I Constantly Thank God For Esteban

i said it in "i write sins...", this is a continueation in the chruch. once he gets up to the altar he's bitching out everyone who came to the wedding to see a "show", because they all knew about the bride being a whore. the groom is the "gunslinger extraordinaire vs. the walking contradictions" aka everyone at the wedding who knew and didn't tell him. "douse the lights" i agree is a reference to being able to actually see you audience from the atage, so here he's saying to douse the lights because he can finally see these people for who they REALLY are. and since he says "if THIS scene were a parish" and not "THE scene", i think he's referencing more the moment in the story, not the rock scene in general.

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.

"Just stay where i can see you/ douse the lights" refers to the stage lights. When you are on stage (whether it is for music, theatre, or runway, whatever) you cant see shit if the spotlights are on because they shine right in your eyes. By dousing the lights the audience and the person on stage can mutually see each other. Once the lights are doused "we sure are in for a show tonight" is a sarcastic comment on what you are finally able to see when the spotlights and pretenses are turned off: the sweaty fanatical scene kids. He's more or less laughing at the audience and the state of the scene, if you will.

you know how in "...martyrdom and suicide..." there's a line that goes, "it seems the artsits these days are not who you think, so we'll pick back up on that on another page" i think this is where he "picks up." it would make sense becuase he talks about "no blood from the hearts and wrists you allegedly slit" i agree with !burn the disco!

• I'm bored and in love with this song, so I'm gonna comment :) -

For whoever it was that asked how you get Stephen from Esteban: San Esteban is translated to Saint Stephen. And I think that theory fits for the sing title alot more than a Spanish guitarist... Even if Ryan DID learn how to play guitar from Esteban the Spanish guitarist, I don't see how that has anything to do with the song. Maybe I'm wrong and someone can enlghten me, but I'd like to think the title has more meaning than that. And if it is indeed about San Esteban, as I'm inclined to believe, then I think this might be a continuuation of "The only Difference Between Martyrdom and Suicide is Press Coverage", as Esteban was the first Christian martyr. shrugs

... which would then mean that this isn't about the Church - at least, not completely. I like the theory that it has a double meaning about society, and the issues discussed in "The Only Diffrerence Between Martyrdom and Suicude is Press Coverage".

I love how nothing is clear in their lyrics. It's pretty much take what you want and ignore the rest.

Here's the song watered down with my interpretation:

Give us our once-a-day amount of fake pain Musicians are selling fake messages I’m a trended movement revelation change, and you’ll see it If you’re going to play this music At least believe in what you’re saying Write lyrics you actually believe in In this part of the show we are favored with two examples of persona= the band and its audience We have the pessimistic band, not truly believing the words they write I don’t see much of a big emotional uprising The band writes the depressing lyrics and the audience reacts by, well, being emo And I for one won’t stand for this If the scene (scene as in bands/punks/that jazz) was a parish, you’d all be condemned, damned, shunned. Basically emo is a pretty pathetic genre to be.

Basically, Panic! is being pretty harsh on hypocritical emo bands and their whiny stereotypical fans.

How often do these guys mention God? Seriously, it's on at least 2/3 of the album.

Either way, I also thank god for Esteban. Nothing like a latino guitarist to spruce up your day.

This is obviously and awesomely a critique on the scene. If you like this band, then you should know what I'm talking about. It's calling "fans" out on their pretentious "holier-than-thou" attitudes.

I would agree with the previous comment and add that they're also to some extent calling the musicians themselves on cultivating those attitudes. Most of the first verse ("selling faux sermons" "if you're going to preach then for god sakes preach with conviction") seems more directed at the performer than the audience. When he says "we are graced by two displays of character" he's differentiating between two groups: bands and audiences. The bands are singing about their bleeding hearts and their fans are going home and complaining in their blogs about how they slit their wrists at night, and Ryan sees that they're all bullshit. Fantastic song.

They're clearly making fun of the scene, as aforementioned.

"in this little number we are graced by two displays of character, we've got the gunslinger extraordinaire vs. the walking contradiction because i for one can see no blood from their hearts or the wrists they allegedly slit and i for one wont stand for this if this scene were a parish you'd all be condemned"

walking contradiction, clearly in reference to the supposed individuality scenester kids have. har har.

they mention the scene in london, too.