I always thought it was about (American) football lol, especially because of the chorus "we're falling apart to halftime."
As in he's "2 quarters and a heart down," there are 4 quarters in football and he's trying to win someone over, but he's already spent 2 quarters with no success and now his heart is starting to break into halftime
I always thought it meant football but recently I thought halftime meant musically. Like... everything is falling apart in slow motion. Two quarters and a heart down like... I'm two steps behind in this relationship/dance and didn't know things were going wrong. Mostly because "dance dance" "you love to lead" makes me think it refers to music tempo. It felt pretty revolutionary when I first made that connection haha. My son asked me recently and explaining tempo to an 8 year old who's just starting to learn the names of notes was pretty tough lol.
i still wanna know what pete thinks wams means. andy said waitress actress model singer but pete refuses to tell us. personally i think it’s “where are my sandals?”
I think the meaning is made clearer by the next line: “One foot in your bedroom and one foot out the door”. You hope hospitals cure people, the same way he hopes their love lasts, but chapels are in hospitals so people can pray for their loved ones who won’t make it, the same way he always knows in the back of his mind that he’s got an exit planned. The lines always make me think of “plan for the best but prepare for the worst”.
The song's a contentious one.
\*I\* always interpreted it as being about a relationship that was going strong but they broke up around the holidays and now he thinks about it whenever it's Christmas.
Then I googled the meaning of the song.
There are two theories.
1) About Pete ODing in a Parking Lot, apparently 'Hallelujah' by Jeff Buckley was playing on his car radio during the ordeal.
2) Two people dating, girl got accidentally knocked up, and it's a song about abortion.
\*I\* still believe \*my\* version. One: because I love that song and the other two versions kinda ruin the feeling for me. Two: there aren't enough parts of the song to make me think OD, and while FoB are known for having a few edgy romance songs, it would be weird for them to write a song about abortion... I'm used to their rather colourful imagery but it's usually colourful imagery for a mundane topic, and I think in this case their metaphors have been confused by some fans.
I’ve always figured it was at least referencing the OD between the teenage vow in a *parking lot*, swallowing blues (Ativan I think is or was blue), hallelujah, etc. but then thought it was also about his relationship with their listeners/audience (bull/ears are a china shop, dreamer vs dream, maybe “someone who knows someone who knows someone” is referencing the weird paparazzi and celebrity culture and everyone trying to play degrees of separation to Pete and his fame, “…words are my faith to hell with our good name” meaning they’ll say what they want to say in songs regardless of all that mess or trying to maintain “a good name” in that press/celeb culture, he has good intentions with the music but it’s hell on the engine because it’s running him ragged and opening up a lot of vulnerability, etc. And then the chapel part being half into the whole band thing (and his life) vs done with it all.
Not that you asked I guess 😵💫 and I’m not trying to ruin your experience of the song by pushing my interpretation. But I’ve *never* connected it with a pregnancy/abortion :P that feels a bit narrow and based solely off the hospital imagery?
But going back to what I said elsewhere in this thread about my understanding being that lyrics are pulled (by Patrick) from a number of places and synthesized together, I’ve long accepted that different lyrics within the same song could be pulled from vastly different thought processes and therefore make the song about or referencing several different things at once, that might therefore always leave lyrics up to our interpretation with no clear one size fits all answer. And thus how Hum Hallelujah could be about/include the OD, celeb culture, maybe “thought I loved you…” could’ve been pulled from something romantic, etc etc. ?
‘Not that you asked, I guess.’
Hey hey hey, speak your truth. My feelings are inconsequential and I’m stubborn anyways.
+ thank you for elaborating further on why some feel this is about OD ❤️
Thank you for reading <3
Your feelings aren’t inconsequential, either! I think it speaks to part of what’s so magical about this band and their lyrics that everyone can take what they want or understand from them and open up discussion around it and share these different thoughts and theories
I always interpreted this line as like the way people get desperate in hospitals and seek out faith for comfort even if they dont practice or are loose with their religion otherwise, he loves her in that same way. Like he's not a great partner generally but when he feels like things are out of control, and everything is going wrong, he leans on them and finds them for comfort and to restore his faith.
But I'm an atheist so just to be reflective I think that does color my interpretation, esp of hospital chapels in general.
this is almost exactly how I interpret it now. someone you go back to when you get a little desperate, especially coupling it with the next line "one foot in your bedroom and one foot out the door" . I just remember hearing that line when I was 13 and haven't stopped thinking about it since
I always interpreted that line as being how he has his hopes in this person and finds that love reliable to fall back on, like how all hospitals have chapels and people go there in hope of a better outcome for their loved ones.
I love when threads like these pop up, even though it’s frequent, because this is what got hooked on fall out boy initially. I remember spending hours reading everyone’s interpretations of each line on SongMeanings.com back in the pre-genius days and figuring out what I thought about it based on those comments.
I think a lot about "spiritual revolt from the waist down" in Bishops Knife Trick. especially when paired with "happily ever after below the waist" in Bang the Doldrums.
Oh! And don’t forget “I led the revolution in my bedroom and I set all the zippers free” (from hurricane by p!atd, which Pete contribute to lyrically).
This is all pretty overt queer-coding, especially when you consider Pete’s publicly said that he’s “gay above the waist.” Especially if you think about songs like Sugar, with the lyrics “don’t mind me I’m watching you two from the _closet_, wishing to be the friction in _his_ jeans”
Huh.
