My version of Cigarettes and Valentines (song choice and sequencing, playlist available)

[FugitiveImage]

Heads-up: this post will be very long but marks my return to the online world of Green Day fandom. I finally decided to try my hand at Cigarettes and Valentines. I’ve read many posts here and elsewhere in preparation that try to identify all the songs that may have come from those sessions, but what I’m trying to do with this exercise is to curate the strongest album possible out of what survived, paying close attention to song sequencing.

If you want the playlist only, skip to the end. 

My credentials and biases: longterm Green Day fan (20+ years), original member and prolific poster on the GD message board and Greenerton’s, favorite album Warning, favorite song "Church on Sunday." So I went in a direction that the ‘real’ C&V (if it ever existed) probably didn’t, focusing on love songs with lots of drama – almost embedding a mini-concept album about a stormy period in a couple’s relationship in the tracklist. Apparently C&V was intended to be a kind of ‘back to basics’ album (similar to the subsequent trilogy) with more fast and hard songs, but I’ve produced something closer to a mix of Warning, Nimrod, and the 2000-02 pop-punk and garage rock revival sounds (Blink-182 + The Hives). It’s where I think they would have landed without American Idiot, and the more I listen to the final product the more coherent it seems. I think it would have been a pretty great album on par with its two predecessors.

Some basic parameters:

I’m assuming American Idiot doesn’t (and possibly won’t) exist, but keep in mind the historical context of the year 2003. This would be the first GD album after the 2000 election and 9/11, so political (or semi-political) tracks like “Favorite Son,” “Wake Me Up When September Ends,” and “Governator” would fit with the mood of the time – even if we went further and assumed that the US never invaded Iraq (as I sometimes fantasize).

I’m using only studio tracks already available (this means no “Olivia” etc.), with two exceptions: the best AI-mixed fake studio version of “Cigarettes and Valentines” (the song) I could find (which is truly excellent – no way around it, has to be on the album by virtue of being the title track), and the acoustic version of “Wake Me Up…” from Billie Joe’s audiobook (couldn’t find an original demo and the American Idiot version is overproduced for my purposes). If a version of “Letterbomb” without the Jesus of Suburbia stuff existed (and in a production style closer to the rest of the album), I would have definitely included it, but sadly it has to go. There is a brief mention of Jimmy in “Shoplifter” but it’s pretty minor and doesn’t substantially change the song (as I suspect was the case with the “Clusterbomb” to “Letterbomb” transition).

When selecting songs, I tried to take the middle road between the absolutely confirmed, the maybe/probables, and some speculative outliers. Ultimately my choices were guided by personal preference and what sounded good. A couple of examples: “Walk Away” may or may not be the same track, but it has that Warning-like sound and fits perfectly in the middle of the album. “End of the World” aka “Roshambo” may have been a Network original that had nothing to do with C&V, but it sounds great as a second-to-last track with the apocalyptic theme. As a stylistic experiment with new wave, it would echo the diverse sounds on Nimrod and Warning (“Misery” anyone?!).

Without further ado, here is the tracklist followed by a discussion of sequencing:

1. Too Much Too Soon (3:30)

2. Favorite Son (2:13)

3. Shoplifter (1:50)

4. Cigarettes and Valentines (2:40)

5. Hearts Collide (2:40)

6. Broadway (3:31)

7. Walk Away (3:46)

8. Horseshoes and Handgrenades (3:14)

9. The Pedestrian (2:17)

10. Lights Out (2:17)

11. When It’s Time (3:24)

12. End of the World (2:40) – this is Roshambo retitled (have to assume)

13. Wake Me Up When September Ends (9:19) – with Governator as hidden track after 5 min. of silence (I actually burned this on a CD)

Total length: 43:32 (about the same as Warning with one – well, two – extra tracks)

I begin with three American Idiot B-sides one after another, which feels weird but makes sense. “Too Much Too Soon” is radio-friendly and would make for a great first single. It’s less serious than what follows but sort of foreshadows it (similar to “Nice Guys Finish Last”). I debated whether or not to leave out “Favorite Son” but it would have appealed to fans at the time and eased them in with the pop-punk sound. “Shoplifter” didn’t fit anywhere else, but it connects back to the Warning sound, fits with the ‘diss track’ mini-theme, and is over relatively quickly. Even if these songs stand apart from what follows, there is precedent for offbeat tracks like “Blood, Sex, and Booze” and “The Grouch” being frontloaded.

With “Cigarettes and Valentines” we get into the romance concept. The AI version I picked starts with a lovely slow buildup (signaling that we’re shifting gears) but the production still has that pop-punk sensibility so it acts as a perfect transition. “Hearts Collide” is about the start of the night and the exuberance of throwing yourself into love. “Broadway” takes us into darker territory, with the character roaming the streets while suffering (I originally had “The Pedestrian” here but the staccato riffs of “Broadway” stand out more compared to what we’ve heard up to this point). “Walk Away” ends this section on a more reflective note, the first slow song we’ve heard but the lyrics are uncertain – this is not yet a post-break-up song (more like the end of a fight). For comparison, at this point on Warning we were on “Deadbeat Holiday.”

