Green Day
Dilemma

Welcome to my problems! The thing I like about Green Day’s ‘Dilemma’ is that it’s Dookie but for later problems. With themes of relapsing into drink and drugs, this track has a full-bodied sound and jumping rhythm.

There are two weeks left until the album comes out and there have been four singles to date, so we kinda know what to expect at this stage. ‘The American Dream is Killing Me’ provided a punchy anti-anthem, ‘Look Ma, No Brains’ left the gates with pace, like an old Dickies track, and ‘One Eyed Bastard’ is an electrified nod to Warning.

With ‘Dilemma’, there’s an old rock and roll chassis beneath the punked-out body of the track. It proceeds at a steady (for Green Day) and precise 121 beats a minute.

The song talks about alcohol and drug abuse, as Billie Joe explains:

Dilemma was one of those songs that was kind of easy to write because it was so personal to me. We’ve seen so many of our peers struggle with addiction and mental illness. This song is all about the pain that comes from those experiences. As the track winds down, memories start to gain some colour as Billie gets hit with the cold hard sober truth: Drunk Billie made a mess of everything.

Billie Joe Armstrong

Green Day’s fourteenth studio album, Saviours, is out on the 19th of January.

Dilemma Video

Watch Green Day – ‘Dilemma’.

Dilemma Lyrics

Welcome to my problems
It’s not an invitation
This is my dilemma
And it’s my obsession

I was sober now I’m drunk again
I’m in trouble and in love again
I don’t want to be a dead man walking
I don’t want to be a dead man walking

Welcome to my nightmare
Where dreams go to disappear
Sit around in rehab
Feeling like a lab rat

Strange days are here again
And it’s getting weirder
Here’s to all my problems
I just want to drink the poison

I was sober now I’m drunk again
I’m in trouble and in love again
I don’t want to be a dead man walking
I don’t want to be a dead man walking

I was sober now I’m drunk again
I’m in trouble and in love again
I don’t want to be a dead man walking
I don’t want to be a dead man walking

Oh, why
When I fall asleep tonight
On the wing
and prayer
Oh, why
For despair and obsession on you
You, yeah

I was sober now I’m drunk again
I’m in trouble and in love again
I don’t want to be a dead man walking
I don’t want to be a dead man walking

I was sober now I’m drunk again
I’m in trouble and in love again
I don’t want to be a dead man walking
I don’t want to be a dead man walking

Written by Fenton on 6th January 2024

Steve Fenton writes in our music, words, and culture categories. He was Editor in Chief for The Mag and covered live music for DV8 Magazine and Spill Magazine. He was often found in venues throughout the UK alongside ace-photographer, Mark Holloway. Steve is also a technical writer and programmer and writes gothic fiction. Steve studied Psychology at OSC, and Anarchy in the UK: A History of Punk from 1976-1978 at the University of Reading.

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