Song of the Week Going to Pasalacqua

[Anja]

This song was my favorite for a long time. Well, along with many others Definitely one of their best songs ever

I still can't believe they performed this with a fourth of AFI

[pau72]

awesome song of the week!! going to pasalacqua yeah..

this is my favourite part....

"I throw away my past mistakes

And contemplate my future.

That's when I say...

What the hey? "

[Nikki_Nimrod]

I would kill to hear this song live.

THIS.

This song's one of my favorites off of 1039 SOSH

[Bastard of 1967]

^I heard it was a funeral home, so in "going to Pasalacqua" he's killing himself over this girl, you know?

Maybe that's what gets me about this song -- it reminds me of some of my own high school and college-age crushes. Brings a smile to my face and breaks my heart all at the same time. And if indeed Pasalaqua was a funeral home, that throws another of Billie Joe's trademark sarcastic glosses over the whole thing.

The amazingness of this man's lyrical talent blows my mind more & more each day. I love when I find out his seemingly simple lyrics have such crazy thought behind them

^^ This. That's the thing that I really love about the SOTW threads here....we peel layers and layers off many of the songs, and we find out things about them that we might never have picked up otherwise.

[theeulogy]

This song reminds me one person

Love it

[Bastard of 1967]

I think it contains the GD-germ that will explode int he future...

^^ This, if I'm understanding you correctly anyway.

I find that when you listen to some of their vintage songs on 1039/Smooth and Kerplunk, you do indeed hear (in pieces) elements of the brilliance that eventually exploded on AI and 21CB. I don't personally like the way these two albums were mixed, but then you have to remember that they were done 20+ years ago, that when 1039 was recorded they hadn't even brought Tre on board yet, and that both of these albums were cut LONG before the band was introduced to Chris Lord-Alge (or Rob Cavallo for that matter). But buried in them you find the beginnings of Billie's gift for songwriting, the early development of his vocals, the complexity of the guitar work (it's as if Billie's guitar and Mike's bass are learning how to french-kiss each other ...yeah, I know, EWWWWW! but you get the point), and the vocal harmonies that Mike and Billie have since become great at... I guess genius even in its infancy is still genius.

[Katarina.]

Like, WTF? It's Thursday, and I just noticed Going to Pasalacqua is the song of the week! Lol.

I love this song, it one of my favorites <3

[J'net]

^^ This, if I'm understanding you correctly anyway.

I find that when you listen to some of their vintage songs on 1039/Smooth and Kerplunk, you do indeed hear (in pieces) elements of the brilliance that eventually exploded on AI and 21CB. I don't personally like the way these two albums were mixed, but then you have to remember that they were done 20+ years ago, that when 1039 was recorded they hadn't even brought Tre on board yet, and that both of these albums were cut LONG before the band was introduced to Chris Lord-Alge (or Rob Cavallo for that matter). But buried in them you find the beginnings of Billie's gift for songwriting, the early development of his vocals, the complexity of the guitar work (it's as if Billie's guitar and Mike's bass are learning how to french-kiss each other ...yeah, I know, EWWWWW! but you get the point), and the vocal harmonies that Mike and Billie have since become great at... I guess genius even in its infancy is still genius.

I love the discussion we're having this week. It's been incredibly thought-provoking. Thanks everyone for sharing all your ideas .

[pasalaska]

This is my absolute favourite GD song. Words cannot describe how much I love this song.

For the 3 shows I went to in the last Aussie tour, I was in the front Mike corner, and I held up my 'Take Me To Pasalacqua' sign - in Perth and the 1st Melbourne show Mike saw it and said 'ask Billie! ask him!' and they didnt play it. Then on the 2nd Melboune show, after Welcome to Paradise, Billie started playing these slightly distorded chords and I can remember thinking "no fucking way..." I looked at Mike, and he pointed at me. my mind went blank. then Billie hit that one chord and went "here we go again..."

I burst into tears and I was shaking. I remember my lovely GDCers Sarah and Belinda on either side of me hugging me, and Leisha, who was next to Sarah, reaching over to me and grabbing my hand.

Billie and Mike grinned down at me a few times during the song - I was screaming the words back at them with tears pouring down my face. I was in complete awe and shock.

I love everything about this song, but I think what really makes it special to me is the fact that it's the first GD song that actually sounds like a GD song... if that makes sense. The rest of the 1039 songs, in my opinion, all sound pretty similar, but Pasalacqua just stands out - it's so much more complex. It really shows that GD werent just another average pop-punk band. Billie's ability as a songwriter just shines through this song.

Plus, I love the lyrics. They're so sweet - they just make me go 'aww'.

"Just you and I together hand-in-hand we'll run away" < my favourite line

Every time I hear this song I fall a little more in love with this band

[Guest]

It never fails to make me laugh when it goes "What the hey"

@The_Waiting_Unknown That's really sweet- I'm jealous

[Tomcat20]

This is my absolute favourite GD song. Words cannot describe how much I love this song.

For the 3 shows I went to in the last Aussie tour, I was in the front Mike corner, and I held up my 'Take Me To Pasalacqua' sign - in Perth and the 1st Melbourne show Mike saw it and said 'ask Billie! ask him!' and they didnt play it. Then on the 2nd Melboune show, after Welcome to Paradise, Billie started playing these slightly distorded chords and I can remember thinking "no fucking way..." I looked at Mike, and he pointed at me. my mind went blank. then Billie hit that one chord and went "here we go again..."

