| Panic! at the Disco – I Constantly Thank God For Esteban Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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A lyricist with Ryan's genius obviously knows that the best writing has no one specific meaning, and, judging by his other songs, I'd say he loves to play with irony and double meanings. His songs are sort of like Hemingway's iceberg theory, in that he doesn't tell you everything but you can fill in the holes with what can be inferred. I love his poetry (yes, I consider the lyrics to be that), especially songs like this, which can be so confusing to decipher. I have several different ideas. One is that this could be a sort of continuation of "I Write Sins..." (which comes right before it on the cd, by the way), since it's still in a church and dealing with hypocrisy, and maybe (this is really out there) Esteban is the waiter from whom he heard that "the groom's bride is a whore" (which is why he'd be thanking him, as he sings about the hypocrisy he's discovered). I'm not sure I completely would endorse the last part, but just thought I'd throw that out there. I think it can definitely be a commentary on music these days, where people worship celebrities more than God, and so the music scene has become the new church. I like what someone said about "God be thy witness" being replaced with "YOU'll be thy witness," showing the egocentrism in contemporay society. During the chorus, I think "strike up the band" alludes to both people who jump on the bandwagon and also concerts in general, where the "congregation" of fans sings along "like you mean it," although "no," they don't, and they "don't...get it" either. Still, the bands will put up with this ("don't you move") as long as they have fans. the whole "stay where I can see you. douse the lights" bit surely refers to being onstage and not being able to see the audience, and then once the lights are doused they're on equal footing, and can that both the band and the audience are putting on a "show tonight", being fake etc. like everyone else has already said. I guess I'm not really contributing much new, but if I had to pick an interpretation I'd say it's about the "faux sermons" of some musicians and the equally false fans who follow them blindly, complaining of "faux afflictions"...perhaps an emo commentary, who knows. Okay that's all I've got. |
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| Panic! at the Disco – Camisado (Relax, Relapse) Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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I'm going to interpret this from the lyrics inside the cd, lyrics which, interestingly, differ from those actually sung in the song. My assumption is that, since Ryan says he writes the lyrics first, these were his original intention for the song, which got modified once the music was added. It seems obvious that the song was written about Ryan's dad's alcoholism. I think in this song, Ryan is visiting his dad in the hospital, and noticing that this is not the way a normal, conventional family should work, but "we deal, we deal" with his alcoholic dad. This is apparently a recurring event, since he will "sit back, relax" and then "relapse again and again." Perhaps this passive, ineffecive approach to treatment is what he means by an "anesthetic [that] never set in" (this type of treatment didn't work, and so he's back in the hospital again). What I am assuming are the originally intended lyrics say, "you can take the kid out of the fight but you can't take the fight out of the kid." This is almost cliché-sounding, which shows that it's common sense to know that while you can take the alcoholic away from his alcohol, you can't take away his alcoholism, and so the hospital is not doing an effective job of dealing with his dad. At the very end of the lyrics is a parenthetical that reads, "2nd highest all time number of curses, swears, and punches." I think this is the clue to the other parts of the song. This seems to be the award which earned him "a place atop the ICU's hall of fame," and also why he's a "regular decorated emergency" (decorated with medals, you know). And if he's throwing punches, that might explain why "the bruises and contusions will remind you what you did when you wake," when he sees how he's hurt his family. "Camisado" means "suprise attack by night" or something, which I interpret as whatever violence must have landed him in the hospital. The title is also ironic, because the truth is, this was "no accident, this was a therapeutic chain of events." I think it's the perfect title since it has this double meaning. Well, that's all I can think of right now. |
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| The Goo Goo Dolls – Acoustic #3 Lyrics | 21 years ago |
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I only discovered this song a week ago, but already it’s my favorite goo goo dolls song, mainly because it's the song I’ve been trying for months to write for one of my best friends. To me this song is about how people are made to believe that their dreams are hopeless, so they end up just following along with other people's expectations, throwing away their chances for happiness in an effort to survive in the world. I try to convince my friend that she should go for what she really wants, but she doesn’t listen, instead killing herself with challenging academics and interning at hospitals so she can be prepared to live in the “real world”, even though she hates what she feels she has to do and would rather be doing something else. It’s so frustrating to watch her ruin her life, and she’s only fifteen! You just have one life, one opportunity for happiness, and if you don’t go for it, you have no chance at all to ever obtain it. Parents teach their children that the world is cruel and you must face it and be practical if you want to survive, and so this lie is passed on through the generations, with no one ever listening to those few who dare question it. People convince themselves that they ought to be happy because “it could be worse”, never asking themselves if this was really what they wanted. It isn’t life that’s the problem; it’s the world that suppresses their hopes and dreams, the world of people telling you what you can’t do. Truth is beautiful, but the world isn’t true; it’s full of lies that get in your way. Also, this song is perfectly written. It has almost a cyclical format to it, which symbolizes the ongoing, unending problem addressed in the lyrics. And it is not too short; its seemingly insignificant length parallels both the life lived without dreams and the attention given to the speaker. And although when I listen to this song, I hear it as me speaking to my friend, the terrifying thing is that it serves as a reminder that I, too, may well fall victim to these deceptions. |
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