What does I Write Sins Not Tragedies mean?

Panic! At The Disco: I Write Sins Not Tragedies Meaning

Album cover for I Write Sins Not Tragedies album cover

Song Released: 2006


I Write Sins Not Tragedies Lyrics

Oh, well imagine;
as I'm pacing the pews in a church corridor,
and I can't help but to hear, no I can't help but to hear an exchanging of words.
(I love you, I love you too)
"What a beautiful wedding!",
"What a beautiful wedding! says a...

  1. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Dec 8th 2006 !⃝

    First of all... I would just like to say, that if by reading these comments, you can not grasp the simple concept of the singer being the conscience of the groom, overhears a conversation by two people. He hears that his soon-to-be wife is a whore and is cheating on him, at first he wants to bust in saying, "Haven't you people ever heard of shutting the 'goddamned' door!" meaning that you should not gossip, espesially when people can hear you. However, he, the groom, decides "that is it better to face these kinds of things with a sense of poise and rationality" meaning, that he should not get pissed and blame the bride's maid and the waiter for gossiping, but should accept that his soon-to-be wife is a whore, and by knowing that he can cancel the wedding, hence the 'technically our wedding is saved.'

    Circus Clowns are only in the video to accentuate the brides, not the grooms, family. In the video the bride makes out with a mime, proving that she indeed is a whore... but even if you do not watch the video, you should get the same concept... Seeing as how the lyrics were written first, and the video was made to help portray the message...

    Any negative comments twords mine can be sent to MWEckert@gmail.com if you people would listen to others instead of restating the message each time changing it just a little, so that you can 'think' you are right...
    grow up... Honestly, the pettiness of society today...

    Michael E.

  2. anonymous
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    Nov 30th 2006 !⃝

    This may not be a interpretation, but who the hell just called the lead singer from P!ATD Brent Wilson? And why in the hell are you trying to interperate the song if you don't know the names [[and positions]] of the band members?!?!
    And FYI, the lead singer's name is Brendon Urie... Brent was the bassist and is no longer in the band. Please... and thank you.
    -britterz-

  3. anonymous
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    Nov 25th 2006 !⃝

    The concept of the video with the line 'Poor grooms bride is a whore' and 'as I'm pacing the pews in a church corridor' Urie is playing the grooms conscience, so in a way it is the groom who is thinking all of these things but only in his head, at the end when Urie ducks and Isaac comes up, his conscience has settled xx

  4. hayven247
    click a star to vote
    Nov 24th 2006 !⃝

    okay everybody!!! This is Lyric Interpretation not Video Interpretation! Everyone is reading into this song too much! Its very simple to understand when you don't watch the video and try to make sense of all of it. The groom knows his wife-to-be is cheating on him. He saves the marriage by not marrying her at all and that's all there is to it.
    I love this song but if you just listen you'll see that it is what it is and there's no crazy twisted plot involving circus freaks embedded into the lyrics. Panic! put life into the video because the lyrics were not enough to entertain people. Their live performances are phenomenal. Notice how dramatic they are when you see their video again. That video really has very little to do with the lyrics. Im sorry but Im right!

  5. anonymous
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    Nov 17th 2006 !⃝

    I think the "I" in this song is a friend of the groom who knows the whole truth and is trying to figure out a way to break it to his buddy.

    The "whole truth" is apparent, the bride is a whore. She may love the groom but she just is...promiscuous.

    The narrator hears the exchange between the bridesmaid and the waiter and is angry because other people know about his friend's bride's looseness. He bursts out in anger but then convinces himself to stay calm. "No, it's much better to face these kinds of things with a sense of poise and rationality"

    The repeated "again" may indicate that the narrator has been cheated on himself and wants to save his friend from having to face that after he marries who he thinks is the love of his life.

    In the music video, the very end sees the groom in the costume of the narrator. This puts the groom into the spot of "been-there-done-that". He looks out for it to happen to other guys and tries to save them the pain just as his friend, the narrator did for him.

  6. anonymous
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    Nov 7th 2006 !⃝

    Ok, well, this is what I heard. The song is actually about the government. The chorus is about how the government is all "hush hush" about everything... And then like the government goes and spills everything and there's a big huge tragedy. It makes sence. It's just... Symbolism

  7. bobinspin
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    Nov 6th 2006 !⃝

    The singer is the groom's conscience , the bride is a whore. That's it, end it!