I burst into tears and I was shaking. I remember my lovely GDCers Sarah and Belinda on either side of me hugging me, and Leisha, who was next to Sarah, reaching over to me and grabbing my hand.

Billie and Mike grinned down at me a few times during the song - I was screaming the words back at them with tears pouring down my face. I was in complete awe and shock.

I love everything about this song, but I think what really makes it special to me is the fact that it's the first GD song that actually sounds like a GD song... if that makes sense. The rest of the 1039 songs, in my opinion, all sound pretty similar, but Pasalacqua just stands out - it's so much more complex. It really shows that GD werent just another average pop-punk band. Billie's ability as a songwriter just shines through this song.

Plus, I love the lyrics. They're so sweet - they just make me go 'aww'.

"Just you and I together hand-in-hand we'll run away" < my favourite line

Every time I hear this song I fall a little more in love with this band

Nice story. I really hope they play it this summer since it has been my favourite Green Day song, too. I'm so addicted <3

[Black Wolf]

This is my favorite song of 1,039/SOSH, I can see I'm not alone

Really hope they'll play it in London next summer.

[minorty13]

It never fails to make me laugh when it goes "What the hey"

Haha I know when I first heard it I was like "there's no way that's what he's sayin" but whatdya know! It reminds of the Disney channel or somethin cause they're not allowed to say heck or hell(obviously not hell) so all the cheese-ball mini actor/esses say "what the hey!"

[-Billiejoezee-]

This song means soooo much for me. The first time I heared it like after the first verse, I fell inlove with it. It's one of my favorites and I always remember How much i wanted to hear it live.

And I got to hear it live.

I requested it at the free nokia gig in LA and he actually played it. It was the best.

@ J'net: He gave me that look too.

But it was more of a "OMG Wtf??" Look. He was like trying not to laugh.

Cause Like I was singing it and during the " you and I together,Hand in hand we run away" part I kinda did this pointing thing like at him then at myself and he laughed. I think he was amused with me knowing and singing (well screaming) the whole song. He might have noticed that I was under 16.

and since not alot of people knew the lyrics, only us from GDC that went lol.

[packers182]

One of my all-time favorite songs. I was so happy when they played it in San Jose and in Sacramento when they played it as a 3rd encore after Time Of Your Life, which is a moment I will never forget.

[_all_is_well_]

I dont have a favortie GD song really, but i almost NEVER skip this one on my ipod haha.

[minorityxdisturbed]

I fucking love that song, it's great.

[Kategrint]

This song is so awesome .

i wish they played this on portugal : /

one day i will listen to things live !

[Hermione]

Ooh Going To Pasa-la-la-qua

I really like how they used to start shows with this song, that lovely weeewaaaahhweeeewaaahh guitar sound at the beginning. Best opening song they've ever had imo. I'd love to see it live for myself, it's just the perfect live Green Day song.

This is my favourite live version, the amount of spit flying out of Billie's mouth is very impressive

And I LOVE seeing new versions of it live too with the extra power from Jason's guitar. So cool to see it all these years later. Such great lyrics too, "I'm in for nasty weather, but I'll take whatever you can give that comes my way" . Awesomeness.

[Juliette]

This song just makes me want to jump around and dance, and it makes me really happy even though it's not really a happy song. And any live version is better than the studio recording imo.

It's just, ahh the lyrics, the energy, the harmonies, everything. For some reason it's the song that I can remember exactly how I felt at the show I went to. The rest of that night is a bit of a blur but maybe cause I wasn't expecting this song I remember how happy I was to hear it

[Daughter.of.Rage.and.Love]

^ ^ Awesome video, I'd never seen it before. Love it when the mic stopped working.

[J'net]

Ooh Going To Pasa-la-la-qua

I really like how they used to start shows with this song, that lovely weeewaaaahhweeeewaaahh guitar sound at the beginning. Best opening song they've ever had imo. I'd love to see it live for myself, it's just the perfect live Green Day song.

This is my favourite live version, the amount of spit flying out of Billie's mouth is very impressive

A22CV6Zu2IM

And I LOVE seeing new versions of it live too with the extra power from Jason's guitar. So cool to see it all these years later. Such great lyrics too, "I'm in for nasty weather, but I'll take whatever you can give that comes my way" . Awesomeness.

I love this one, Hermione! Thanks for sharing it. It was funny to suddenly just hear Mike singing harmony when Billie's mic stopped working. Great though, the way he just took it in his stride and kept on going. I also loved seeing people in the audience singing along ... all those years ago .

[PasalacquaBomb]

This video rocks. Is there more of this concert? cuz it's really good quality too (;

[Hermione]

I love this one, Hermione! Thanks for sharing it. It was funny to suddenly just hear Mike singing harmony when Billie's mic stopped working. Great though, the way he just took it in his stride and kept on going. I also loved seeing people in the audience singing along ... all those years ago .

Yeah I love getting to hear Mike sing so clearly on there even if it's just the harmony, nice little treat.

[Kayfabe]

Besides At The Library, this song is the best on 1039SOSH