Enema of The State - Composition and Lyrics

Composition and Lyrics

The songs on Enema of the State are fast-paced songs regarding "adolescent aimlessness, broken hearts and general confusion over the care and feeling of girls." "Dumpweed" kicks off the record, and explores sexual frustration. The song is based around the hook "I need a girl that I can train," as in dog training. DeLonge, the song's primarily lyricist, explains the song in a 2000 tour booklet: "Girls are so much smarter than guys and can see the future as well as never forget the past. So that leaves the dog as the only thing men are smarter than." The song is a "callow complaint about girls not always doing exactly what you wish they would," and is followed by "Don't Leave Me," a song about a relationship breakups to provide irony. The guitar swell preceding the second verse is actually a digital reversal of the delaying guitar preceding it. "Aliens Exist" originates from DeLonge's interest in UFOs and conspiracy theories. "Going Away to College" was written in ten minutes by Hoppus while at home sick on Valentine's Day 1999. While watching the movie Can't Hardly Wait, Hoppus began to think about "how much it sucks when people are in love in high school" and are forced to be separated after graduation by different colleges in different cities. Since it was recorded late in production, the band had to go back to Los Angeles to record Barker's drum track.

The track segues directly into "What's My Age Again?", also penned by Hoppus. Described as the song that truly launched the album, it was originally titled "Peter Pan Complex", referencing the subject matter: one who refuses to grow up. The song went through numerous changes during recording, and the final refrain of "Please stay with me" was written on the final day of recording. "Dysentary Gary" leads off the second half of the album, and was written by DeLonge about a crush that instead chooses someone else. Left with "nothing better to do," the devastated friend chooses to mock her boyfriend. "Adam's Song," the piano-laced seventh track of the record, was written primarily based on the loneliness that Hoppus experienced during the unending days of touring the previous year. In addition, it was inspired by an article about a teenager's suicide and the note he left for his parents. When Hoppus brought the song to the band, the trio reacted positively but showed reluctance to add it to the record, believing the dark subject matter might off-put listeners. Although usually vocals would take many alternate takes to complete, Hoppus completed the vocal track for "Adam's Song" in a single take. The power pop-inspired "All the Small Things" was composed by DeLonge as both an ode to his girlfriend and one of his favorite bands, The Ramones. During the recording process of Enema of the State, DeLonge came home to find roses at the top of the stairs from his girlfriend, which inspired the line: "She left me roses by the stairs; surprises let me know she cares."

"The Party Song" was inspired by when Hoppus attended a party at San Diego State University and met some students who thought themselves to be very cool. Hoppus felt otherwise, and the song was written about "people who try to act cool." "Mutt" was written by DeLonge for his friend Benji Weatherly and his appearance in a surf video. The title of "Wendy Clear" comes from Hoppus' boat, named "Wendy," and how boaters end transmissions by letting other boaters know the channel is open for use, or "clear." Hoppus wrote the song while on tour with MxPx about having a crush on "someone that you are not supposed to like." Lastly, "Anthem," the final song on Enema of the State, is about being trapped in the suburbs, longing for freedom and the age of 21. It is based on when DeLonge was in high school and told his peers that his band would be playing at a friend's house. The party was later busted by the police and a "giant fight broke out." Summarizing the album's content, The New York Times called Enema of the State a sampling of "ecstatic, goofy numbers about teenage uselessness, with a smattering of tender introspection." Enema of the State largely revolves around age and maturity—"more specifically, their lack of it, their attitude toward their lack of it, or their eventual wide-eyed exploration of it."