"Holiday" is an anti-war protest song by American rock band Green Day. It was released as the third single from the group's seventh studio album, American Idiot (2004), and is also the third track. Though the song is a prelude to "Boulevard of Broken Dreams", "Holiday" was later released as a single on March 14, 2005.
The song achieved considerable popularity across the world and performed moderately well on the charts. It reached number 19 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and number one on the Hot Modern Rock Tracks and Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks charts. It debuted at number 11 in the United Kingdom and reached the top 20 in Canada, Denmark, Ireland, New Zealand, and Norway.
Background
One of two explicitly political songs on the album (the other being fellow single "American Idiot"), "Holiday" took two months to finish writing, because Armstrong continually felt his lyrics were not good enough. Aided by the encouragement of Rob Cavallo, he completed the song. "Holiday" was inspired by the music of Bob Dylan. He later characterized the song as an outspoken "fuck you" to then-President George W. Bush. Armstrong for the first time imagined how he would perform the songs he was writing, and envisioned an audience responding to his lyric "Can I get another Amen?". The song's bridge, which Armstrong hoped to be as "twisted as possible", was designed as a "politician's worst nightmare".
The chorus's refrain—"This is our lives on holiday"—was intended to reflect the average American's apathy on the issues of the day. Armstrong characterized the song as "not anti-American; it's anti-war." This sentiment has frequently been reiterated in live performances over the subsequent decades, including on the live album Bullet in a Bible.
Music video
The first half of the video takes place in a car (a 1968 Mercury Monterey convertible), where Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt and Tré Cool are partying around in Las Vegas. In the second half, they are cavorting in a bar where each of the band members portrays several different characters. Billie Joe Armstrong plays the mentioned Representative of California, two fighting clients, a punk rocker and a nerd. Tré Cool plays a drunken priest, an arrested patron, and a female prostitute. Mike Dirnt plays the barman, another punk, and a policeman. There are also scenes featuring seemingly worn-down can-can dancers. At the end of the video, the car smokes to a halt in the field that "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" begins in. Like the video for "Boulevard of Broken Dreams", this video was directed by Samuel Bayer.
The band arrived at the 2005 MTV Video Music Awards in the same car, this time "pimped out" by James Washburn, a friend of the band.
Live performances
"Holiday" has been included on the set lists of numerous Green Day concert tours, some of which played American Idiot in its entirety to promote the album. The song was included on the set list for the Revolution Radio Tour in 2016, where the songs lyrics were adjusted to protest against Donald Trump's presidential campaign. It was later included on the set list for the Hella Mega Tour, a concert tour for Green Day, Fall Out Boy, and Weezer that began in 2021. The song was later included on the set list for the Saviors Tour, alongside every other song from American Idiot.
At Super Bowl LX, Green Day performed a medley that included "Holiday". The bridge was omitted and the band refrained from playing the song's political lyrics. Armstrong had condemned the Trump administration and United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement while performing at a pre-Super Bowl concert, while dedicating "Holiday" to the city of Minneapolis amid ICE's Operation Metro Surge.
Track listings
UK 7-inch picture disc
- All live tracks were recorded on September 21, 2004, at the Irving Plaza in New York City.
Personnel
Personnel are adapted from the UK-European CD1 liner notes.
|28
|-
!scope="row"|Canada CHR/Pop Top 30 (Radio & Records)
|15
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!scope="row"|Canada Hot AC Top 30 (Radio & Records)
|13
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!scope="row"|Canada Rock Top 30 (Radio & Records)
|2
|-
|-
|-
|-
|-
|-
!scope="row"|Netherlands (Dutch Top 40 Tipparade)
|8
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|-
|-
|-
|-
|-
|-
|-
|-
|-
|-
|-
|-
!scope="row"|US Pop 100 (Billboard)
|18
|}
{|class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
|+2024–2025 weekly chart performance for "Holiday"
!Chart (2024–2025)
!Peak<br/>position
|-
|-
!scope="row"|Japan Hot Overseas (Billboard)
|20
|}
Year-end charts
{|class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
|+Year-end chart performance for "Holiday"
!Chart (2005)
!Position
|-
!scope="row"|UK Singles (OCC)
|188
|-
!scope="row"|US Billboard Hot 100
|39
|-
!scope="row"|US Adult Top 40 (Billboard)
|21
|-
!scope="row"|US Mainstream Rock Tracks (Billboard)
|14
|-
!scope="row"|US Mainstream Top 40 (Billboard)
|50
|-
!scope="row"|US Modern Rock Tracks (Billboard)
|7
|}
Certifications
Release history
{|class="wikitable plainrowheaders unsortable"
|+Release dates and formats for "Holiday"
!scope="col"|Region
!scope="col"|Date
!scope="col"|Format(s)
!scope="col"|Label(s)
!scope="col"|
|-
!scope="row" rowspan="2"|United Kingdom
|rowspan="2"|March 14, 2005
|CD
|rowspan="4"|Reprise
|align="center"|
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|Digital download
|align="center"|
|-
!scope="row"|Australia
|March 28, 2005
|CD
|align="center"|
|-
!scope="row"|United States
|May 16, 2005
|Contemporary hit radio
|align="center"|
|}
See also
- List of anti-war songs