Chapter 16: “Welcome to Paradise” by Green Day

“Welcome to Paradise” always makes me smile when I hold it up to the narrative that is the memory of my life. I had first heard it in 1994, while in the fifth grade, after buying the cassette at The Wall. When I heard it as a kid, I always imagined the subject of the song as Tom Hank’s Big character, Josh Baskin, who cries himself to sleep in the first night of his big city apartment. I imagined a boy, scared, hearing gunshots outside his window overlooking “cracked streets” and “broken homes.” I always imagined an othered subject, but reflecting back on the track as an adult, I saw myself.