Though credited to both guitarist
Tom DeLonge and bassist
Mark Hoppus, the song was written and sung by DeLonge. The song originated as a collection of unrelated guitar riffs, which he considered "catchy and intricate but simple", bridged with what he felt was a "very
nursery rhyme" riff to augment the verse. The song opens
Enema of the State; DeLonge, in the 2016 documentary
The Pursuit of Tone, felt it was a good indication of the direction the band was heading in, and called it "probably the best opener we've ever had." "Dumpweed" explores frustration with women. Gavin Edwards of
Rolling Stone summarized the song as "about an ambivalent guy imagining the pain and the freedom of breaking up with his girlfriend, set to an unstoppable staccato rhythm." It has been described "callow complaint about girls not always doing exactly what you wish they would" by
New York Nitsuh Abebe. The song is based around the hook "I need a girl that I can train," as in
dog training. DeLonge explains the song in a 2000 tour booklet: "Girls are so much smarter than guys and can see the future as well as never forget the past. So that leaves the dog as the only thing men are smarter than." In an interview with
MTV News the previous year, he clarified that the line did not refer to his girlfriend: "I got a lot of shit from her for that one." The promo single prepends a
masturbation joke from
The Mark, Tom and Travis Show (The Enema Strikes Back) to the beginning of the track. ==Reception==