"When It's Time" is a song by the American rock band

Green Day Green Day is an American rock band formed in the East Bay of California in 1987 by lead vocalist and guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong, together with bassist and backing vocalist Mike Dirnt. For most of the band's career, they have been a ...

from '' American Idiot: The Original Broadway Cast Recording'', a

cast recording A cast recording is a recording of a stage musical that is intended to document the songs as they were performed in the show and experienced by the audience. An original cast recording or OCR, as the name implies, features the voices of the sho ...

to the musical production '' American Idiot'', a stage adaptation of the band's 2004 concept album. The song was released as a single in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

, where it reached no. 68 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

Background and release

Despite originally being written in 1992, around the time that '' Kerplunk'' was released by

Lookout! Records Lookout Records (stylized as Lookout! Records) was an independent record label, initially based in Laytonville, California and later in Berkeley, California, Berkeley, focusing on punk rock. Established in 1987, the label is best known for having ...

, the song was not recorded until the band began work on their seventh studio album, '' American Idiot'', released in 2004. Since it did not make the cut for that album, the song was not released until April 13, 2010 when it appeared on '' American Idiot: The Original Broadway Cast Recording''. It was released as a single in the United Kingdom on June 11, 2010 through the band's label

Reprise Records Reprise Records is an American record label founded in 1960 by Frank Sinatra. It is owned by Warner Music Group, and operates through Warner Records, one of its flagship labels. Artists currently signed to Reprise Records include Enya, Michael ...

. The single is available in the UK iTunes store along with Amazon's digital download service. The song was performed at

924 Gilman Street The Alternative Music Foundation located at 924 Gilman Street, often referred to by its fans simply as "Gilman", is a non-profit, all-ages, collectively organized music club. It is located in the West Berkeley area of Berkeley, California, about ...

in November 18, 1992 and made rare appearances in some shows of the 21st Century Breakdown World Tour, performed solo by Billie Joe Armstrong on an acoustic guitar. The song also appeared in most setlists during the European tour of 2010. It is also the third single from Green Day that was not accompanied by a music video, such as the cases of "

She She most commonly refers to: *She (pronoun), the third person singular, feminine, nominative case pronoun in modern English. She or S.H.E. may also refer to: Literature and films *'' She: A History of Adventure'', an 1887 novel by H. Rider Hagga ...

" and " J.A.R. (Jason Andrew Relva)". Due to the sensitive nature of the lyrics, the director of the ''American Idiot'' musical, Michael Mayer, had to receive special permission from the band to offer an acoustic solo version sung by John Gallagher Jr. as a number for the production. A demo of the song was included on the 25th anniversary release of the band's fifth studio album

Nimrod Nimrod (; ; arc, ܢܡܪܘܕ; ar, نُمْرُود, Numrūd) is a biblical figure mentioned in the Book of Genesis and Books of Chronicles. The son of Cush and therefore a great-grandson of Noah, Nimrod was described as a king in the land of ...

Chart performance

The song began its chart performance on the

on June 20, 2010. It entered at no. 71 and peaked at no. 68 the next week where it stayed for one week, the highest position it achieved.

References

{{Authority control 2004 songs 2010 singles Green Day songs Songs written by Billie Joe Armstrong Rock ballads Reprise Records singles Songs written by Tré Cool Songs written by Mike Dirnt 2000s ballads