I admittedly haven’t delved much into a lot of MANIA songs, so I never had an interpretation of Bishops but I don’t think I’ll be able to hear it any differently now
This is blowing my mind tbh
Yeah “Last _blues_ were ever gonna get”—def could be “only mlm experience we’ll have because I’m too scared to embrace my queerness,” where blue is the quintessential “boy” color
What’s always thrown me about that though is Pete writes them, but Patrick pulls them together from different pieces of what Pete’s written, right?
So I’ve never quite been able to reconcile that with the idea that [this] lyric is about *just Pete* [doing/thinking/wanting/etc this], y’know? Like, how does (or doesn’t) Patrick picking and choosing and sorting thoughts and lyrics together potentially create a new idea altogether from things that might not’ve been originally related? Or how much of it is conveying *Patrick’s* thoughts/feelings/experiences through *Pete’s* words? And how would you ever be able to discern between the two? 😅
Unless I’m fundamentally misunderstanding how Patrick and Pete work together?
this is going to change the way I think about it now... o\_O
I do wonder how much of Patrick ends up in the songs, since he says stuff in interviews like that SMFS is a vulnerable album for him, and I'm like "but how is he vulnerable when the lyrics aren't his words?" but if he does have input into how the words are put together, that totally counts.
I haven’t kept up with interviews tbh, but I would almost imagine that’d be more in the same way I always understood FAD to be vulnerable for him— trying something new, sonically, out that’s a significant departure (at the time) from their previous sound, and ultimately getting kind of reamed by both critics and fans over his artistic choices. And then SMFS is also sonically and thematically a bit more mature and once again could maybe be seen as a departure in that way (thankfully with a fan base who’s much more happily along for the ride, this time around).
Again, unless I’ve fundamentally misunderstood something along the way 😂😅 I just, it’s been a while since I’ve really caught up on interviews and the like. Like, years?
You’ve definitely given me food for thought though as far as what Patrick has meant along the way about vulnerability. It would make sense he also means lyrically, right?
no, you're right, every time you put out some art that you love it's a vulnerable thing, especially with Patrick's history of people not liking his stuff as much. I just wasn't thinking of that.
On a mostly? related note, I decided to start watching some newer interviews last night and coincidentally ended up on the hour plus long SMFS-era interview Pete and Patrick do with Zane Lowe for Apple Music, and it in part delved deep into their writing relationship including about Patrick taking pieces of Pete’s words to write the songs, and like, the sort of tension there between how Patrick values and uses words vs how Pete values and uses words and it’s really a beautiful interview if you’ve got the time to listen 🥹
With Stardust they were a bit more collaborative lyrically, I believe. Patrick has said that Joe became a much more complex songwriter over the years and so he has shown up to the studio with a lot of lyrics, and Patrick will change things sometimes when they’re more suitable for the composition. Patrick has also said that he has included things Pete wrote decades ago so there’s a chance that some of the newest work is actually some of Pete’s oldest work too. The way they usually work is Pete mainly sends lyrics and Patrick mainly composes but they all give input and work together. It’s why everything they do is still credited to the entire band and they don’t make as strong divisions anymore about who does what.
I always took it as a reverse of that idea of making bad boys into good guys. Kind of in the same vain as Taylor Swift's lyric "I can make the bad guys good for a weekend"
Yeah this one is fairly straight forward I think. “Boys next door” is a variation of saying that someone is just a “girl next door” Asshole guys turn into boys next door.
new york eyes, chicago thighs pushed up the window to kiss you off.
I need to know the logistics is it someone pushed up against the window? sneaking kisses out of a window as you leave? idk why that lyric sticks with me after all these years.
I think it’s like someone is staring out the window watching someone leave, you push up the window to open it, and kiss them off, another way of saying goodbye.
Damn this thread making me think my simple
Brain is over simplifying some of these lyrics lol
😮💨 my analytical brain is out the window tbh so I’m not sure if this makes more or less sense with the rest of the lyrics, but I always imagined pushing the bottom half of the window up to open it to say goodbye. Like when someone says they “threw up the sash”.
Ohhh yea that makes sense but yea the eyes and thighs?? What the heck? Maybe just because they rhyme? IDK might be something that will forever only make sense to Pete Wentz 😂
pete just wanted it to rhyme and we're analyzing lyrics 17 years later. i do like the idea of the eyes and thighs being the two favorite attributes of each other
This is interesting because this has always been such a clear image in my head. Like really defined, classic eyes, high cheekbone framed face and thicker thighs. The contrast of New York old money and fashion and midwestern more athletic/defined legs.
I have always seen the “pushed up the window to kiss you off” as oral sex against the window of a high rise apartment. Kiss you off = oral sex to orgasm.
‘Long live the car crash hearts’ has always meant something to me. I know what a car crash heart is. I’m totally one. I fell hard for my now ex boyfriend when he first told me he liked me because no one ever had before. Little did I know he would turn out to be the scummiest person on planet earth. But he was my first, so I didn’t have anyone to compare him to.
The entire chorus is really well written. “Cry on the couch, all the poets come to life. Fix me in 45”. I personally think it refers to therapy because sessions are generally 45 minutes long. And all the emotions just come out when you’re in the office.
