2024. I could listen to this over and over, and I will.
This is my thank you note to Green Day. I didn’t think I’d ever like a new album again in my lifetime. But this is it. There are real rockers here, with instrumental breaks, but set at the speed of New Wave circa 1980. And there are ballads, too. “Father to a Son” is remarkably poignant.
I’m listening now to “Suzie Chapstick.” The title is interesting because it;s a throw back title, like “Bobby Sox,” “Corvette Summer,” and “1981.”
Also, get out the lyric sheet. Green Day’s best album, “American Idiot,” was turned into a hit Broadway musical. The same could be done here, easily, except that it’s a short short album at 46 tight minutes. “The American Dream is Killing Me” and “Strange Days Are Here to Stay” are just the beginning of Billie Jo Armstrong’s trenchant observations about the sorry state of our lives thanks to Donald Trump.
Rock lives! Wake up, Dookie!
FANCY SAUCE
Take me to the inn
Called the loony bin
Somewhere I can rest my head
And take it on the chin
Flowers all in bloom
In my rubber room
Scratching at the wallpaper
In my solitude
[Chorus]
Go go
Falling like a yo-yo
Paradise for locos
Medicate my sorrow
I’m not crazy
You’re the one that’s crazy
Everybody’s crazy
Getting stoned and lazy
As we all die young someday
We all die young someday
We all die young and watch it slip away
We all die young someday
[Verse 2]
Howling at the moon
In the afternoon
Watch the evening news
‘Cause it’s my favorite cartoon
Gonna join a cult
Do a somersault
Everyone’s a victim
And it makes me want to puke
