This song is about estrangement and the recognition that the American Dream can let you down. The singer's hopes have been crushed, and he finds himself very much alone.
Boulevard of broken dreams follows the main character from Green Day's song "Jesus Of Suburbia." He leaves town, has one crazy first night, and now it's kind of like the hangover. He's just walking, thinking about whether it was the right decision leaving where he used to live.
"Boulevard Of Broken Dreams" is also a famous painting by Gottfried Helnwein depicting Marilyn Monroe, Humphrey Bogart, James Dean and Elvis Presley hanging out in a bar. Helnwein's painting is a parody of a painting called "Nighthawks" by Edward Hopper. In a VH1 Storytellers session, Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong said he saw the title on another Helnwein painting of James Dean from 1948. "There's an old James Dean photo where he's walking in New York and underneath it says 'Boulevard of Broken Dreams.
Lyrics
I walk a lonely road The only one that I have ever known Don't know where it goes But it's home to me and I walk alone I walk this empty street On the Boulevard of Broken Dreams Where the city sleeps And I'm the only one and I walk alone I walk alone I walk alone I walk alone I walk a My shadow's the only one that walks beside me My shallow heart's the only thing that's beating Sometimes I wish someone out there will find me 'Til then I walk alone Ah-ah, ah-ah, ah-ah, aaah-ah Ah-ah, ah-ah, ah-ah I'm walking down the line That divides me somewhere in my mind On the borderline Of the edge and where I walk alone Read between the lines Of what's fucked up and everything's alright Check my vital signs To know I'm still alive and I walk alone I walk alone I walk alone I walk alone I walk a My shadow's the only one that walks beside me My shallow heart's the only thing that's beating Sometimes I wish someone out there will find me 'Til then I walk alone Ah-ah, ah-ah, ah-ah, aaah-ah Ah-ah, ah-ah I walk alone I walk a I walk this empty street On the Boulevard of Broken Dreams Where the city sleeps And I'm the only one and I walk a My shadow's the only one that walks beside me My shallow heart's the only thing that's beating Sometimes I wish someone out there will find me 'Til then I walk alone