Appears on: Dookie [1994], When I Come Around [1995], Bowling Bowling Bowling Parking Parking [1996], Waiting [2001], International Superhits! [2001], Bullet In A Bible [2005]
Music by: Green Day
Lyrics by: Billie Joe Armstrong
Length: 2:14
Information
Green Day's first radio-only single.
There are five known official versions of this song in existence. The first appearing on Dookie, the second being a live track recorded on November 18 1994 at Aragon Ballroom in Chicago and appearing on the When I Come Around single, the third another live version recorded January 27, 1996 at Harumi Arena, Tokyo and appearing on Bowling Bowling Bowling Parking Parking, the fourth being a live version recorded in Japan appearing on the Waiting single and the fifth another live version recorded on June 19 2005 at Milton Keynes National Bowl and appearing on Bullet In A Bible.
Meaning
"A lot of the songs are about this girl from San Diego, who went to Cal Berkeley. Adrienne and I weren't going out at the time. We lost contact with each other for about a year. She got engaged to a guy in Minneapolis. Then I got involved with this other girl. I lived in the basement in Berkeley with all these guys from the East Bay and she lived upstairs in the apartment. We ended up having this year-long relationship. The song "She" was about her … She gave me this poem about this empowering woman, which I think is called "She." I wrote the song as an answer back to her. My now ex-girlfriend is also on the songs "Sassafras Roots" and "Chump." … [she] was moving to Ecuador to live there for the spring semester. At that point we were going to go on our tour and just keep going. So we had a hasty breakup. I never really talked to her ever again." - Billie Joe Armstrong, VH1 Ultimate Albums 1