I Wrote Holden Caulfield...and So Did You

J.D. Salinger passed away today at the age of 91. At twelve, I adored Holden Caulfield's causticness, by my twenties I hated his shallowness but by my thirties I was just in awe of Salinger's skill at invoking such visceral reactions to his words. Now I've got some uncollected stories to read and I'll leave you with what is quite possibly Screeching Weasel's finest lyrical moment , "I Wrote Holden Caulfield" and the Green Day deep album track that inspired it.

I Wrote Holden Caulfield

I loved you for the minute
when you decided to tell me the truth
I heard you and that night I cried for you
I know that you're alone just like
everyone else in the world
Don't tell me that things don't get better
'cause sometimes they do
Sometimes they do
and I know they will for you
The days are getting shorter
and you're forgetting the things you just said
I'm hoping that you'll move ahead
I wonder if you'll ever come to
realize what I always knew
I wrote Holden Caulfield and so did you
I wanna know if you wanna wake up
I wanna know when you'll stop dying
for what you've done
stop crying for what you've done
it's only the past
it's only life
what have you done that's so bad
it's only life so don't waste time
why don't you stop crying
for what's done for what is done

On the back of Screeching Weasel's How To Make Friends and Irritate People all the songs are deliberately mis-titled and this one gets the fake title "I Wrote Ignatius J Reilly". Perfect.