East Jesus Nowhere
East Jesus Nowhere Lyrics
"Reberu rajio"
"Loss—"
"La última noche"
"Me—"
"And we will see how godless a nation we have become"
(em sseug-dnoceS) em tset t'noD
[Verse 1]
Raise your hands now to testify
Your confession will be crucified
You're a sacrificial suicide
Like a dog that's been sodomized, well
(Stand up) All the white boys
(Sit down) And the black girls
(Stand up) You're the soldiers
(Sit down) Of the new world
[Pre-Chorus]
Put your faith in a miracle
And it's nondenominational
Join the choir, we'll be singin'
In the church of wishful thinkin'
[Chorus]
A fire burns today
Of blasphemy and genocide
The sirens of decay
Will infiltrate the faith fanatics
Oh, bless me, Lord, for I have sinned
It's been a lifetime since I last confessed
I threw my crutches in the river of a shadow of doubt
And I'll be dressed up in my Sunday best
[Pre-Chorus]
Say a prayer for the family
Drop a coin for humanity
Ain't this uniform so flatterin'?
I never asked you a goddamned thing
[Chorus]
A fire burns today
Of blasphemy and genocide
The sirens of decay
Will infiltrate the faith fanatics
[Bridge]
Don't test me
Second-guess me
Protest me, you will disappear
[Pre-Chorus]
I wanna know who's allowed to breed
All the dogs who never learned to read
Missionary politicians
And the cops of the new religion
[Chorus]
A fire burns today
Of blasphemy and genocide
The sirens of decay
Will infiltrate the inside
[Outro]
Yeah
About
“East Jesus Nowhere” is the 8th track on 21st Century Breakdown, and is the first track of Act II: Charlatans and Saints.
The song was written by Billie Joe Armstrong after Mike Dirnt went to a church to see a friend’s child get baptized. Apparently, he was “disgusted by the hatred and hypocrisy there”. It bugged him for a few days so he asked Billie if he could write an anti-religious song. Billie agreed and wrote this.
Armstrong told The Sunday Times April 26, 2009 that the track was inspired by “the never-ending hypocrisy of religion, all those snake-oil-salesman types, and that subliminal thing of threatening people and ripping away their individuality.”
The title is also a reference from the 2007 film Juno, where the title’s character mom complains about Juno visiting the couple who will adopt her baby to show her ultrasound – “You could have mailed it to them. Why would you drive an hour out to East Jesus, Nowhere?”. As Billie Joe told Kevin and Bean, the track was originally supposed to be called “March of the Dogs” but then he heard Sum 41 already used the title, and seeing the movie inspired him to give another name.
Q&A
Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning
This song is just kind of a, a call-out against the hypocrisy of religion. I don’t think it’s necessarily a particular religion but just in general, there’s just a lot of hypocrisy that goes along with it. Whether you’re using it as a vendetta or you’re using it for monetary gain or whatever – people tend to abuse their faith in order to fulfill their God complex. The song is about revenge, sort of having this vendetta. Part two is sort of about gun control. But it’s like really kind of sexually driven. It’s the first time we’re really bringing in musically like a Middle Eastern influence. I feel like music is so, so tied together, like old Irish folk hymns and Mexican folk songs and like Middle Eastern songs or whatever. [It has] some kind of gypsy flavour to it – it could it be played by a mariachi band or like an Italian funeral band or something like that.
- 8.East Jesus Nowhere
- 9.Peacemaker
- 11.Murder City
- 15.The Static Age
- 16.21 Guns
- 18.See the Light
- 21.That’s All Right
