“Brutal Love”: Guilt, Pain and the 40-Foot Fan Girls

First I want to clarify I’m not trying to sleuth out Billie Joe’s intent or prove this song is some sort of autobiographical text. What I am analyzing is my initial response and whether the text supports it. I do rely on my knowledge of the band to interpret the text and use definitions that Billie Joe would likely be familiar with. To differentiate between Billie Joe Armstrong, the individual, and the singer of “Brutal Love”, I’ll refer to the latter as BJ2.

For me, the most critical thing in the first two verses is the use of the second person (you, your). BJ2 initially sees what I imagine to be the end of the concert (the erstwhile “Good Riddance” moment). The song begins like a lullaby: “Turn out the lights / Close your eyes” and creates this sense of security. I know many people have mentioned how Green Day has helped them through very tough times. I suspect that the first verse acknowledges this in the line “Turn up the silence, / The heartache of your life.” While at the concert, so many increasingly block out their heartache through the music and are able to “Dance forever / Under the lights.” “This Brutal Love” is the fans’ love towards the band, towards BJ2. And I think that in this verse, “This Brutal Love” is the fans personified – they are the physical representation of their adoration. The brutal part is a foreshadowing of what is to come – both for the fans unwise enough to seek more substantial interaction beyond this and for BJ2 himself.

While the second person construction remains, BJ2’s tender lullaby tone from the previous verse changes to one of cruelty, manifest by: “you want it”, “you’re begging for it”, “you can’t have it / Even if you tried.” It’s even more blatant by the use of the word “clutches” (implying grasping or holding tightly, sinister, perhaps) followed by the appositive “in my hands” of “This Brutal Love”. Because the primary pronoun has switched from “you” (second person) to “my” (first person), “This Brutal Love” is no longer the personification of the fans; rather it’s the personification of BJ2 himself. And he is brutal – both to those he’s with and to himself. The foreshadowing at the end of the first verse has begun to come to fruition.

“Old toys” suggests to me previous entanglements, easily picked up and tossed away repeatedly, while “this plastic heart” implies falseness of his emotion towards these “old toys.” He specifies that “Loners and fools” are those “old toys”; however, the next line, that they are “tearing [him] apart,” clearly indicates that he’s not unaffected by these exploits, suggesting guilt in his flesh and blood heart (compared to the plastic one he uses with his “toys”). He recognizes that such encounters are not in his best interest (“Here comes trouble / the uninvited”) and identifies the interaction as “This Brutal Love.”

Just as the “plastic heart” implies there’s a real heart beating and bleeding, the next verse reinforces BJ2’s fear – “Danger / Not quite at home” – he’s vulnerable to the “Brutal Love” of the “old toys,” the “Loners and fools” and “the uninvited” because, like an addict, he ironically tries to block out what he’s done by repeating his mistake. The “eyes of temptation” (whose? His? Hers?), “the flesh and my bones” hearken back to his being torn apart in the previous verse. He then seems to begin a slapdash confession: “I’m a disaster.” However, it’s to the wrong person: “Hello Stranger.” This, I believe, directly relates to the song that Billie Joe, the artist, used as a basis for “Brutal Love” – Sam Cooke’s “Bring it on Home to Me.” It’s also a confessional of sorts, in which the singer begs his love to return home after he mocks her pain (though he, too, fails to grasp fully his failure). I believe Billie Joe borrowed more than just the music from Sam Cooke’s song: “Bring it on Home to Me” could very well be the sequel to “Brutal Love” in some respects. In both cases the confessional is largely worthless: in Brutal Love, it’s to a person (or people) that doesn’t matter (“Hello Stranger,” “The uninvited,” “Drop-dead hideous”); in “Bring it on Home to Me,” it’s ill-conceived. The location in the song of his assertion that she “stayed out at night” presupposes that he did so first and far more often than she ever did; however, he still implicitly blames her (“But I forgive you”) even as he tries to coerce her back to him.

“Brutal Love” departs from Sam Cooke’s song at the end with the bridge, in which BJ2 lists a number of activities that strongly suggest someone trying to blot out a guilty conscious (“Anguish and shame,” “The modern fool,” “Something for my troubled mind”). In the following bullets, all my comments are in brackets:

·         “Bitters and soda” [alcohol & possibly cocaine (slang) – Urban Dictionary]

·         “Bad sex” [unsatisfying? Isolating?]

·         “Buy me a train wreck” [extra strong pot – slang in the Bay Area – Urban Dictionary]

·         “Mad love” [passionate, angry, insane?]

·         “Kiss me I’m loaded” [euphemism for being high – attempt to avoid responsibility? Giving up implied?]