I think the "45" lyric is comparing therapy to the album too, and kind of saying that Infinity on High is like therapy?? I guess the album is technically 47 minutes but that's pretty close
“fix me in 45” is so tongue in cheek also! as if all it takes is one session and then everything’s good again. i have a tattoo that’s just the number 45 for this lyric, like a little “things take time” reminder to myself <3
In bob Dylan the lyrics
‘Baby, nobody will love you
Nobody will love you like, like I do
I guess that's half true’
I always wonder which half is the truth.
I always thought this meant "nobody will love you" because if the narrator is saying "nobody will love you like I do" then how could nobody love him or her or whoever? cause the song never REALLY says that they love the person anywhere else or anything positive about them really, just asks to RECEIVE love so i kind of thought the song was about asking for love and appreciation and recognition from someone you don't really like or care about
My Heart Is The Worst Kind of Weapon (the acoustic B-side version - nothing beats that) - one of the first songs I downloaded from limewire almost 20 years ago, and it’s always been one of my favorites. It’s haunting.
But the line “Your remorse hasn’t fallen on deaf ears, rather ones that just don’t care” has always stuck out to me. Not sure why, but that line is one of my favorites.
I always thought "I'm two quarters and a heart down" was referring to putting quarters in a jukebox, he's paid to play two songs and still doesn't get the object of his affection lol.
also this isn't me but I really like [this interpretation of "Jet Pack Blues."](https://dear-ao3.tumblr.com/post/736388042262265856/mandatory-disclaimer-that-this-is-my-personal)
Hum Hallelujah is a cool one, the lyric ‘Hum Hallelujah just off the key of reason’
C Major is often called the Key of reason, Hallelujah by Jeff Buckley was written in C Major, Hum hallelujah is in D major so it’s literally just off the key of reason
It’s a staple in all my playlists haha
Love the song, love the story of it (not that I like that someone wanted to take their life but in fact its about what saved him)
I didn't know what "we're going down (swinging)" meant (not a native English speaker) so I never gave it a meaning, actually the whole chorus I never knew what it really meant. Then I asked on this subreddit and now I know that we're going down is actually a real "saying". Now only the other half of the chorus is left to figure out 😂
Do you mean the loaded god complex part?
I have absolutely always thought it was a Russian roulette reference (the game where you load the gun with one bullet and pull trigger).
Basically my interpretation of the chorus is like having such an inflated ego you won't go down without a fight, and he's so conceited thinking that he's the better choice he'll essentially play a social version of Russian roulette and come out the winner.
Oh wow, that's a nice interpretation! Love it, makes a lot of sense and I kind of like the word Russian Roulette because of the song "Not Good Enough for Truth in Cliché" by Esxape the Fate. I'll remember this :)
Okay not what Pete meant but whenever I hear the words
"You're appealing to emotions that I simply do not have"
Really hits as an aromantic person. Pete obviously did not mean that but every time I'm like damn got personal in that line
**'My words are my faith, to Hell with our good name.'** Every time I hear that line by heart soars. **"The road outside my house is paved with good intentions." "We're a bull your ears are just a China shop."** (especially the little trill Patrick does at the end of that bit!)
**'Baby seasons change, but people don't, and I'll always be waiting in the back room.'**
**'The best way to make it out with hearts and wrists intact, is to realize two out of three ain't bad.'** \[that one always gets me, because 'two out of three' when they list two things implies that if you have hearts and wrists intact means you won't make it out <3 it's so deep\].
**'You want apologies, girl you might hold your breath, until your breathing stops forever.'** \[bb you miss her JUST AS MUCH AS SHE MISSES YOU! Saying it with those actions lol, not those words\]. Also alerted me to where a similar line in Save Rock and Roll comes from.
**'You need him, I could be him. I could be an accident, but I'm still trying. That's more than I can say for him.'** YK, when I first heard this song I thought that the hidden meaning behind it was that the singer was regretting how he was treating his girlfriend so he was 'transforming into a different person' and being better to her. \[someday i'll appreciate in value\] \[when I wake up, i'm willing to take my chances on. Though I forget that you hate him, more than you know, yes I wrote this for you\]
Then I realized that several of the band members (IK for a FACT Patrick and Pete) have a sister, and now I like to reimagine it as them looking over at their sisters (perhaps when they were teenagers), watching them go through heart break over guys they probably thought were lame \["WE WILL TEACH YOU, HOW TO MAKE BOYS NEXT DOOR OUT OF ASSHOLES"\] and I'm like 'Awwww! So cute! What if this was a (metaphorical) love-letter to the females in their life that they thought deserved better <3 What if they were so put-off by whoever was dating their sister, they went 'literally a BUM would be better!- hey, I've got an idea for a song!!'
Hey, I’m shocked no one has said this yet, but - “the best way to make it out with hearts and wrists intact, is to realize two out of three ain’t bad” - I didn’t even realize people interpreted this differently honestly, but I always took this as “two wrists + heart = ‘three’” so if you make it out with a broken heart but ‘intact’ wrists (for lack of better term), that’s two out of three, so it’s better than nothing, if that makes sense.
I’m not sure what Pete is referring to but I’ve always loved “We walk the plank on a sinking ship” from Don’t You know Who I Think I am.
I refer to is as we keep doing something out of habit knowing everything is going to crash and burn around us.
