anonymous February 15th, 2006 05:06PM  
I think this song is about the narrator in a relationship, but the relationship didn't work out.

anonymous March 23rd, 2006 12:01AM  
I think that this song is about how the media warps everything, and makes music secondary to behavior and fashion. "I went to sleep a poet and I woke up a fraud".. I think this portrays the transition most artists have made from being original to being a total clone, which ties in with the other line "im every cliche, but I simply do it best" stating that he uses all the same popular song ideas, but changes them to something of his own, which defies the media, and buried in the songs sarcastic comments.

anonymous April 14th, 2006 11:49AM  
This song is based on a movie/book called "High Fidelity"

anonymous July 2nd, 2006 09:09AM  
I think the line 'Which came first, the music or the misery' means that some bands sing just for the sake of singing and their lyrics don't reflect any past suffering or 'misery'. I'm not sure about the rest of the song. Tell me what you think:)

anonymous December 2nd, 2006 11:36PM  
^^^^the one above^^^^

I agree with that one.

psPatrick2707 February 15th, 2007 01:26AM  
This is about the guys in the band feeling stuck. They can't tell if they're becoming sellouts and their nervous that they are. I think they don't know what to do with all their fame and they feel horrible with all this stuff just sitting their waiting to be dealt with.

psPatrick2707 February 19th, 2007 01:51AM  
The 4th interpretation on this page is really good, but when they say misery, I think they mean not only past suffering but any feeling at all. like some bands do it for the sake of playing the music, and some use it as a way to vent any feelings or "misery"

armybrat21381 March 13th, 2007 09:13PM  
Same as interpretation 4.

But also I think "which came first the music or the misery?" is sort of questioning "do I write songs because I was/am miserable, or was/am I miserable because I write them?" but that's just me.

anonymous November 2nd, 2007 08:11PM  
The music or the misery is about how everyone has warped music into something it was never supposed to be. Take the chorus for instance... "It was never about the songs, it was competition.Make the biggest scene, make the biggest... Which came first, the music or the misery? We're high-fashion, we're last chances." This is supposed to express how music has changed. Music has basically become crap lately. Everyone has forgotten what it's supposed to be about. Nobody really cares about the lyrics anymore. It's like the music doesn't count anymore and everyone is giving into the pressure of the media and trying to be the coolest band. And the people who still do care are miserable from it. So, bands like fall Out Boy aren't out to save music but also aren't out to keep destroying it. They still care about the lyrics and feelings they wanna put out and really care about that kind of stuff. So the few bands left like that are like last chances. And the media is a pretty cut throaght biz. That's what I got from it anyway.

anonymous October 27th, 2009 06:52PM  
I think that the entire song is about how nothing is really about the music its about "the scene". The song questions whether misery or music was used first to gain attention. All of the other parts about fashion and such are also mentioned as other ways to gain the medias attention.