anonymous April 2nd, 2007 08:02AM  

"sometimes we take chances, sometimes we take pills" refers to how when shit goes down in your life sometimes you take a chance and face it and sometimes you try to run away from it. Taking pills refers to suicide.

wentzrocks9 April 2nd, 2007 09:14PM  

I love this song.
I interpereted it as when they were younger, he loved her a lot more than she loved him. And she's saying "Til tonight do us part", you know, in a parking lot, which I think really symbolizes the impermanence of it. And he says "I sing the blues and I swallow them too", because he knew he didn't really matter to her, but he's not gonna say anything about it. And later in the song, they're older and everything and he says "I love you in the same way", so after all the time that's past, he still loves her. "There's a chapel in the hospital," I think that's really kind of talking about how she's such a wreck, but he still wants to be with her. So yeah I really love this song.

anonymous April 9th, 2007 11:16AM  

I think this is a song about a guy who wants to or is about to take his own life, as he sits in his car in a parking lot (Pete wentz has said that he tried to OD while in a parking lot) he tinks about the things that have happend in his life, mainly his teenage years hence the line "a teenage vow in a parking lot". As this is going on the song Hallejuah plays on the radio.

anonymous June 5th, 2007 06:18AM  

Ok this song is about a teenage romance. It is also about a personal experience of petes overdose with ativan. They have interprted Jeff Bucklys Hallelujah.

Hum Hallelujah Refers to when he's depressed and instead of singing the words he hums them in greif.

I sing the blues and swallow them too.. He sings the blues of a song like the sad melodys of a song and metaphorically he saying he is swallowing his pills at the same time overdoseing.
I believe this song can also be refered to as a teenage romance Instead of till death to us part.. Tonight do us part to symbolise he didn't mean much to her.

fall out boys lyrics are so clever I guess it just depends on how the indivual person will inperate in their own way.

anonymous June 6th, 2007 08:59AM  

I love this song so much because you can relate it to your own life and experiences, however you interpret it. My interpretation is that it's about how the narrator slept with a girl he barely knew and inevitably got her pregnant. It's obvious he doesn't know her when he says, "And you're someone who knows someone who knows someone I once knew". I think he want to be a good father but he is still in a state of shock. He thought he loved her... but it was actually just the spur of the moment. He says "I thought I loved you... It was just how you looked in the light". He didn't really love her at all. He made a mistake that resulted in him fathering a child. The mistake is pointed out when he says, "I sing the blues and swallow them too". "Sometimes we take chances sometimes we take pills" means he took a chance by having sex. He is also being sarcastic about birth control pills. She did not take them. "A teenage vow in a parking lot" refers to the vow they should take if she was to get pregnant (which did happen). "Till tonight do us part" relates to part of the marriage promise. However, these 2 teens did not take into consideration the consequenses of their actions. When he says, "There's a chapel in a hospital, one foot in your bedroom and one foot out the door" he is refering to the birth of his child. He's using symbolism to show that although they will not marry, the child needs them to be united. He wants to leave and run away from his problems, but at the same time knows it's his responsibility to be there for her and his child.
This song makes the issue of teen pregnancy well-known. It presents the problem through the eyes of a young tennager experiencing it. He's warning us to make good choices... or we'll end up like him with few options. This first-person point of view makes the song so realistic and touching that you can feel what he feels. Take responsibility for your actions.

x_lily_x June 15th, 2007 06:28AM  

I THINK I know what this song is about... It's worth a shot to try and figure it out anyway. Nothing to lose.

I think this was about one of Pete's bad experiences as a teenager ie, overdosing when he was a teenager in a parking lot.

I don't know how the original "Hallelujah" song is interpreted into the mix, but it must be significant to the writer.

The lines "A teenage boy in a parking lot" kinda make this obvious... To me anyway. Although Fallout Boy have a knack of making their fans believe that their songs mean one thing, whilst they actually mean something completely different.
"Till tonight do us part" reveals to me that the person who is supposed to be in pain/overdosing (I won't say it was Pete because a) I don't know this and B)it might spark controversy) wanted it over quickly, and perhaps didn't want to think of it as death - maybe the concept of dying scared them.
Hallelujah also has religious connotations - Maybe the writer thought that death would be more pleasant/manageable than life.

Thanks again for reading this.
Lily (",)

anonymous June 15th, 2007 01:19PM  

It's really about that the fact that Pete attempted suicide. If you really noticed that when FOB sings:
"I love you in the same way, there's a chapel in a hospital
One foot in your bedroom and one foot out the door
Sometimes we take chances, sometimes we take pills.
I could write it better than you ever felt it."
Also, when Pete attempted suicide he heard song "Hallelujah" by Jeff Buckley on the radio.

anonymous June 28th, 2007 04:55PM  

OK, think about this. Song is about the fans. What I mean is it's about the fans who hold them up on a pedestal and think they are amazing and want to "just be a part of this". Think about it "I could write it better than you ever felt it." this is meaning this song is about the feelings of the listeners. and how they want to be in the shoes of FOB.