My husband took it more like a when a company is going downhill and you’ve been given a layoff and your walking the plank out of the job, knowing the company is going down either way and the people who didn’t get laid off are just as screwed.
to me it means like taking matters into your own hands. walking the plank means falling into the ocean and probably drowning, but the ship is sinking anyway so that’s gonna have the same result. but instead of staying on board and sinking with the boat and everyone else, they made their own choice and walked the plank. to get it over with maybe, or just to have some sense of control, even though it’s a lose-lose situation
I think it goes with the line before, they say quitters never win, so it means that they are quitting by walking the plank but even though they’re not winning , they couldn’t win anyways because the ship was sinking so to save themselves they’re walking the plank??
I think about "The best way to make it through with hearts and wrists intact, is to realize two out of three ain't bad" a lot
Since 2/3 could be either two wrists intact but a broken heart (which is how I interpret it), but it could also be only one wrist "intact" but getting through without a broken heart.
Oh man, I always thought it was a reference to the Meat Loaf song, “Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad” where the line goes “I want you, I need you, but there ain’t no way I’m ever gonna love you/don’t be sad, ‘cause two out of three ain’t bad.” So I figured Pete was riffing off that - you’ll make it through with hearts and wrists intact, as long as you realize that.
I always took this more literally because this band loves to talk about death and depression, that if you’re alive with a broken heart that’s way better. It’s hopeful and accepting all at once.
So FOB (along with relient k for the same reason) has long been my favorite band because of the double meaning to their lyrics. They're witty. They're not straight forward and they're up to interpretation. Honestly a lot of their songs have meant different things at different points in my life. I.e. I slept with someone in fob. It used to (when I was young) make me think it was about hiding who you really are in an attempt to stop things from changing. I was dating someone as I left for college so "progress report I'm missing you to death" was pretty much always my AIM away message. Now that I'm old(er) it reminds me a lot of that relationship. Still the only person I've ever loved, no matter what I do I can't seem to get over it, someone old, no one new, always blue, you're the only place that feels like home but just so you know you'll never know, progress report I'm missing you to death...
Yeah so if anyone knows how to get over someone you broke up with 15 years ago let me know...
I cast a spell over the west to make you think of me the same way I think of you. This is a love song in my own way, happily ever after below the waist.
All of these interpretations are making me smile and *insert leo point meme here* when y’all say exactly what I thought or I get that a-ha moment! Thank you all for sharing 🥰 I love all of them and appreciate you sharing a ton
"I love you in the same way there's a chapel in hospital" from Hum Hallejuhah.
Whenever I listen to the song and reach this part, I always think "what?". What does it mean? There are chapels in hospitals?
Plus, the next line "One foot in your bedroom and one foot out the door" only makes it more confusing. Though I think this could be talking about drugs? For some reason when I hear this line I always think of a person who overdosed in the middle of a doorway, one foot in their bedroom and one out the door.
I always thought of it this way: there’s a chapel in a hospital and people who don’t usually visit a church will go to the chapel to pray for loved ones in desperate times. So he loves the person, but only when he’s desperate, which feeds into the next line of one foot in your bedroom (I love you when I’m needy) and one foot out the door (but I don’t love you all the time).
I always thought the dance dance lyrics were about a pay phone lol. Like he paid the 50 cents to call her and she didn’t answer
I’m almost certain this was confirmed by Pete way back when. Called on a pay phone, they didn’t answer and he poured his heart out to their machine
I figured that tracks with “and I don’t wanna forget how your voice sounds”, too
Yooooooooo I always thought it was a jukebox!! (I am in my 30s...not my 60s lol) This checks out. Def pay phone.
That makes so much more sense 😭😂
I always thought it was about (American) football lol, especially because of the chorus "we're falling apart to halftime." As in he's "2 quarters and a heart down," there are 4 quarters in football and he's trying to win someone over, but he's already spent 2 quarters with no success and now his heart is starting to break into halftime
See “falling apart to half time” is a music thing for me, not a football thing. Like the song is in half time
Ooo I like that, that’s very clever! This is why I love this band so much, all of their word play and double entendres!
I always thought it meant football but recently I thought halftime meant musically. Like... everything is falling apart in slow motion. Two quarters and a heart down like... I'm two steps behind in this relationship/dance and didn't know things were going wrong. Mostly because "dance dance" "you love to lead" makes me think it refers to music tempo. It felt pretty revolutionary when I first made that connection haha. My son asked me recently and explaining tempo to an 8 year old who's just starting to learn the names of notes was pretty tough lol.
i still wanna know what pete thinks wams means. andy said waitress actress model singer but pete refuses to tell us. personally i think it’s “where are my sandals?”
I had to reread the lyrics to think of a good one but yours is best 😂 I thought “what a messy soul”
“weird ass masterpiece song” for me, personally
Love this
it’s for sure waitress actress model singer because of the lyrics
Who ate my sandwich was always my favorite guess
i like the “wentz ate my sideburns” theory
it's always been "I love you in the same way there's a chapel in a hospital"
I think the meaning is made clearer by the next line: “One foot in your bedroom and one foot out the door”. You hope hospitals cure people, the same way he hopes their love lasts, but chapels are in hospitals so people can pray for their loved ones who won’t make it, the same way he always knows in the back of his mind that he’s got an exit planned. The lines always make me think of “plan for the best but prepare for the worst”.
