Pulling Teeth song meaning

Pulling Teeth is a tongue-in-cheek story about an unusual abusive relationship where the female beats up the male and not vice versa. The one thing that is quite typical is that the abused person is in denial - he screams "oh God, she's killing me", yet tells himself "she takes good care of me, just keep saying my love is true". Scared of the violence, he still doesn't want to end this relationship.

The song is, of course, not a tragic tale of domestic abuse, but more of a friendly joke. It is said that Pulling Teeth has been inspired by a strange occasion in Mike Dirnt's life - after a pillow fight with his girlfriend he ended up with both elbows broken. Armstrong found that funny and wrote a song about the 'violent' girlfriend.