This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
She paints her fingers with a close precision
He starts to notice empty bottles of gin
And takes a moment to assess the sin she's paid for
A lonely speaker in a conversation
Her words are swimming through his ears again
There's nothing wrong with just a taste of what you paid for
Say what you mean, tell me I'm right
And let the sun rain down on me
Give me a sign, I wanna believe
Whoa oh oh oh oh, Mona Lisa
You're guaranteed to run this town
Whoa oh oh oh oh, Mona Lisa
I'd pay to see you frown
He senses something, call it desperation
Another dollar, another day
And if she had the proper words to say
She would tell him
But she'd have nothing left to sell him
Say what you mean, tell me I'm right
And let the sun rain down on me
Give me a sign, I wanna believe
Whoa oh oh oh oh, Mona Lisa
You're guaranteed to run this town
Whoa oh oh oh oh, Mona Lisa
I'd pay to see you frown
Mona Lisa, wear me out
I'm pleased to please ya
Mona Lisa, wear me out
Say what you mean, tell me I'm right
And let the sun rain down on me
Give me a sign, I wanna believe
Whoa oh oh oh oh, Mona Lisa
You're guaranteed to run this town
Whoa oh oh oh oh, Mona Lisa
I'd pay to see you frown
Say what you mean, tell me I'm right
And let the sun rain down on me
Give me a sign, I wanna believe
There's nothing wrong with just a taste of what you paid for
He starts to notice empty bottles of gin
And takes a moment to assess the sin she's paid for
A lonely speaker in a conversation
Her words are swimming through his ears again
There's nothing wrong with just a taste of what you paid for
Say what you mean, tell me I'm right
And let the sun rain down on me
Give me a sign, I wanna believe
Whoa oh oh oh oh, Mona Lisa
You're guaranteed to run this town
Whoa oh oh oh oh, Mona Lisa
I'd pay to see you frown
He senses something, call it desperation
Another dollar, another day
And if she had the proper words to say
She would tell him
But she'd have nothing left to sell him
Say what you mean, tell me I'm right
And let the sun rain down on me
Give me a sign, I wanna believe
Whoa oh oh oh oh, Mona Lisa
You're guaranteed to run this town
Whoa oh oh oh oh, Mona Lisa
I'd pay to see you frown
Mona Lisa, wear me out
I'm pleased to please ya
Mona Lisa, wear me out
Say what you mean, tell me I'm right
And let the sun rain down on me
Give me a sign, I wanna believe
Whoa oh oh oh oh, Mona Lisa
You're guaranteed to run this town
Whoa oh oh oh oh, Mona Lisa
I'd pay to see you frown
Say what you mean, tell me I'm right
And let the sun rain down on me
Give me a sign, I wanna believe
There's nothing wrong with just a taste of what you paid for
Lyrics submitted by exitxemergency, edited by PATDlyrics
The Ballad of Mona Lisa Lyrics as written by Butch Walker Brendon Urie
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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I agree, great song to start the buzz for Vices and Virtues. I can't wait for that album!
And on to the lyrics: I think its about a prostitute?
From what I get, without much analysis, its about this guy who pays for an escort but, idk, maybe he pays her to have her company more than her body. And she tells him its ok "there's nothing wrong with just a taste of what you´ve paid for"
But maybe he likes her a bit more, or is more intrigued about her personality ("I'd pay to se you frown"), and she doesn't let him through because its not part of her job, so she keeps things for herself (even things she might want to say) or she'd lose a client. ("But she'd have nothing left to sell him")
I think that's it
I love this song! I can't wait to see what they've done with the video. I hope they release it soon.
Yeah, I think you've hit the nail on the head with that analysis. It could be taken deeper, but this a perfect simplistic analysis.<br /> <br /> In a small addition, it does seem he's a little more preoccupied with her as a person than what she's selling per se, and I think his goal ("he senses something, call it desperation") is getting her out of prostitution and leaving her old life behind, although the song doesn't give much indication as to the outcome of that.<br /> <br /> if i were analise it a bit more, continuing my theme, if you take the last line in context of the song and my (well, our combined interpretation) ("There's nothing wrong with just a taste of what you've paid for") the end seems subdued and hushed, also hinting at sadness as if this call girl (Mona Lisa) is rejecting his offer to help her escape.<br /> <br /> i feel like there's a perfect movie example of this, alas I can't place the name of the movie, nor those of major actors or actresses.
This was more or less what I was thinking as well about the lyrics. Great, great song that really stuck with me the first time I heard it. Can't wait for the full album.
Is the movie you're thinking of Pretty Woman (with Richard Gere and Julia Roberts)? Thanks for the great interpretation, by the way- I would have never gotten it if it wasn't for that.
@ianapoc I think the movie you are talking about is called Moulin Rouge. Starring Nicole Kidman as a Prostitute and Ewan McGreggor as a Poor writer who falls in love with her. Throughout the movie he tries to convince her to leave with him. I don't want to say much but it has a bitter sweet ending. Thus this Song give a strong feel for the film and it's characters.
I think the movie is My best friend's wedding. She hires an escort and they fall for each other.
If you are planning to read The Da Vinci Code and are not a fan of spoilers, I would stop reading.<br /> <br /> My theory of the meaning is completely based off of the video. <br /> <br /> Okay, maybe it's because I am currently reading The Da Vinci Code that I am thinking this, but, yeah. I think it has something to do with that. Because in the video the little girl holds up a sign that says, "Mary did it." Mary, as in Mary Magdelene, the supposed prostitute in the bible, believed by some to actually be Jesus's spouse or companion...a secret that everyone is trying to keep quiet. Which I haven't quite gotten to that part in the book, but I have a feeling that maybe it has something to do with a theory that her and Jesus actually had a child together, but I couldn't be sure...anyway. Then there is the fact the on the microphone or whatever that is in the video, there is a pentacle, or star, which is a huge part of The Da Vinci Code because of it's Pagan symbolism. Coincidence? Probably. But it's a fun theory. Then there is the fact that it is a little girl at the end who finds out the secret through the help of a dead man. This possibly representing the granddaughter in the book, Sophie Neveu and her grandfather, whom, in the beginning, is killed and before he dies, creates a way for her to follow clues that leads to the secret.<br /> <br /> It's a long shot and there are a ton of "coincidences," but you never know.