Then a sharp break into “Horseshoes and Handgrenades” to pick up the pace. This is an angry and fast song that restarts the cycle of fights and reconciliations. It would make a fantastic opener with the intro riff, but it doesn’t really sound like the rest of the album so would be misleading in that position. On a vinyl pressing (not likely in 2003) it would start side 2. Then into “The Pedestrian,” which has a happier sound but is quite lyrically bitter. Then “Lights Out,” which is technically more about the start of the night but also works as the lowest point of despair.

Finally, we get to acceptance and hope with “When It’s Time,” which is similar to “Waiting” following “Jackass” on Warning. It’s a beautiful song that starts acoustic but builds up to a powerful crescendo and includes some nice solo work – it would be too on-the-nose as a final track (you can’t end with what is essentially a power ballad). “End of the World” (aka Roshambo) serves as a pseudo-closer with the awareness of bleak things (apocalypse) perfectly balanced with the redemptive power of love (“All I really believe in is you”). Finally, the acoustic version of “Wake Me Up” is mostly a coda but would be a clear standout track that takes us out of the romance theme and to other themes (family, politics, and the intensely private self – why it has to be just Billie and the guitar). Comparisons with “Good Riddance” and hot takes about 9/11 at the time (especially without Iraq) would have been guaranteed and generated buzz for the album.

“Governator” doesn’t fit anywhere but would be a perfect hidden track (the precedent here is obviously “All by Myself”) that would have seemed very funny in October 2003 and would have showcased Mike Dirnt’s vocals for basically the first time.

TLDR? Complete YouTube playlist here – please give it a listen start to finish:

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtYupMj81pQ2gS_YTMQW8t9WQXKnD_p7_&feature=shared

(only platform where all these versions are available)

Comments and critiques welcome! 

[Eric]

Cigarettes and Valentines threads suck.

[JardyOfSuburbia]

I applaud your dedication to this!

[fatherotti]

Roshambo is absolutely End of the World. I'll fight people on this haha. Lyrically it matches up and length wise as well. I hope one day we get to hear the original version without the weird sound fx and zombie noises. Personally I think that was probably the last track on C&Vs. It just has that end of the album feel to it. 🥰  

[Jon Benjamin]

12 hours ago, fatherotti said:

Roshambo is absolutely End of the World. I'll fight people on this haha. Lyrically it matches up and length wise as well. I hope one day we get to hear the original version without the weird sound fx and zombie noises. Personally I think that was probably the last track on C&Vs. It just has that end of the album feel to it. 🥰  

I’d say that was fair if the infamous b sides cd wasn’t mastered after MM2020 was already released 

[fatherotti]

On 10/28/2023 at 7:36 AM, Jon Benjamin said:

I’d say that was fair if the infamous b sides cd wasn’t mastered after MM2020 was already released 

Except that most of those songs were already mastered before that b side cd existed. That b side cd was a reference cdr put together at the time in 2004, using music that was already laying around from the ciggies sessions. When it's a reference cd for non production, for internal use only, no further mastering needs to be done lol. The music was simply slapped on there by an engineer at Warner. Especially since it was never meant for the public to listen to. The label just needed it to see which b sides they were going to release alongside American Idiot. Obviously they ended up going with songs that no one had ever heard before. Instead of releasing End of the World in its original form and people going wait this is a Network song too and it just came out last year. 😂 

[Jon Benjamin]

12 hours ago, fatherotti said:

Except that most of those songs were already mastered before that b side cd existed. That b side cd was a reference cdr put together at the time in 2004, using music that was already laying around from the ciggies sessions. When it's a reference cd for non production, for internal use only, no further mastering needs to be done lol. The music was simply slapped on there by an engineer at Warner. Especially since it was never meant for the public to listen to. The label just needed it to see which b sides they were going to release alongside American Idiot. Obviously they ended up going with songs that no one had ever heard before. Instead of releasing End of the World in its original form and people going wait this is a Network song too and it just came out last year. 😂 

I misremembered, I thought it said mastered by Ted Jensen with an 04 date but it says engineered by Ted Jensen with a date under the reference cd text 

[Banjodewulf]

What pisses me off is with that leak from John it shows we pretty much have 98% of the album. The only things we are really missing are "Lately" and the cover of "19th Nervous Breakdown". With the cover song I remember reading in interviews that back when they were trying to do the cover during the nimrod sessions, Billie's voice kept cracking at the "Here it comes!" parts, i'm guessing that he just kept fucking up the pitch or something. It just sucks how were so damn close to having the actual album in our hands, yet so far away from having those last two songs!

Edited November 4, 2023 by Banjodewulf