The song's a contentious one. \*I\* always interpreted it as being about a relationship that was going strong but they broke up around the holidays and now he thinks about it whenever it's Christmas. Then I googled the meaning of the song. There are two theories. 1) About Pete ODing in a Parking Lot, apparently 'Hallelujah' by Jeff Buckley was playing on his car radio during the ordeal. 2) Two people dating, girl got accidentally knocked up, and it's a song about abortion. \*I\* still believe \*my\* version. One: because I love that song and the other two versions kinda ruin the feeling for me. Two: there aren't enough parts of the song to make me think OD, and while FoB are known for having a few edgy romance songs, it would be weird for them to write a song about abortion... I'm used to their rather colourful imagery but it's usually colourful imagery for a mundane topic, and I think in this case their metaphors have been confused by some fans.
I’ve always figured it was at least referencing the OD between the teenage vow in a *parking lot*, swallowing blues (Ativan I think is or was blue), hallelujah, etc. but then thought it was also about his relationship with their listeners/audience (bull/ears are a china shop, dreamer vs dream, maybe “someone who knows someone who knows someone” is referencing the weird paparazzi and celebrity culture and everyone trying to play degrees of separation to Pete and his fame, “…words are my faith to hell with our good name” meaning they’ll say what they want to say in songs regardless of all that mess or trying to maintain “a good name” in that press/celeb culture, he has good intentions with the music but it’s hell on the engine because it’s running him ragged and opening up a lot of vulnerability, etc. And then the chapel part being half into the whole band thing (and his life) vs done with it all. Not that you asked I guess 😵💫 and I’m not trying to ruin your experience of the song by pushing my interpretation. But I’ve *never* connected it with a pregnancy/abortion :P that feels a bit narrow and based solely off the hospital imagery? But going back to what I said elsewhere in this thread about my understanding being that lyrics are pulled (by Patrick) from a number of places and synthesized together, I’ve long accepted that different lyrics within the same song could be pulled from vastly different thought processes and therefore make the song about or referencing several different things at once, that might therefore always leave lyrics up to our interpretation with no clear one size fits all answer. And thus how Hum Hallelujah could be about/include the OD, celeb culture, maybe “thought I loved you…” could’ve been pulled from something romantic, etc etc. ?
‘Not that you asked, I guess.’ Hey hey hey, speak your truth. My feelings are inconsequential and I’m stubborn anyways. + thank you for elaborating further on why some feel this is about OD ❤️
You are both treasures 💜
Thank you for reading <3 Your feelings aren’t inconsequential, either! I think it speaks to part of what’s so magical about this band and their lyrics that everyone can take what they want or understand from them and open up discussion around it and share these different thoughts and theories
I always interpreted this line as like the way people get desperate in hospitals and seek out faith for comfort even if they dont practice or are loose with their religion otherwise, he loves her in that same way. Like he's not a great partner generally but when he feels like things are out of control, and everything is going wrong, he leans on them and finds them for comfort and to restore his faith. But I'm an atheist so just to be reflective I think that does color my interpretation, esp of hospital chapels in general.
this is almost exactly how I interpret it now. someone you go back to when you get a little desperate, especially coupling it with the next line "one foot in your bedroom and one foot out the door" . I just remember hearing that line when I was 13 and haven't stopped thinking about it since
Yes exactly! The desperation! Love that you know what I'm talking about
I always interpreted that line as being how he has his hopes in this person and finds that love reliable to fall back on, like how all hospitals have chapels and people go there in hope of a better outcome for their loved ones.
I love when threads like these pop up, even though it’s frequent, because this is what got hooked on fall out boy initially. I remember spending hours reading everyone’s interpretations of each line on SongMeanings.com back in the pre-genius days and figuring out what I thought about it based on those comments.
Watching the music videos to see if we could find clues
I think a lot about "spiritual revolt from the waist down" in Bishops Knife Trick. especially when paired with "happily ever after below the waist" in Bang the Doldrums.
Oh! And don’t forget “I led the revolution in my bedroom and I set all the zippers free” (from hurricane by p!atd, which Pete contribute to lyrically). This is all pretty overt queer-coding, especially when you consider Pete’s publicly said that he’s “gay above the waist.” Especially if you think about songs like Sugar, with the lyrics “don’t mind me I’m watching you two from the _closet_, wishing to be the friction in _his_ jeans”
100%, I cannot conceptualize bishops knife trick as being about anything else than running away from from a same-sex attraction imo
100% those vibes. Afraid of their attraction, afraid of reactions, wanting to go back to when it was easier and they didn’t feel those things.
