Warning (Green Day Album) - Music and Lyrics

Music and Lyrics

With Warning, the band experimented with more acoustic guitars, and strove for a "not sappy acoustic... more aggressive, percussive acoustic" sound. Cool and bassist Mike Dirnt also emphasized "deeper" grooves on the record. The title track, a "densely produced blast of layered vocals strummed acoustic guitars", features a "circling bass riff" similar to that of "Picture Book" by The Kinks. "Waiting", which has been categorized as a "retro-pop lament", is based on the riff from Petula Clark's 1964 song "Downtown". Its melody has also been compared to The Mamas & the Papas and the hook to Kiss. "Misery" is set in waltz time and Ken Tucker of Entertainment Weekly felt that the song is "probably Billie Joe's idea of a Brecht-Weill pop operetta." It features "mariachi brass" instrumentation, as well as strings, accordions, and acoustic guitar. The song's five-minute length has been called "an epic by Green Day standards". The use of a harmonica on "Hold On" has been compared to The Beatles' "Love Me Do". "Macy's Day Parade" contains elements of both folk and pop music.

The album features more positive and uplifting lyrics in comparison with Green Day's earlier work. Cool noted that, "It's got the sarcasm, it's got the snottiness, but it's got a little light at the end of the tunnel." Warning also contains more explicitly political themes, as exemplified by tracks such as "Minority". This was inspired by Armstrong's fear that presidential nominee Al Gore was going to lose the 2000 U.S. presidential election and that "someone really conservative" would take office. He recalled, "We've always tried to keep an ear to the ground and keep our eyes open to what's going on...that's one reason why I was really taking my time writing songs to really . Instead of just writing an overly knee-jerk reaction." According to Sal Cinquemani of Slant Magazine, the lyrics of "Minority" serve as "a reminder of the youthful mentality of Green Day's early work". "Misery" tells various stories in its verses, all of which end unhappily. The first verse centers on a girl named Virginia who was a "lot lizard", a term for a prostitute who exchanges sex for money with truck drivers at interstate highway truck stops. "Blood, Sex and Booze" explores the subject of sadomasochism.