anonymous April 2nd, 2007 08:54PM  

This song isn't really about marriage/divorce. Those are both metaphors.

The girl he wants is with another guy. So he's saying wouldn't you rather be a widow (that one is pretty self explainitory) than a divorcee (her having to get rid of him). That's also what he means when he says "We do it in the dark with smiles on our faces" and "We don't fight fair". He's taking him out of the picture.

anonymous April 14th, 2007 12:41AM  

"Baby, seasons change but people don't.
And I'll always be waiting in the back room."

I think this means this guys ex-girlfriend is acting like she changed and he knows that she hasn't. But he will still always care about her in some way always, no matter what she does.

"I'm boring but overcompensate with
Headlines and flash, flash, flash photography."

No interpretation needed here. He's a normal guy that gets all this press.

"But don't pretend you ever forgot about me.
Don't pretend you ever forgot about me."

Again no interpretation really needed. She acts like she doesn't care, or she forgot about him when he know that they were to big a part of each others life to not care or forget about each other.

"Wouldn't you rather be a widow than a divorcee?"

He has moved on from the person he was when he was with her so that person is dead. So she would be a widow rather than him just breaking up with her making her a divorcee.

"Style your wake for fashion magazines."

A wake is associated with a funeral. She helped with 'killing' that part of him which led to songs which led to him being in magazines and her being known for it.

"We don't fight fair."

Rather than calling her up and telling her to her face about these songs (not just this one, but all the songs before it. I think it's his way of moving on and apologizing for it), he's going to make a song about it for public humiliation. She she has also done her part to gossip about him instead of going to him and talking about it.

"They say your head can be a prison.
Then these are just conjugal visits."

They can't stop thinking about times when they were together. conjugal meaning being together or married.

"People will dissect us till
This doesn't mean a thing anymore."

You can take this two ways. The obvious, what we are doing now. Or people dissect them meaning to take them apart. If you take the couple apart then they won't mean a thing anymore because there is no them.

"We do it in the dark with smiles on our faces.
We're dropped and well concealed in secret places"

I'm not going to take the obvious sex here. I going to refer back to what I said before they think about each other before they go to bed, in the dark. They have smiles on their faces because they no longer have bad feelings toward each other. They don't tell anyone they still think about each other, and on top of that, that they are good thoughts. So they are well concealed in secret places in their minds.

peteinmypants June 20th, 2007 07:50PM  

What this song means is that just because a person changes and becomes something more than you planned them to be, doesn't mean that you should bring them down and pretend that they are nothing because everyone changes and that's what life is about. It's about making changes and going for your goals.

anonymous September 6th, 2007 04:58PM  

You guys are all lame!

It's about fall out boy themselves!!
It's about Fall Out Boys's new image! In the video it shows all their old fans turning against them as they are not really playing what they used to play like;

" Baby, seasons change but people don't." - this is sayin how the music scene changes, but they are still real!

" Headlines and flash, flash, flash photography." shows how famous they are now!

"But don't pretend you ever forgot about me." even though people are turning against them, they are still FOB and they can't forget that!

I could go on.....just watch the video for it to get what I'm saying!

This theory came from an aaaaaaaaamazin friend ov mines that always talks about deeper meanings and rubbish, but she's acually pretty damn good!! =D

anonymous October 24th, 2007 02:39AM  

This song's meaning is how Fall Out Boy "sold out" since their recent albums and how much their songs have changed.... because in the video it has the part where its all like they have the shirts that say "Pete who" "sell out boy" and stuff like that ,,,, and what I wrote at the start is basically what it means.

anonymous October 27th, 2007 12:45AM  

Baby, seasons change but people don't.

And I'll always be waiting in the back room.
I'm boring but overcompensate with
Headlines and flash, flash, flash photography.


But don't pretend you ever forgot about me.
Don't pretend you ever forgot about me.


Wouldn't you rather be a widow than a divorcee?

