Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)

"Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)" (or "Time of Your Life (Good Riddance)") is a song by American rock band Green Day, released in December 1997 as the second single from their fifth studio album, Nimrod (1997). Although different from the band's usual sound, it is one of their most popular songs. It has also become a staple of their concerts and is usually played as the final song. "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)" became a chart hit, peaking at number 11 on the US Billboard Radio Songs chart and reaching the top 20 in Australia, Canada, Iceland, and the United Kingdom. As of November 2022, the song had sold over five million copies and is certified quintuple platinum in the United States and double platinum in Australia and the United Kingdom, making it the band's most commercially successful single. Background Billie Joe Armstrong wrote "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)" in 1993 about his girlfriend named Amanda who moved to Ecuador, with him naming the song "Good Riddance" to show his anger towards her. He did not show the song to his bandmates until the Dookie recording sessions later the same year. During the sessions, however, the song was determined to be too different from the rest of the songs on Dookie, and producer Rob Cavallo was unsure of how to structure the recording. An early version of the song (in a different key, with a faster tempo and sparer arrangement) simply titled "Good Riddance" appeared as a B-side to the European single for "Brain Stew/Jaded".