Greenday
21st Century Breakdown
21st Century Breakdown
2009 Reprise Records
Submitted by: paramore_fans@yahoo.com

Key: C# then G#

Tuning: Standard EADGBe

Chords used:
C# -   x46664
G# -   466544
F# -   244322
Bbm -  x13321
G#/C - x365xx


Intro: 

Piano:
C#-- x4,
G#-F# x8


Verse 1:
C#                      G#        F#
  Born into Nixon I was raised in hell
C#                          G#        F#
  A welfare child where the teamsters dwelled
C#                          G#           F#
  The last one born and the first one to run
C#                         G#     F#
  My town was blind from refinery sun


Refrain:
Bbm                F#
  My generation is zero
Bbm                    F#            G#
  I never made it as a working class hero


Chorus 1:
C#   G#      F#
21st century breakdown
   C#
I once was lost 
    G#    F#
but never was found
  C#
I think I'm losing 
G#             F#
what's left of my mind
       C#   G#      F#
to the 20th century deadline


Interlude: C#--G#-F#- x2


Verse 2:
C#              G#         F#
  I was made of poison and blood
C#               G#       F#
  Combination is what I understood
C#                   G#     F#
  From Mexico to the Berlin Wall
C#                        G#      F#
  Homeland security could kill us all


(Repeat Refrain and Chorus 1)


Interlude: G#-- x4


Bridge:
G#                                  C#
We are the cries of the class of '13
G#                          C#
Born in the year of humility
G#                                 C#
we are the desperate in the decline
G#                           C#--- x4
Raised by the bastards of 1969


Verse 3
C#
My name is 'No one' 
     F#   G#   C#
your long lost son
C#                   G#
Born on the 4th of July
C#
Raised in the barnyards
   F# G#       C#
of he-roes and cons
C#                   G#
Left me for dead or alive


Verse 4:
C#
There is a war that's 
  F#   G# C#
inside my head
     C#
That questions the 
            G#
results and lies
    C#
I'm breaking my back 
         F#     G#  C#
till I'm better off dead
       C#
We are not payed 
             G#
enough to survive


Interlude: C#--F#- x4


Verse 5:
C#
I am an engine
  F#     G# C#
a worker a  pawn
   C#                 G#
My debt to the status quo
     C#
The scars on my hands 
      F#    G#    C#
and a means to an end
     C#                 G#
It's all that I have to show


Verse 6:
    C#                  F# G# C#
I'm taking a loan on my sa-ni-ty
        C#               G#
For the redemption of my soul
     C#                    F#  G# C#
well I am exempt from this tra-ge-dy
        C#           G#
And the 21st century fall


Chorus 2:
  F#       G# C#     F#         G# C#
I praise liberty the freedom to o--bey
       F#             G#   C#
It's a song that strangles me
     F#          C#  G#  F# C# G#
Well don't cross the line


F#-C#-G# x2, G#--G#--G#


Guitar Solo: C#--G#/C--Bbm--G#--F#--A--C#


Outro:
    C#      G#/C    Bbm
Oh, dream, American dream
  G#          F#
I can't even sleep
     a               C#
from rainstorms till dawn
    C#      G#/C   Bbm
Oh, bleed, America bleed
  G#             F#
Believe what you read
     a(hold)
from heroes and cons