Track 11 from Revolution Radio
Released 2016
Green Day has played this song live 51 times.
"The album's most ambitious track, clocking in at nearly seven minutes, is a surging mini rock opera of sorts, melding several songs, including a reprise of opener 'Somewhere Now.' ''Forever Now' brings it full circle and honestly, it's so fun to write like that,' says Armstrong. 'You can just be that little kid in your room and feeling like a rock god.' It begins with a lyric - 'My name is Billie and I'm freaking out' - that Armstrong calls 'the most honest line I've ever written,' and ends with the refrain 'I ain't gonna stand in line no more': 'It's like a slogan for a demonstration,' says Armstrong. 'Like, I'm not going to accept the status quo or I'm not going to be manipulated. It's like, 'What do we want? Justice. When do we want it? Now.'' The song began as three unrelated pieces that Armstrong jammed together: 'It was really hard,' he says. 'But at the end, when we bring in that big chorus where everything is overlapping with each other and heading back into that riff, it was just fucking beautiful.'
'I saw this song change so many times,' adds Tre Cool. 'The cool thing is that Billie didn't force anything. He just let it happen and he kept trying different shit. And then there was this one aha moment where he was like, 'I think I got it.' And it was awesome. There were goosebumps in the room.'" (Track by Track Guide, Rolling Stone)
My name is Billie and I'm freaking out
I thought therefor I was
Well I can't really figure it out
I sit alone with my thoughts and prayers
Screaming my memories as if I was never there
Standing at the edge of the world
It's giving me the chills
Looking down the edge of the world
Lost in that tango, it's freaking me out
Burning lights and blackouts
From the edge of the world
From the edge of the world
I'm like a punk rocker on Labor Day
How the hell did I work so hard to perform this way
I've never learn to read or write so well (freaking out)
But I can play the guitar until it hurts like hell
Standing at the edge of the world
It's giving me the chills
Looking down the edge of the world
Lost in that tango, it's freaking me out
Burning lights and blackouts
From the edge of the world
From the edge of the world
If this is what you call the good life
I want a better way to die
If this what you call a good life
I want a better way to die
Oh I
Don't want to think about tomorrow
Don't want to think about the road
It doesn't matter anyway
Oh I
I want to start a revolution
I want to hear it on the radio
And put it off another day
I want a new conspiracy
And the silence of a thousand cries
So hurry up
I want a better way to die
I'm running late to somewhere now
I don't want to be
Where the future and promises
Ain't what it used to be
I never wanted to compromise
Or bargain with my soul
How did a life on the wild side ever get so full
Somewhere now
Oh I
Don't want to think about tomorrow
Don't want to think about the old
It doesn't matter anyway
Oh I
I wanna start a revolution
I wanna hear it on my radio
And put it off another day
(I ain't gonna in line no more)
Oh I
Don't want to think about tomorrow
Don't want to think about the old
It doesn't matter anyway
(I ain't gonna in line no more)
Oh I
I want to start a revolution
I want to hear my on the radio
And put it off another day
"Forever Now" has been played 51 times live: