Well, well, well. It has come to this. After a month and a few weeks, I have reached the end of the ‘E’ section of My iPod. It has been good fun. I hope I have encouraged you to listen to some of the songs I hear on a regular basis, even if I don’t use any technical language or various adjectives in any of my posts. I write with feeling, you know, so who needs those things?
And so to end it is “Extraordinary Girl”, a track from Green Day’s album “American Idiot” which will have existed on this planet for ten years this coming September. It’s not their best one, but I would say that it is definitely the band’s last great album. “21st Century Breakdown” was ehhhhh…. (some songs from it are cool, but as a whole it’s not brilliant) and the “Uno,Dos,Tre!” trilogy….. not a big fan, I’ll leave it at that.
So anyone who owns “American Idiot” will know that it’s a rock opera and there’s a whole story narrated throughout the tracks. Anyone who doesn’t can look it up for themselves because I can’t be bothered to go through it all now :D.
What I will tell you is that “Extraordinary Girl” comes at the point where the main character has found love in “Whatsername”, the female character in the story, and the track takes on an omniscient narration on how both characters are feeling at this point. It is not going too well, and (spoilers) by the next track the relationship is over. Very sad. I think you have to listen to the album to feel the emotion, ’cause I know I sound like I don’t care at all.
That’s the song story-wise. Musically, it’s very nice to listen to. It begins with some sort of Middle Eastern sounding tribal percussion which quietly gets the ball rolling for 40 seconds until Tré smacks the snare drum and the track properly starts. Billie Joe throws in some alveolar trills here and there, and that along with the high guitar riff that plays during the introduction and breaks makes the song sound a bit Spanish sometimes. With relaxing, simple chord progressions and a steady pace to it “Extraordinary Girl” is a track to chill out to after “She’s a Rebel” and also something to get you eased up before the roller-coaster “Letterbomb”. Real sweet one.
AND THAT’S IT. The E’s are finished. Probably won’t be hearing from me for a while. I will try and think of something to put on here. You know I hate to leave you, but I’ll be back again.