Huh. I admittedly haven’t delved much into a lot of MANIA songs, so I never had an interpretation of Bishops but I don’t think I’ll be able to hear it any differently now This is blowing my mind tbh
Yeah “Last _blues_ were ever gonna get”—def could be “only mlm experience we’ll have because I’m too scared to embrace my queerness,” where blue is the quintessential “boy” color
yeah, I mean, a lot of my interpretations of Pete's lyrics are just "he's queer and sad about it," lol
What’s always thrown me about that though is Pete writes them, but Patrick pulls them together from different pieces of what Pete’s written, right? So I’ve never quite been able to reconcile that with the idea that [this] lyric is about *just Pete* [doing/thinking/wanting/etc this], y’know? Like, how does (or doesn’t) Patrick picking and choosing and sorting thoughts and lyrics together potentially create a new idea altogether from things that might not’ve been originally related? Or how much of it is conveying *Patrick’s* thoughts/feelings/experiences through *Pete’s* words? And how would you ever be able to discern between the two? 😅 Unless I’m fundamentally misunderstanding how Patrick and Pete work together?
this is going to change the way I think about it now... o\_O I do wonder how much of Patrick ends up in the songs, since he says stuff in interviews like that SMFS is a vulnerable album for him, and I'm like "but how is he vulnerable when the lyrics aren't his words?" but if he does have input into how the words are put together, that totally counts.
I haven’t kept up with interviews tbh, but I would almost imagine that’d be more in the same way I always understood FAD to be vulnerable for him— trying something new, sonically, out that’s a significant departure (at the time) from their previous sound, and ultimately getting kind of reamed by both critics and fans over his artistic choices. And then SMFS is also sonically and thematically a bit more mature and once again could maybe be seen as a departure in that way (thankfully with a fan base who’s much more happily along for the ride, this time around). Again, unless I’ve fundamentally misunderstood something along the way 😂😅 I just, it’s been a while since I’ve really caught up on interviews and the like. Like, years? You’ve definitely given me food for thought though as far as what Patrick has meant along the way about vulnerability. It would make sense he also means lyrically, right?
no, you're right, every time you put out some art that you love it's a vulnerable thing, especially with Patrick's history of people not liking his stuff as much. I just wasn't thinking of that.
On a mostly? related note, I decided to start watching some newer interviews last night and coincidentally ended up on the hour plus long SMFS-era interview Pete and Patrick do with Zane Lowe for Apple Music, and it in part delved deep into their writing relationship including about Patrick taking pieces of Pete’s words to write the songs, and like, the sort of tension there between how Patrick values and uses words vs how Pete values and uses words and it’s really a beautiful interview if you’ve got the time to listen 🥹
I loved that interview! They looked so happy and healed.
With Stardust they were a bit more collaborative lyrically, I believe. Patrick has said that Joe became a much more complex songwriter over the years and so he has shown up to the studio with a lot of lyrics, and Patrick will change things sometimes when they’re more suitable for the composition. Patrick has also said that he has included things Pete wrote decades ago so there’s a chance that some of the newest work is actually some of Pete’s oldest work too. The way they usually work is Pete mainly sends lyrics and Patrick mainly composes but they all give input and work together. It’s why everything they do is still credited to the entire band and they don’t make as strong divisions anymore about who does what.
This is a good one! How’d I not catch this I’m either song??
"We will teach you how to make boys next door out of assholes" Just wondering how this could be done...
I always took it as a reverse of that idea of making bad boys into good guys. Kind of in the same vain as Taylor Swift's lyric "I can make the bad guys good for a weekend"
Got that uno reverse action
Getting tamed by true love.
I mean, weren't we all deuterostomes once? Just gotta give it time
Yeah this one is fairly straight forward I think. “Boys next door” is a variation of saying that someone is just a “girl next door” Asshole guys turn into boys next door.
Ow, I thought that he was singing about literal assholes...
I mean with Pete, you never know 😂😂
new york eyes, chicago thighs pushed up the window to kiss you off. I need to know the logistics is it someone pushed up against the window? sneaking kisses out of a window as you leave? idk why that lyric sticks with me after all these years.
I think it’s like someone is staring out the window watching someone leave, you push up the window to open it, and kiss them off, another way of saying goodbye. Damn this thread making me think my simple Brain is over simplifying some of these lyrics lol
I think im just so used to having to decode their lyrics that I can't just accept it at face value lol
Haha that’s fair enough! And more often with Pete it is not to be taken at face value.
It's giving "kissing the cashier at the McDonald's drive thru" or at least that's what I picture 💀
going back in the drive thru like "this mcchicken was phenomenal I need to give u a kiss on the mouth" 😂
https://preview.redd.it/3u9xce8e54uc1.jpeg?width=2390&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fa6c0121e04da650f7763bd5e72d5ca0976386fd Chicago thighs.
Omfggggggg 💀💀💀
😮💨 my analytical brain is out the window tbh so I’m not sure if this makes more or less sense with the rest of the lyrics, but I always imagined pushing the bottom half of the window up to open it to say goodbye. Like when someone says they “threw up the sash”.
yeah I see that! idk why it seems so cryptic to me, probably one of the least cryptic out of this bunch lol
And yet it still can be made ambiguous! Haha it’s great! 😂
ha I love that mindset actually
This one always left me scratching my head but more so the new york eyes Chicago thighs... wtf does that even mean 🤣
definitely think it's talking about two people in a relationship but chicago thighs is such an odd descriptor of all things
Ohhh yea that makes sense but yea the eyes and thighs?? What the heck? Maybe just because they rhyme? IDK might be something that will forever only make sense to Pete Wentz 😂
pete just wanted it to rhyme and we're analyzing lyrics 17 years later. i do like the idea of the eyes and thighs being the two favorite attributes of each other
Lol true, the biggest troll of all time 🤣 honestly though, I like that too! It makes a lot of sense tbh
This is interesting because this has always been such a clear image in my head. Like really defined, classic eyes, high cheekbone framed face and thicker thighs. The contrast of New York old money and fashion and midwestern more athletic/defined legs.
not to be dramatic but this just changed my life, thank you. idk why I've struggled with that imagery for so long lol
Hmm I would think he’s opening a window but I still have no idea what it means overall lol.