I think its also about how people seem to think they are absolutely in love with people they don't know. like celebrities. "I thought I loved you but its just how you looked in the light". I think the "a teenage vow in a parking lot" has to do with before a show these fans think they are going to meet the celebrity in question and be some how it will be magical of some shit lol.
...who knows I could be died wrong about all of this, and to be honest a lot of what y'all have said makes a lot of sense too... most of their songs I understand pretty well I think but this one gave me some trouble..

anonymous July 9th, 2007 10:49PM  

Everyone who keeps insisting it's a love song- dear God. Pete has SAID it's about his suicide attempt. He heard the song Hallelujah on the radio, etcetera etcetera.

I have one thing to say about this line: "The road outside my house is paved with good intentions. Hire a construction crew, 'cause it's hell on the engine." He's tired of always doing what's right, and sometimes it can get to be too much, so he uses the Ativan to "construct" a way out.

anonymous July 25th, 2007 11:03PM  

I have to say, most of you guys are stupid.
no its not about a love story.
at the concert pete did say it was about his overdose.

SO THIS IS WHAT I THINK IT TRANSLATES TO.

The road outside my house
Is paved with good intentions
Hired a construction crew
Cause it's hell on the engine
You are the dreamer
And we are the dream

( he has good things planned out to do in his life, its just hard. )

So hum hallelujah
Just off the key of reason
It's just how you looked in the light
A teenage vow in a parking lot
Til tonight do us part
I sing the blues
And swallow them too

(hallelujah was playing in the car when he tried to commit suicide. How the pills looked in the light, he thought he wanted to take them but no. Teenage vow= they do stupid things. Til tonight do us part = til tonight do I die. Swallow them = swallowing the pills.)


My words are my faith
To hell with our good name
A remix up your guts
Your insides x-rayed
And one day we'll get nostalgic for disaster
We're a bull
Your ears are just a china shop

( words are my faith = praying he lives now he realize it was stupid. Hell with good name = doesn't really care about his rep now. and remix of your guts & insides x-rayed = welll ever gotten your stomach pumped? nostalgic = means happiness sooooooo idk. )

I love you in the same way
There's a chapel in a hospital


( chapel= thinks he's dying, he's getting his stomach pumped in a hospital, chapel connects to god and death, I suppose)


Sometimes we take chances
Sometimes we take pills

I could write it better than you ever felt it

( instead of taking a chance he overdosed. and he could write about the experience better than we ever would have felt/lived though it.)

ehhh I suck at explaining things but yea, whatever.

anonymous August 1st, 2007 01:57AM  

I believe that the song is about Pete Wentz (bassist, lyricist, frontman) overdosed a while ago.

And your someone who knows someone who knows someone I once knew, I just want to be a part of this.

--- refers to everybody wanting the lime light and trying to be part of something they are not.

The road outside my house is payed with good intensions

----- is a play on the saying 'the road to hell is paved with good intentions.'

you are the dreamer and we are the dream I could write this better than you ever felt it

---- Is him playing on the fact that everybody expects greatness from them.

I thought I loved you but it's just how you looked in the light

----- Is him saying that even though in the moment he thought it was the way out.

A teenage vow in the parking lot till tonight do us part, I sing the blues and swallow them too.

----- means that he couldn't handle life so he overdosed on pills.

I could go on forever but I'll stop here.

anonymous August 18th, 2007 09:07PM  

It's all a game of this and that : Having to choose between one thing or another

The road outside my house is paved with good intentions : The person meaning well, even if it doesn't go as planned.

anonymous August 29th, 2007 01:59PM  

This song WAS written about Pete Wentz' overdose. While he was attempting to committ suicide, he heard the song "Hallelujah" on the radio, it was very inspiring for him. This all has been SAID by Pete Wentz himself.

Now: all the lyrics that insinuate he loved someone "I thought I loved you, but it was just how you looked in the light", for me, I think there are two potential meainings.

One, maybe it was because of a girl who he loved that he tried to kill himself, and as he is taking the pills, he is thinking about her.

Two, it could be the drugs and the idea of suicide that he thought he wanted, but as he was doing it, he realized he didn't want it.

Most likely, neither of my potential explanations are true, but only Pete can say what the song's really about. :)

parawhore September 18th, 2007 11:12PM  

I don't think this is a song you can really interpret...Pete's form of songwriting is kinda writing down clever thoughts and eventually throwing them in one song that's why some of there songs seem to sound the same (lyrically anyway) it depends on the person and what they mean to YOU.

anonymous September 20th, 2007 12:13AM  

If you've seen Pete's interview concerning depression on MTVU, you'd know what the songs about. He explains that while he was nearly passed out in a parking lot outside of a grocery store on the night of his widely publicized overdose, the thing playing on the radio was "Hallelujah" by Jeff Buckley. He said they'd never make a music video out of this song because it means too much to him and the band.

