 The title track 's opening lyric " Born into Nixon , I was raised in hell " references Armstrong 's birth year of 1972 , while " We are the class of ' 13 " references the fact that his eldest son , Joseph , will graduate from high school in 2013 . Dirnt has expressed his belief that " Last of the American Girls " was written about Armstrong 's wife Adrienne , who he claimed is steadfast in her beliefs and assertively defends them . Armstrong has cited his " disconnected " childhood — he was raised by his five older siblings after their father 's death , while their mother worked graveyard shifts as a waitress — as the roots of the discontent expressed on 21st Century Breakdown . " East Jesus Nowhere " rebukes fundamentalist religion and was written after Armstrong attended a church service where a friend 's baby was baptized . 