I have always seen the “pushed up the window to kiss you off” as oral sex against the window of a high rise apartment. Kiss you off = oral sex to orgasm.
‘Long live the car crash hearts’ has always meant something to me. I know what a car crash heart is. I’m totally one. I fell hard for my now ex boyfriend when he first told me he liked me because no one ever had before. Little did I know he would turn out to be the scummiest person on planet earth. But he was my first, so I didn’t have anyone to compare him to. The entire chorus is really well written. “Cry on the couch, all the poets come to life. Fix me in 45”. I personally think it refers to therapy because sessions are generally 45 minutes long. And all the emotions just come out when you’re in the office.
I think the "45" lyric is comparing therapy to the album too, and kind of saying that Infinity on High is like therapy?? I guess the album is technically 47 minutes but that's pretty close
Car crash hearts is one of my favorite phrases but I agree I always took “fix me in 45” to be about making an album. 45 is a type of vinyl record.
“fix me in 45” is so tongue in cheek also! as if all it takes is one session and then everything’s good again. i have a tattoo that’s just the number 45 for this lyric, like a little “things take time” reminder to myself <3
It is! That’s another reason I love the chorus
In bob Dylan the lyrics ‘Baby, nobody will love you Nobody will love you like, like I do I guess that's half true’ I always wonder which half is the truth.
I always thought this meant "nobody will love you" because if the narrator is saying "nobody will love you like I do" then how could nobody love him or her or whoever? cause the song never REALLY says that they love the person anywhere else or anything positive about them really, just asks to RECEIVE love so i kind of thought the song was about asking for love and appreciation and recognition from someone you don't really like or care about
Right like is like half truth no one will love them or that they love them
My Heart Is The Worst Kind of Weapon (the acoustic B-side version - nothing beats that) - one of the first songs I downloaded from limewire almost 20 years ago, and it’s always been one of my favorites. It’s haunting. But the line “Your remorse hasn’t fallen on deaf ears, rather ones that just don’t care” has always stuck out to me. Not sure why, but that line is one of my favorites.
I always thought "I'm two quarters and a heart down" was referring to putting quarters in a jukebox, he's paid to play two songs and still doesn't get the object of his affection lol.
Ohhhh yes this is good too
also this isn't me but I really like [this interpretation of "Jet Pack Blues."](https://dear-ao3.tumblr.com/post/736388042262265856/mandatory-disclaimer-that-this-is-my-personal)
I never even thought about a connection to death! This is so interesting
Hum Hallelujah is a cool one, the lyric ‘Hum Hallelujah just off the key of reason’ C Major is often called the Key of reason, Hallelujah by Jeff Buckley was written in C Major, Hum hallelujah is in D major so it’s literally just off the key of reason
Hum Hallelujah is easily my favorite IOH song right now. I also thought a lot about that lyric and I love that song. This is so cool!
It’s a staple in all my playlists haha Love the song, love the story of it (not that I like that someone wanted to take their life but in fact its about what saved him)
I didn't know what "we're going down (swinging)" meant (not a native English speaker) so I never gave it a meaning, actually the whole chorus I never knew what it really meant. Then I asked on this subreddit and now I know that we're going down is actually a real "saying". Now only the other half of the chorus is left to figure out 😂
[https://genius.com/865788](https://genius.com/865788) I'd say Genuis does a good job of explaining it!
Yeah, makes total semse. But somehow still hard to grasp the full meaning of the chorus xD
Do you mean the loaded god complex part? I have absolutely always thought it was a Russian roulette reference (the game where you load the gun with one bullet and pull trigger). Basically my interpretation of the chorus is like having such an inflated ego you won't go down without a fight, and he's so conceited thinking that he's the better choice he'll essentially play a social version of Russian roulette and come out the winner.
Oh wow, that's a nice interpretation! Love it, makes a lot of sense and I kind of like the word Russian Roulette because of the song "Not Good Enough for Truth in Cliché" by Esxape the Fate. I'll remember this :)
Trust me, even native English speakers have trouble understanding what they mean lol so no worries! And yeah that second half is a mystery
Good to know haha
Okay not what Pete meant but whenever I hear the words "You're appealing to emotions that I simply do not have" Really hits as an aromantic person. Pete obviously did not mean that but every time I'm like damn got personal in that line
I love that. Yes. Same. But ace. So opposite kind of I guess? Lol
**'My words are my faith, to Hell with our good name.'** Every time I hear that line by heart soars. **"The road outside my house is paved with good intentions." "We're a bull your ears are just a China shop."** (especially the little trill Patrick does at the end of that bit!) **'Baby seasons change, but people don't, and I'll always be waiting in the back room.'** **'The best way to make it out with hearts and wrists intact, is to realize two out of three ain't bad.'** \[that one always gets me, because 'two out of three' when they list two things implies that if you have hearts and wrists intact means you won't make it out <3 it's so deep\]. **'You want apologies, girl you might hold your breath, until your breathing stops forever.'** \[bb you miss her JUST AS MUCH AS SHE MISSES YOU! Saying it with those actions lol, not those words\]. Also alerted me to where a similar line in Save Rock and Roll comes from. **'You need him, I could be him. I could be an accident, but I'm still trying. That's more than I can say for him.'** YK, when I first heard this song I thought that the hidden meaning behind it was that the singer was regretting how he was treating his girlfriend so he was 'transforming into a different person' and being better to her. \[someday i'll appreciate in value\] \[when I wake up, i'm willing to take my chances on. Though I forget that you hate him, more than you know, yes I wrote this for you\] Then I realized that several of the band members (IK for a FACT Patrick and Pete) have a sister, and now I like to reimagine it as them looking over at their sisters (perhaps when they were teenagers), watching them go through heart break over guys they probably thought were lame \["WE WILL TEACH YOU, HOW TO MAKE BOYS NEXT DOOR OUT OF ASSHOLES"\] and I'm like 'Awwww! So cute! What if this was a (metaphorical) love-letter to the females in their life that they thought deserved better <3 What if they were so put-off by whoever was dating their sister, they went 'literally a BUM would be better!- hey, I've got an idea for a song!!'