Style your wake for fashion magazines.
Widow or a divorcee?
Don't pretend, d-d-d-don't pretend.

We don't fight fair.
We don't fight fair.

They say your head can be a prison.

Then these are just conjugal visits.

People will dissect us till
This doesn't mean a thing anymore.


Don't pretend you ever forgot about me.
Don't pretend you ever forgot about me.

Wouldn't you rather be a widow than a divorcee?
Style your wake for fashion magazines.
Widow or a divorcee?
Don't pretend, d-d-d-don't pretend.

We do it in the dark with smiles on our faces.

We're dropped and well concealed in secret places, woah.

We do it in the dark with smiles on our faces.
We're dropped and well concealed in secret places
We don't fight fair.
We don't fight fair.
We don't fight fair.
We don't fight fair.
We don't fight fair.

We do it in the dark with smiles on our faces.
We're dropped and well concealed in secret places, woah.
We do it in the dark with smiles on our faces.
We're dropped and well concealed in secret places.
We don't fight fair.
With smiles on our faces.
We're dropped and well concealed in secret places.
We don't fight fair.

Don't pretend you ever forgot about me.
We don't fight fair.
Don't pretend you ever forgot about me.
We don't fight fair

anonymous November 5th, 2007 07:39PM  

Going by the video, this is about how people think FOB is selling out and changing.

Baby, seasons change, but people don't, and I'll always be waiting in the backroom. I'm boring but overcompensate with headlines and flash photography.: Their music changes, but themselves as people don't. Their music goes through 'seasons,' like almost every band, but they are the same. They'll always be there even if you don't like them anymore.

But don't pretend you ever forgot about me. Wouldn't you rather be a widow than a divorcee, style your wake for fashion magazines.: You can say they've changed, but you can't say you ever forgot about them. And then the next line, I think is that you wish they'd broken up instead so you could sob and cry about it and get a pity party instead of getting shirts that say Pete Who? and facing opposition and all that.

They say your head can be a prison, then these are just conjugal vists, people will disect us til this doesn't mean a thing anymore.: This part is about not taking their music so seriously, I think. Conjugal, which is realated to married- you can always get a divorce and seperate and fall in out of love again no matter how many times you swear you'll be together forever. And the next line is just what we're doing! Trying to analyze it so much that it doesn't make any sense.

We do it in the dark with smiles on our faces, we're trapped and will conceal in secret places, we don't fight fair.: Even if you don't like it, you'll still love it when nobody's looking and expecting you to speak out against it- AKA 'in the dark'. You might not like them anymore, but they don't 'fight fair,' so you always end up coming back because they didn't do it fair. (That can be something related to conjugal again, but I don't know. Sorry this was so long.)

anonymous January 3rd, 2008 11:35PM  

I say that the song is about a famous woman who is dealing with a divorce from her husband but they still sleep together and trying to keep it on the low.

danipaz January 13th, 2008 03:40PM  

"Baby, seasons change but people don't.
And I'll always be waiting in the back room."

I think he means that he will always be like there for her, even thought he's not the one.

"'m boring but overcompensate with
Headlines and flash, flash, flash photography. "

Pete says that he's really boring, so I think he means that people think he is great (for what you read in magazines and thatstuff) but he's pretty normal.

"But don't pretend you ever forgot about me.
Don't pretend you ever forgot about me."

It's pretty obvious that she she is faking she forgot everything about him.

"Wouldn't you rather be a widow than a divorcee? "

She's kind of dark. She likes to be different.

"Style your wake for fashion magazines. "

He likes her style. That's it.

"We don't fight fair. "

I understand, for other songs from fob, that they are dating with other people. She knocks him out.

"We do it in the dark with smiles on our faces. "

They have sex or they're making out.

