When I Come Around

The song is performed in 4/4 time and has a verse-chorus song structure. Most of the song is based around a sequence of four chords in the key of G flat major.{{cite book |last1=Covach |first1=John |last2=Flory |first2=Andrew |title=What's That Sound?: An Introduction to Rock and Its History |date=March 8, 2006 |publisher=W.W. Norton & Company |pages=478–479}} Fred Thomas of AllMusic described the track as "a slacker punk answer to the power ballad."{{Citation |title=Dookie - Green Day {{!}} Album {{!}} AllMusic |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/dookie-mw0000107965 |access-date=2025-04-16 |language=en}}

David Stubbs from Melody Maker felt the band is "threatening to get caught up in the tramlines of Rainbow's 'Since You've Been Gone' in the opening chords [of the song]."{{cite magazine|first=David|last=Stubbs|url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/nothingelseon/53459678856/|title=Singles|magazine=Melody Maker|date=May 13, 1995|page=34|access-date=January 13, 2024|author-link=David Stubbs|archive-date=January 13, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240113114252/https://www.flickr.com/photos/nothingelseon/53459678856/|url-status=live}} Pan-European magazine Music & Media commented, "We asked Nick Lowe, one-time producer in the first wave of punk, what's the difference between then and now? He answered: 'Green Day can really play.' Life is sometimes so simple."{{cite magazine |title= New Releases: Singles |magazine= Music & Media |volume= 12 |issue= 20 |date= May 20, 1995 |page= 13 |access-date= May 18, 2021 |url= https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/Music-and-Media/90s/1995/MM-1995-05-20.pdf |archive-date= March 8, 2021 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210308061221/https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/Music-and-Media/90s/1995/MM-1995-05-20.pdf |url-status= live }} A reviewer from Music Week gave 'When I Come Around' three out of five, writing, "The fourth track to be lifted from their gold-selling Dookie album lacks the character and charm of 'Basket Case' but shouldn't harm their chart fortunes if their US success is anything to go by."{{cite magazine |title= Reviews: Singles |magazine= Music Week |date= April 29, 1995 |page= 14 |access-date= May 7, 2021 |url= https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/Music-Week/1995/Music-Week-1995-04-29.pdf |archive-date= May 9, 2021 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210509225629/https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/Music-Week/1995/Music-Week-1995-04-29.pdf |url-status= live }} Sylvia Patterson from NME named it "their least frantic rouser to date [...] but nonetheless it's a mutant sun-ripe beef tomato of a pop guitar romp featuring the rhyming of "loser" with "user" and — heck! — "accuser" just like they were The Monkees."{{cite magazine|first=Sylvia|last=Patterson|url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/nothingelseon/53460761252/|title=Singles|magazine=NME|date=May 13, 1995|page=51|access-date=January 18, 2024|author-link=Sylvia Patterson|archive-date=January 18, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240118183255/https://www.flickr.com/photos/nothingelseon/53460761252/|url-status=live}} Also Leesa Daniels from Smash Hits gave it three out of five, saying, "This is much slower than 'Basket Case', but it's still got that really catchy hook-line."{{cite magazine|first=Leesa|last=Daniels|url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/57779449@N02/54313936401/in/album-72177720323699768|title=Singles|magazine=Smash Hits|date=April 26, 1995|page=62|access-date=February 10, 2025}}

The music video for the song is directed by Mark Kohr. It shows the band walking to different places, like the Mission District, Broadway, and the BART Powell Street Station in San Francisco and Berkeley, California at night, along with various scenes of people doing common things all inter-related. One of the first scenes of the video eventually leads back to the scene at the end. The band's touring guitarist Jason White can be seen in the video with his girlfriend.

Before the video was filmed, MTV aired a live performance of the song by the band at the 1994 Woodstock Festival. MTV's Ultimate Albums: Dookie special credited the simple horizontally-striped sweater worn by Armstrong in the video for starting a fashion trend of similar sweaters.

Initial pressing

1. "When I Come Around" – 2:58
2. "Coming Clean" (live) – 1:36
3. "She" (live) – 2:14

• All live tracks were recorded on November 18, 1994, at Aragon Ballroom, Chicago

Australian single

1. "When I Come Around" – 2:58
2. "Longview" (live) – 3:30
3. "Burnout" (live) – 2:11
4. "2,000 Light Years Away" (live) – 2:48

• All live tracks were recorded on March 11, 1994, at Jannus Landing, St. Petersburg, Florida. Tracks two and three are the same on the Live Tracks EP. Track four has an extended intro but is the same performance.

7-inch picture disc

:A. "When I Come Around" – 2:58

:B. "She" (live) – 2:14

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{{Certification Table Top|caption=Certifications for "When I Come Around"}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=Australia|award=Gold|type=single|relyear=1994|certyear=1994|certref=|access-date=November 18, 2019}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=Canada|award=Platinum|number=4|type=single|artist=Green Day|title=When I Come Around|relyear=1994|certyear=2023|access-date=October 18, 2023}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=Italy|type=single|artist=Green Day|title=When I Come Around|award=Gold|relyear=1994|certyear=2024|id=12328|access-date=April 9, 2024}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=New Zealand|type=single|artist=Green Day|title=When I Come Around|award=Platinum|number=2|relyear=1994|certyear=2024|source=radioscope|access-date=May 23, 2025}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=Spain|award=Gold|type=single|artist=Green Day|title=When I Come Around|relyear=1994|certyear=2024|access-date=September 24, 2024}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=United Kingdom|award=Platinum|type=single|artist=Green Day|title=When I Come Around|relyear=2004|certyear=2025|id=15868-2001-1|access-date=May 23, 2025}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=United States|award=Gold|type=single|artist=Green Day|title=When I Come Around|relyear=1994|certyear=2009|digital=true|access-date=October 22, 2017}}

{{Certification Table Bottom|streaming=true}}

• "When I Come Around" was featured in South Park episode "Hummels & Heroin", sung in the style of a barbershop quartet.
• It was also featured in the Green Day-themed Rock Band game Green Day: Rock Band.
• It has been featured in multiple media such as the trailer for Blast from the Past and the episode in Hindsight.
• Green Day performed the song at FireAid to help with relief efforts for the January 2025 Southern California wildfires.{{cite web | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/30/arts/music/fireaid-los-angeles-concert.html | title=At FireAid Benefit, Stars Sing a Love Song to Los Angeles | work=The New York Times | date=January 30, 2025 | last1=Stevens | first1=Matt | last2=Sisario | first2=Ben }}{{cite magazine | url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/fireaid-recap-lady-gaga-green-day-billie-eilish-no-doubt-1235250513/ | title=FireAid: Inside the Star-Studded Benefit Show for Los Angeles | magazine=Rolling Stone | date=January 31, 2025 }}

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• {{cite book |last1=Myers |first1=Ben |title=Green Day - American Idiots & The New Punk Explosion |date=2005 |publisher=Independent Music Press |isbn=0953994295 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JSa3DwAAQBAJ |access-date=May 13, 2023 |archive-date=April 9, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230409222905/https://books.google.com/books?id=JSa3DwAAQBAJ |url-status=live }}

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{{Green Day}}{{Green Day songs}}{{Authority control}}

Category:1993 songs

Category:1995 singles

Category:Green Day songs

Category:Reprise Records singles

Category:Song recordings produced by Rob Cavallo

Category:Songs written by Billie Joe Armstrong