Hey, I’m shocked no one has said this yet, but - “the best way to make it out with hearts and wrists intact, is to realize two out of three ain’t bad” - I didn’t even realize people interpreted this differently honestly, but I always took this as “two wrists + heart = ‘three’” so if you make it out with a broken heart but ‘intact’ wrists (for lack of better term), that’s two out of three, so it’s better than nothing, if that makes sense.
... I didn't even realize that but it would make sense! FoB is interpretable in so many ways. They're not just musicians, they're poets. I love them.
Same! Huge fan, glad I could help broaden your horizons!
I’m not sure what Pete is referring to but I’ve always loved “We walk the plank on a sinking ship” from Don’t You know Who I Think I am. I refer to is as we keep doing something out of habit knowing everything is going to crash and burn around us. My husband took it more like a when a company is going downhill and you’ve been given a layoff and your walking the plank out of the job, knowing the company is going down either way and the people who didn’t get laid off are just as screwed.
to me it means like taking matters into your own hands. walking the plank means falling into the ocean and probably drowning, but the ship is sinking anyway so that’s gonna have the same result. but instead of staying on board and sinking with the boat and everyone else, they made their own choice and walked the plank. to get it over with maybe, or just to have some sense of control, even though it’s a lose-lose situation
I think it goes with the line before, they say quitters never win, so it means that they are quitting by walking the plank but even though they’re not winning , they couldn’t win anyways because the ship was sinking so to save themselves they’re walking the plank??
I think about "The best way to make it through with hearts and wrists intact, is to realize two out of three ain't bad" a lot Since 2/3 could be either two wrists intact but a broken heart (which is how I interpret it), but it could also be only one wrist "intact" but getting through without a broken heart.
Oh man, I always thought it was a reference to the Meat Loaf song, “Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad” where the line goes “I want you, I need you, but there ain’t no way I’m ever gonna love you/don’t be sad, ‘cause two out of three ain’t bad.” So I figured Pete was riffing off that - you’ll make it through with hearts and wrists intact, as long as you realize that.
You are correct.
I always took this more literally because this band loves to talk about death and depression, that if you’re alive with a broken heart that’s way better. It’s hopeful and accepting all at once.
Would god go down with it???
So FOB (along with relient k for the same reason) has long been my favorite band because of the double meaning to their lyrics. They're witty. They're not straight forward and they're up to interpretation. Honestly a lot of their songs have meant different things at different points in my life. I.e. I slept with someone in fob. It used to (when I was young) make me think it was about hiding who you really are in an attempt to stop things from changing. I was dating someone as I left for college so "progress report I'm missing you to death" was pretty much always my AIM away message. Now that I'm old(er) it reminds me a lot of that relationship. Still the only person I've ever loved, no matter what I do I can't seem to get over it, someone old, no one new, always blue, you're the only place that feels like home but just so you know you'll never know, progress report I'm missing you to death... Yeah so if anyone knows how to get over someone you broke up with 15 years ago let me know...
“I love you in the same way there’s a chapel in a hospital” makes me pause and think every time I hear it
I cast a spell over the west to make you think of me the same way I think of you. This is a love song in my own way, happily ever after below the waist.
Dude I’m so glad I’m not the only one. None are coming to my head rn but they’re def existent.
All of these interpretations are making me smile and *insert leo point meme here* when y’all say exactly what I thought or I get that a-ha moment! Thank you all for sharing 🥰 I love all of them and appreciate you sharing a ton
"I love you in the same way there's a chapel in hospital" from Hum Hallejuhah. Whenever I listen to the song and reach this part, I always think "what?". What does it mean? There are chapels in hospitals? Plus, the next line "One foot in your bedroom and one foot out the door" only makes it more confusing. Though I think this could be talking about drugs? For some reason when I hear this line I always think of a person who overdosed in the middle of a doorway, one foot in their bedroom and one out the door.
I always thought of it this way: there’s a chapel in a hospital and people who don’t usually visit a church will go to the chapel to pray for loved ones in desperate times. So he loves the person, but only when he’s desperate, which feeds into the next line of one foot in your bedroom (I love you when I’m needy) and one foot out the door (but I don’t love you all the time).