anonymous September 22nd, 2007 11:33PM  

Alright, really what the song means is, (in simple terms)Boy loves girl. Girl says she loves boy. Girl breaks boys heart. Boy tries to kill himself. After everything, boy still wants girl.

anonymous October 11th, 2007 12:47AM  

I went to a Fall Out Boy concert recently and Pete dedicated the song to 'losers'. Maybe there is a connection there, but otherwise I think it's about two teens having a one night stand, then she gets pregnant.

anonymous October 14th, 2007 02:04AM  

Yes, the song is about Pete near OD on Ativan.... But he was not in a grocery store parking lot, he was in the parking lot of a Best Buy.. Sorry, I though I would clarify that. And he was listening to Hallelujah by Jeff Buckley, when it happened. The line "A teenage vow in a parking lot, til tonight do us part" is referring to him saying goodbye (that is my opinion)

anonymous October 16th, 2007 11:01AM  

It’s obviously about how Pete tried to commit suicide, he’s even admitted it, but the real thing is about WHY he tried to commit suicide. The lyrics seem to be about how he felt too much pressure from being a celebrity and being worshipped by the fans all the time.

“It's all a game of this or that
Now verses then”

This opening line is obviously about how he wishes he could go back to a simpler time before he was famous. But why?

“The road outside my house
Is paved with good intentions”

There is a famous line (from the bible or something, I can’t remember) that says “the road to hell is paved with good intentions”. This lyric is obviously a twist on that phrase. Whatever it was that led him to wanting to kill himself, Pete is saying that he meant well, even if he feels that he did wrong now.

“You are the dreamer
And we are the dream”

It is here that we first start to get the meaning behind the song. The whole thing is directed at the fans – the fans are the “you” in the lyric – and Pete is referring to Fall Out Boy themselves as “the dream”. He knows that there are millions of people out there who look up to the band and idolize them, want to be them. Referring to the position he is in now as “a dream” is clearly an ironic line, because as we know, Pete is preparing to commit suicide. Some dream.

“I could write better than you ever felt it”

This is one of the best lines that Pete has ever written, and is completely tongue-in-cheek and sarcastic. He is saying, with a hint of irony, that he can write lyrics that explains the fans feelings more than the fans can articulate their feelings themselves. Pete doesn’t really think this, clearly, but you hear it all the time, fans in interviews or on message boards saying that “Fall Out Boy explain how I feel better than I ever could myself.” This is a lot of pressure to put a band under, to put them in charge of explaining how you feel. And it is one of the reasons that has driven Pete to where he is now – in a car, in a parking lot, wanting to kill himself.

“So hum hallelujah
Just off the key of reason”

Pete has already stated that when he was about to do the deed, he was listening to “Hallelujah” by Jeff Buckley.

“I thought I loved you
It's just how you looked in the light”

This is where Pete’s misdirected anger at the fans really comes out. At this particular moment, when he’s at his lowest, in a car ready to kill himself, he hates the fans for putting him in this position. He thought he loved them, since they love him back, but really, he only loved “how they looked in the light” – i.e. as a crowd from a stage, as a faceless, mass collective who stroked his ego, not as individual people with problems who are expect him to solve them with song lyrics.

“I sing the blues
And swallow them too”

Pete is telling the fans that he doesn’t write lyrics for them, to try and articulate their feelings, he writes lyrics based on his own feelings. He may “sing the blues”, but he “swallows them too”. Everything that he writes about, he feels as well.

“My words are my faith
To hell with our good name”

He doesn’t care if this song and it’s blame of the fans is going to ruin his career or make everyone turn on him, he no longer cares about his “good name”, he has to let everyone knows how he feels, regardless of the consequences.

“A remix up your guts
Your insides x-rayed”

This is obviously a reference to having his stomach pumped at the hospital later on that night, but also harks back to the main theme of the song – that being the idea that the fans seem to think Pete can somehow “see inside their souls” as he writes his lyrics. Again, it’s a sarcastic lyric.

“We're a bull
Your ears are just a china shop”

If a bull was inside a china shop, it would destroy everything inside, smash it all to pieces. Pete is saying that Fall Out Boy are a bull, and the fans ears (i.e. Them listening to the music) are a china shop. Pete thinks that Fall Out Boy will really end up destroying the fans, especially if they keep reading too deep into the lyrics and thinking that every song is “for them”. To completely worship a band to that level, as many of Fall Out Boys fans do, is a dangerous thing.

The rest of the lyrics are either pretty self-explanatory or they just repeat lines that I have already analyzed.

anonymous October 19th, 2007 06:16PM  

I think the song is about how he is coping with being famous and how people are trying to use him because they know someone who used to know him, and also it seems like he's mocking people who listen to them when it says "I can write it better than you ever felt it", because how many people are like "oh my god this song is exactly how I feel!" not necessarily this song but just music in general, you know? people don't think for themselves they just let everyone else do it for them, and to further that people don't experience anything they just let everyone else experience it for them. That's what I think this song is about, that's just me though.