The final stanza denigrates both BJ2 and his cohort – he calls himself a “Drop-out” and her “Drop-dead hideous” (vs drop-dead gorgeous). He then questions, “How low [pathetic? Tragic?] is this Brutal Love,” suggesting that this Brutal Love is not necessarily the “Bad sex” or “Mad love” with drop-dead hideous, but again a personification of himself. How low will he stoop? And to what ends must he go to do the right amount of penance? Because the bitters, soda, and train wrecks are not providing the absolution he seems to seek.

I find it interesting and somehow apropos that the band is now closing their shows with this song. “Good Riddance” was always an ironically misused song that Green Day just co-opted the misuse to their own ends. “Brutal Love,” at least the very first verse, is in some ways a love song to the fans. Billie Joe sings it very tenderly and I become a 17-year-old again and swoon. I truly do. The rest of the song, well, I just hurt with him and for him, whether it’s biographical or not. The song just seems to take a lot out of him. It’s a critical reminder that as close as that fabulous three/foursome is to us, they are and very much need to be separate from us.

Regardless, I hope they keep it as the closer. I love it.

Brutal Love -- Sam Cooke, Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt, Tre Cool, Jason White

Turn out the lights [fans/end of concert -- what BJ2 sees]

Close your eyes

Turn up the silence, [the unsaid]

The heartache of your life [exposed, raw, emotional truth]

Dance forever

Under the lights [reality under a microscope is painful]

This Brutal Love [Fans personified]

Oh how you want it [missing antecedent]

You’re begging for it

But you can’t have it,

Even if you tried

It’s in the clutches [initially depersonified]

In my hands of, [now controlling, briefly]

This Brutal Love [now BJ2 personified]

Old toys [prior romantic entanglements . . .]

This plastic heart [. . . that were meaningless to him]

Loners and fools, [the types of entanglements (ie throw aways)]

Are tearing me apart [are destroying him – why? Guilt. His Brutal Love belongs to someone else (see “bring it on home”)]

Here comes trouble

The uninvited [he doesn’t look for them, but . . . doesn’t say no]

This Brutal Love [Fans personified – also can be an appositive of the uninvited.]

Danger, [list of causes: away from home: sees aggressive opportunity presented. He’s human.]

Not quite at home

The eyes of temptation

The flesh and my bones

Hello stranger

I’m a disaster [confession to stranger who won’t care and therefore won’t judge and doesn’t matter (irony)]

This Brutal Love [BJ2 personified]

Bad luck

Bitters and soda [alcohol & possibly cocaine (slang)?]

Anguish and shame

The modern fool

Bad sex [unsatisfying? Isolating?]

Buy me a train wreck [extra strong pot – slang in bay area]

Something for my troubled mind [trying to forget? Block? Guilt?]

Bad luck

Bitters and soda

Anguish and shame

The modern fool

Mad love [angry, passionate, insane?]

Kiss me I’m loaded [high – not responsible? Suggests giving up]

Something for my troubled mind [absolution by rejecting self-worth]

Drop out [reference to HS status?]

Drop-dead hideous [vs drop-dead gorgeous – how these conquests appear to him (compared to another implied by “Bring it on home.”) Wishes they were gone (drop dead) – obliterated.]

How low is this Brutal Love [pathetic? Disgusting? BJ2 personified]

This Brutal Love [BJ2 personified]

Bring It On Home To Me – Sam Cooke

If you ever change your mind
About leaving, leaving me behind 
Oh-oh, bring it to me 
Bring your sweet loving 
Bring it on home to me, 
yeah (yeah) yeah (yeah) yeah (yeah)

I know I laughed when you left 
But now I know I only hurt myself 
Oh-oh, bring it to me 
Bring your sweet loving 
Bring it on home to me, 
yeah (yeah) yeah (yeah) yeah (yeah)

I'll give you jewellery and money, too 
That ain't all, that ain't all I'll do for you 
Oh, if you bring it to me 
Bring your sweet loving 
Bring it on home to me, 
yeah (yeah) yeah (yeah) yeah (yeah)

You know I'll always be your slave 
'Til I'm buried, buried in my grave 
Oh honey, bring it to me 
Bring your sweet loving 
Bring it on home to me, 
yeah (yeah) yeah (yeah) yeah (yeah)

One more thing I tried to treat you right 
But you stayed out, stayed out at night 
But I forgive you, bring it to me 
Bring your sweet loving 
Bring it on home to me, 
yeah (yeah) yeah (yeah) yeah (yeah) Yeah (yeah) yeah (yeah)...