"We're dropped and well concealed in secret places"

Their like loners.

anonymous February 7th, 2008 05:55AM  

The line "wouldn't you rather be a widow than a divorcee?" is referring to Courtney Love (and Kurt cobain)

Think about it...

anonymous February 25th, 2008 01:18AM  

"They say your head can be a prison.
Then these are just conjugal visits."
it means that their messing with their mind

mind is a prison - duh
conjugal visit - when a wife/husband (usually wife) goes to see their wife/husband in jail, because they're gonna be in there for a long time (they sleep together)

so if the mind is a prison they're only going there to mess (around) with them

anonymous March 16th, 2008 10:52AM  

I heard that the "rather be a widow than a divorcee" was about Kurt Cobain. He was about to divorce that chick so she shot him.

jdigz August 26th, 2008 02:02PM  

To bounce off of what some people said and to, of course, add my own theory:


'Baby, seasons change but people don't.
And I'll always be waiting in the back room.'

Music (like seasons) is always evolving (change)
The greatest musicians will often change their sound in order to challenge themselves and try new things (just as most of us do in life)
It doesn’t change who they are and they know that. They’re saying to us ‘when you realize that we haven’t changed, we’ll still be here (in the backroom) being us.


'I'm boring but overcompensate with
Headlines and flash, flash, flash photography.'

Pete is saying that he is just a normal guy. It’s the fans/media hype who make his out to be someone else. He’s saying he knows who he is no matter what people think of him.


'Wouldn't you rather be a widow than a divorcee?'

They’re saying wouldn’t you rather them take their chances lyrically/musically and ‘die’ at their own accord (if they didn’t make it with their new sound) rather than ostracize (divorce) them just for trying a new sound.

'Style your wake for fashion magazines.
Widow or a divorcee?'
Even though ‘fans’ talk shit, they still try to emulate them through what they see in the fashion magazines. Many still want to look like them even though they boycott the new sound. Again, he's asking you to decide what you want from yourself of them. Saying let them decide their own fate.

We don't fight fair.
We don't fight fair.

They are using the words of their songs to get back at their ‘fans’ who turned their backs on them - The original fans who fought to get them fave. They realize it’s not fair to get back at them through lyrics when they are the ones who helped get them to where they are today.

'They say your head can be a prison.
Then these are just conjugal visits.'

MY FAVE LINE! Many emo fans are prisoners in their own minds. The fans who were with them from the beginning (married to them) but then turned on them (divorced them) -This line/song is their way of ‘mind-fucking’ them. Conjugal visits (in prisons) are only between married couples. They are mind-fucking the fans who turned on them with their lyrics which leads to the last part:

'People will dissect us till
This doesn't mean a thing anymore.'

They know that fans will dissect their lyrics and try to ‘figure’ it all out until it’s completely lost its meaning. Meaning that most of us will be so wrong about what we think about what he/they are saying.

Pete is a lyrical Genius! Love the metaphors and the way he makes us think. (or overthink!)


'We do it in the dark with smiles on our faces.
We're dropped and well concealed in secret places, woah.'

Finally, I think this refers to performing their concerts (most of which are in dark places) and they smile because they’re happy to be doing what they’re doing. They’re ‘dropped’ by the fans who turned away, but most probably still love them and they hide it (because they’re so emo) in well-concealed places (mind/heart). Which is why he ends with

'Don't pretend you ever forgot about me.'

Hate them if you want, but realize that most of the old fans are probably lying to themselves about not liking the new sound otherwise they wouldn’t have so much to say about it all.

One of my faves!

surethang December 4th, 2008 10:52PM  

In response to

""They say your head can be a prison.
Then these are just conjugal visits."

They can't stop thinking about times when they were together. conjugal meaning being together or married."


Married?!? WTF? Ummm, not so much. This is actually just a clever way of saying that you're fucking with someones mind.

anonymous February 1st, 2009 12:50AM  

I like the video for it, mainly cause their little dog hemingway is adorable. If you actually read the comments on youtube, The haterz (as i call them) call them "posers" and other stuff i dont think is all that appropriate. Cmon! It's not like fall out boy themselves are gonna look at it, and say "OMG These few youtube losers think we suck! We should stop playing forever!"