Tear Jerker / Green Day

For being a punk rock band, Green Day is no stranger to writing songs that can make you cry.

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• The heartwarming "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)" can break even the most macho of men when played at funerals.
  • In spite of the title, there is nothing ironic about the song. It is bittersweet. It describes a relationship that has had its ups and downs, and now it's time for both to move on - but it explicitly says that it was a relationship worth having!
• "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" is another one, especially when you listen to the lyrics. They sing about loneliness and feeling like you can't connect to anybody. Really hits home when one lyric goes "check my vitals signs to know I'm still alive" indicating that there's times when the person in the song feels so alone that they're in the mire of serious depression and feel practically catatonic due to their "isolation"
• "Wake Me Up When September Ends" is about Billie Joe's father, who died when he was just 10 years old. The title came about because after arriving home from his father's funeral (which was in September), Billie locked himself in his room, telling his mother to wake him when the month was over.
  • Makes it worse that fans have taken the title as a joke and poke fun at Green Day to wake up when September ends. Green Day had to tell fans to stop doing it.
  • The music video. It's about a boyfriend and girlfriend couple that has their relationship tarnished after the boyfriend enlists in the army for the Iraq War, breaking his vow to never leave his lover. Once the girlfriend finds out, she is reduced to hysteric tears, and her boyfriend gives her an emotional I Did What I Had to Do rationalization. Of course, the boyfriend dies at war.
    "I DID THIS FOR US!"
  • If you're one of the people that think that this song is either about 9/11 or Hurricane Katrina, it's sad in its own right.
  • In one live performance of the song, Billie actually started crying and spent most of the performance singing with his eyes shut or near-shut. Tré even looked visibly concerned for him.
• Then there is the American Idiot outro, "Whatsername".
  • Taken into ultra-fucking-Tear Jerker in the Broadway version.
  • Even more so if you watch the video of the band recording it: since they recorded the album sequentially, "Whatsername" was the last song to be recorded. As Tre records his part, you can see Billie Joe break down in tears, as the recording process was very emotional and he was sad for it to be over. Also, at the time, Green Day's career was in a weird place, and if American Idiot flopped, it might've spelled the end of the group. Fortunately, that was far from the case!
• "Before the Lobotomy".
• "Give Me Novacaine". Just the premise of feeling so hopeless that actually feeling nothing at all seems like the better option, combined with how much purer Billie Joe's voice sounds on the track makes it one of the most moving songs on the album.
• Anyone who has really listened to the 21st Century Breakdown opener "Song of the Century" by itself should have to compose themselves at the mention of the title.
• Their cover of "The Saints Are Coming" with U2.
• "Homecoming" can also trigger the tears.
• In the right state of mind, "21 Guns" has this effect. It is a song about PTSD, after all.
  • The Broadway version of the song makes it even more of a Tear Jerker with Rebecca Naomi Jones's heartrending performance as well as Playing The Heartstrings along with a much more gentle guitar track.
• "Macy's Day Parade" is a song that can make some people cry, no matter how many times they listen to it.
• "See the Light," the final track of 21st Century Breakdown.
• "Brutal Love", "Amy" and "The Forgotten".
  • "Drama Queen" will make a listener feel dejected, with its downlow sound and Billie Joe's saddened vocals.
  • "X-Kid". This song was written in response to the suicide of a close friend that Billie Joe grew up with. He (Billie) was able to push through the struggles that came with growing older, while his friend was not. His friend, unfortunately, found an escape in suicide.
  • "Lazy Bones." Listen to the lyrics and remember that Billie was struggling with personal problems at the time.
  "It's only in my head
  As I roll over and play dead
  I don't want to hear it anymore"
• The video for "Working Class Hero", which was made as part of an Amnesty International campaign to help the people of Darfur.
• "Walking Alone" is a very evocative song that really encapsulates the feeling of self-regret and isolation.
• In an episode of Nurse Jackie, Billie Joe plays a Pickup of Jackie, who dies of a drug overdose. Although, this could be more considered as Harsher in Hindsight.
• From Revolution Radio: "Still Breathing," a song about Billie's sobriety; "Outlaws," which is a reflective song based on the early days of the band and "Ordinary World," which is based on the film of the same name, but is a heartwarming ballad about two lovers who don't have much except for each other.

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