Holiday song meaning

"This song is not anti-American, it's anti-war" - Armstrong.

Many famous seers have suggested a prediction that the end of the world will come after or during World War III. So, the line "Hear the sound of the falling rain, coming down like an Armageddon flame" could mean that the war Bush has started might cause unfixable damage to the world. "The shame, the ones who died without a name" is referring to everyone who's fallen victim of the political battles that the power-hungry country leaders pull us into. All the soldiers, all the victims of the terrorist attacks - they all "died without a name". Starting a war is never the right answer ("Trials by fire setting fire...").

Holiday could be considered an anti-Bush song to a certain extent. The author shows his disgust towards the power-hungry president who will destroy anything that confronts him "Pulverize the Eiffel towers who criticize your government. Bang, bang! goes the broken glass, kill all the fags that don't agree"). Another issue might be the amount of vacations the president is taking - the current state of international politics is "the dawning of the rest of our lives", and the president is always on holiday.

The song also shows different sides of the political fence - the line "Another protester has crossed the line to find the money is on the other side" is criticizing Democrats ("There's one line that sort of messes with the liberals a little, too, where it says, 'Hear the drum pounding out of time, another protester crosses the line to find the money's on the other side'" - Armstrong).

Part of the album story
Jesus breaks free and finally leaves his dead-end town. Now he's entering the City and is obviously extremely excited about it. He's on holiday, he's starting a new life. He thinks that now he's free.