Billie Joe Armstrong on why he re-wrote “embarrassingly bad” original lyrics to Green Day’s ‘Basket Case’

nme.com:

Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong has opened up about why he re-wrote what he described as the “embarrassingly bad” original lyrics to their hit song, ‘Basket Case’.Speaking on the Song Exploder podcast, Armstrong spoke in detail about how the track came together and shared music from his initial four track demo with the original lyrics, which you can listen to below.“I had this melody in my head for a while, and I wanted to have this sort of grand song about a love story,” Armstrong recalled. “I think it was around 1993, early ’93, when the song was first written.”“I thought the song could have this intro that would be like a ballad that would blast into the full band coming in, making it like a rocker.

I did a beatbox effect with my mouth to create the drum sound.”Armstrong went on to say drugs played a part in his decision to discard the original lyrics, admitting that he was taking crystal meth when he wrote the first draft of the song.He explained: “The true confession is I was on crystal meth when I wrote the lyrics to it.

And I thought I was writing the greatest song ever…As you know, with drugs, they wear off. And then, I felt like I’d written the worst song ever.”He continued: “I thought that the lyrics were just embarrassingly bad.

I had a few songs before that I’d written on drugs, but this one was the most pitiful I felt after.”After a rethink, Armstrong eventually went back to the song. “I think I just got the courage to get into it again, trying to write the lyrics.