| Fall Out Boy – The (After) Life of the Party Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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This is just my interpretation, but I've always figured it to be a love song about a relationship that will never work. Maybe it's a relationship with an old love that's been tried time and time again and failed, or maybe it's one that hasn't been given a chance yet, but to me this has always sounded like longing for another person. I assume that 'a stitch away from making it' means that this person holds the key to getting over his fears and, if it were to work with them, those fears and scars of the past would fade away - however, 'a scar away from falling apart' to me seems like he feels as if he couldn't handle losing this person and so is reluctant to try. 'Blood cells pixelate, and the eyes dilate' shows to me that he feels faint and euphoric around her, and his eyes dilating are a reflection of his attraction to her. The full moon is often a reference to insanity, so it suggests to me that when he thinks about her he feels like he is losing his mind over her, and is crazy in love. The second verse seems to be about the things holding them back - 'put Love on hold, young Hollywood is on the other line' seems to be stating that his fame and the band are driving a wedge between the two of them, making it difficult for him to sustain any form of relationship while in the spotlight and touring. 'Death's in a double bed singing songs that could only catch the ear of the desperate' - the fact that Death is lying in an otherwise empty double bed, a bed made for two people, seems to reflect his loneliness and desperation to be with this girl, or else it seems that life is hardly worth living. 'Kiss away all these thrills and kills on the mouths of all my friends' suggests that instead of confessing his love for her, he hides his feelings in the mouths and beds of other people to attempt to block out how he about her feels, to no real avail as he is still in love afterwards. The chorus seems to simply be him watching her from afar, probably at a party with lots of other people (hence 'The (After) Life of the Party - perhaps this is his train of thought once he has left the party and is alone with his thoughts), and possibly watching out of jealousy at his inability to talk to her himself, wondering whether the two of them could ever work. But, like I say - I could be way wrong. I can also see how this could be a song about struggling with fame, or drug abuse ('stitch away from making it, scar away from falling apart', 'blood cells pixelate and the eyes dilate', 'a nose runs ruby red, Death's in a double bed... ear of the desperate' all can be linked to substance abuse and the affects it has on both body and mind). So maybe we’ll never really know what they were thinking about when they wrote this song. One thing I love about Fall Out Boy is the depth and intensity of their lyrics, and how they can be interpreted in so many different ways. |
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