anonymous 2007-09-20 00:13:41    

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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 2007-09-22 23:33:14    

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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 2007-10-11 00:47:11    

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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 2007-10-14 02:04:51    

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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 2007-10-16 11:01:26    

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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 2007-10-19 18:16:19    

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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.

anonymous 2007-10-20 14:13:45    

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Ya sure it might be about Pete and his OD But still it like a love song. What about the chapel in the hospital and I thought I loved you! I don't really know.

anonymous 2007-11-07 17:38:35    

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I think that what it's saying is "don't give up", just "hum hallelujah just off the key of reason", meaning to even over do it with looking on the bright side. "I could write it better than you ever felt it", meaning I know what it feels like better than you do 'cause I've gone through it more than you have. Didn't they even say that it was to people that keep their lights on at night (meaning that they still look on the brightside)? Other than that, I think that everyone above me is basically right. Except maybe for the whole "teen pregnancy" thing.

josie__1108 2007-11-22 00:37:43    

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It's very simple... Straight from Pete's mouth to your ears
This song is about an EMT breathing life back into you
Done and done!

Brkedncenthrts 2007-12-01 20:03:24    

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Pete attempted suicide.
Because of Jenae.

that is what this song is about.

He was in the parkinglot of bestbuy when he tried to overdose on ativan.

Hallelujah was playing on the radio when he tried.

its as simple as that.

<3

anonymous 2008-01-05 19:09:37    

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Everyone says it could be a love song and others say it's about falling in love. why can't it be both? well, this is my interpretation of this song.
--it's all a game of this or that, now verses then, better off against, worse for wear
-it's about everyone playing the same game of this or that the same mistakes, worse for wear
--your someone who knows someone who knows someone I once knew, and I just wanna be apart of this
-maybe it's about people hooking up with people they don't really know but they wanna be like everyone else so he does too
--the road outside my house is paved with good intentions,hired a construction crew, because its hell on the engine
-these lines are about he has good intentions of everything he wants to do but its difficult for him. maybe hired a construction crew is like his therapist
--you are the dreamer and we are the dream, I could write it better than you ever felt it
-its about how this band started out as their dream, but then its starting to become peoples dreams and fob is just a fragment of the fans dreams
--so hum hallelujah, just off the key of reason
-everyone's acting like everythings fine but they aren't singing hallelujah for the right reasons
--i thought I loved you but its just how you looked in the light
-meaning she came off as a facade of feelings and telling him what he wanted to hear. He could only see her facade
--a teenage vow in a parking lot, till tonite do us part
-one night stand deal
--i sing the blues and swallow them too
-meaning that they aren't pretending to sing hallelujah anymore, there singing the blues and livin' it too
--my words are my faith to hell w/ our good name
-he's being monitored w/ everything he says. His faith is his words or his beliefs but they won't go to hell because everyone knows him
--a remix of your guts, your insides xrayed
-wat he talks about is his beliefs are a remix of everyones, and xrayed means your feelings and everything you say is being examined every moment to the last possible meaning
--and one day we'll get nostalgic for disaster
-means a bittersweet longing for his past of disaster. anything's better than the situation that he's in now
--we're a bull, your ears are just a china shop
-he feels anything he says is fragile to ppls ears
--i luv you in the same way, there's a chapel in a hospital
-he luved her since that one nite stand. getting married and getting refuge for an injury he thinks is the same thing. He's getting refuge for the things he's done
--one foot in your bedroom and one foot out the door
-an underground relationship or they live for the sexual attraction they have w/ each other
--sometimes we take chances sometimes we take pills
-its hard to live life the way he does, so he either takes sometimes dangerous chances or pills to take refuge
--the hallelujah chant
-brings the whole meaning of the song together. He's reminding himself he has to hide his pain but just can't take it anymore

--- well, this is my interpretation of my all time fave song. I hav other interpretations of this song and so does many others. That's wats cool about fob, its up to you to interpret the meaning of songs. This is a fourteen year olds perspective

anonymous 2008-04-14 20:22:57    

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It is about suicide, He said that when he OD'd on Ativan, he was listening to Jeff Buckley 'Hallelujah'

robeeto21 2008-05-02 15:12:46    

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Ok I agree with the kid who has to tell everyone that he is 14 so he can make himself think that he is so smart for his age. You make really good points with the chapel, the pills, and the whole one night stand thing, but seriously no one cares how old you are so don't play that card.

The song is about a couple that don't know each other very well and they have a one night stand and she gets pregnant. You can't argue that because of the line "a remix of your guts, you're insides x-rayed". That is the literal sense of the song to get across a deeper and more profound meaning of just a struggle for commitment. He uses this as an example because its a situation that pertains in a larger sense to people's entire lives. The idea that you don't want to be responsible for all of your mistakes.

"The road outside my house is paved with good intentions, hired a construction crew cause its hell on the engine" - he is saying that he has every intention of being there and taking care of her and the kid but he needs help on the inside because that's not really how he feels. He doesn't want to commit to this mistake.

"One foot in your bedroom and one foot out the door" - he is once again saying he wanted to have sex with the girl but he wants to keep one foot out the door and not have to deal with the consequences.

"I sing the blues and swallow them too" -he is saying that the situation is different when you're not an outsider looking in. By saying he sings the blues he is claiming that he would tell someone else its there kid and they need to be there for them, but now that he is on the inside he wants to swallow his own words cause he feels different about the situation. It's all in perspective.

The biggest clue to this is clearly the title of the song "Hum Hallelujah" -When something great happens in your life what do you say, Hallelujah. This baby and what has happened should be the best thing in the world but its not. Thats why he says to hum hallelujah. Think about it this way, you have to sing for some dumb choir and you hate the song and your heart really isn't in it so what do you do. You hum the damn thing cause its not what you really wanna do. Humming hallelujah is halfway showing your dedication to something that could be great but you don't want to commit to it completely.

It is easy to understand the difficulty of commitment especially if you're in college or if you have had a kid, or even just a scary time where the chick thought she was pregnant. The lyrics run deep and I understand everyone is open to their own interpretation, but look beyond something literal and to something a little more existential cause that's the kind of songs they write.

FakeitlikeyouMatter 2008-08-13 09:26:45    

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Well I think this song is about Pete's suicide attempt, but I can also see why people would think it's about teen pregnancy.

Just to clarify, I think this line hasn't really been explained as well as the rest of lines and it's a major hint to the song concept.

I sing the blues and swallow them too,
Ativan (The medication Pete OD'd on) is often in the form of blue pills!