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
  8. biggred81
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    Nov 4th 2006 !⃝

    This song is about a couple that's about to get married, and the bride screws someone before the wedding, and doesn't bother to close the door all the way, and the "narrator" witnesses this. The lyrics "well technically our marriage is saved" means that they're already at the church and the wedding's about to start, so they'll be married before the groom finds out about it (if ever). But, much to the bride's dismay, the "narrator" let's the groom in on the little secret, and then the groom has all the power.

  9. anonymous
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    Nov 2nd 2006 !⃝

    Maybe it's a metaphor. Maybe it's about how friends go behind your back and spread secrets about you. " what a beautiful wedding, what a beautiful wedding says a bride's maid to a wiater and guess what what a shame, what a shame the poor groom's bride is a whore."

  10. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Nov 2nd 2006 !⃝

    Stop taking the videos so seriously! The most important part is what the lyrics represent and what the emotions are, not whos perspective theyre from. The song is obviously very bitter and I think that it could be written so it is interpreted many different ways depending on who you are. Just take it how you can relate to it :)

  11. radiance
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    Nov 1st 2006 !⃝

    I think since the bridesmaid heard the waiter say the bride is a whore she probably told the bride (never told her who said it first)
    and thought the groom made a rumor saying she was the whore. But since the dude singing overheard , he is saying what he would say to the waiter (if he was in the conversation). Which in the lyrics he said i'd chime in with a "haven't people ever heard of closing a goddamn door?!"

  12. anonymous
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    Oct 25th 2006 !⃝

    I know its been a couple weeks since anyones voiced their opinion but I have a slightly different take on the song. This is going off of just the song and not the video, because videos are usually skewed to get attention.

    The way I see it, the "narrator" is the groom, battling his conscience. Also, "pacing the pews in a church corridor" doesn't mean he is walking in the aisle! The corridor is, in many churches, the place just outside the church doors, but still inside the building. Again, many churches have benches, or pews, in this area.

    As is easily figured out, he overhears a bridesmaid talking to a waiter (why they have catering at the wedding is beyond me, most people wait for the reception). My take on this is that the brides family doesn't like the groom (not too farfetched) and this bridesmaid is now taking it a step too far. She knows that the groom can hear her and wants him to call off the wedding.

    The groom knows that's what she is trying to do and wants to burst into the church and yell at her family. "closing the door" is not a physical door, but it means he wants to tell the family to "get over it" that they are getting married. But his conscience says to be calm about it.

    "technically our marriage is saved" because if he hadn't confronted the family calmly they would continue to try to break the couple apart.


    To sum up:
    bride not really cheating.
    Bridesmaid started the rumor to stop the wedding.
    Groom calmly confronts the family.
    Bride and groom get married, saved from the sneakiness of the brides family.

    Obviously this doesn't completely tie in with the video, but this is supposed to be a song interpretation. But if you want to tie in parts: the brides family's masks could be how fake they are being to the bride. It could also be argued that the bridesmaid was not actually lying, but because of the family's past the groom thought she was, but when he tells his bride what happened she admits that its true and runs off with the man she is havign an affair with.


    Follow that?

  13. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Oct 13th 2006 !⃝

    Most of the interpretation sounds reasonable, and there's one which I definately agree with by an anonymous.
    Anyway, if most of you are still a bit lost, here's some stuff you might want to confirm again:

    -the bride's family all have powder faces- meaning they're not really "clean" people. Something to hide, or other. One of the guys on her side (who later ends up kissing her and gets caught) has he's eyes closed during most of the movie, and only when one of the groom's "family" (circus friend, I'll assume) blows some fairy dust into him does he open his eyes. In the clip, the fairy dust can signify many things, but we'll leave it at that. But now that we notice that he's finally got his eyes to open, it means he can finally "bear to see the truth".

    -the singer in the clip is really the groom's conscious, and at first, it's hard to tell his intentions. In the beginning, in a way, it's not the groom who overhears what the bridesmate and the waiter is saying-- it's actually the conscience who hears this because it is the conscience who is telling us (as the audience). He puts his finger to his lips to tell us it's a secret, kind of drawing the audience further into the secret. In a way, let's say the groom knows this beecause his conscience told him, but in the first place it wasn't him who overheard it. You getting the drift?
    Anyway, when he and the bride argue with each other and the bride runs out (in guilt, most probably), the groom notices one of the bride's "family" member running after her. The guy running after he is the one with the closed eyes who finally ends up opening them, btw.

    -the groom is still pretty messed up, and his conscience (whether be part of his mind or alter-ego) impatiently pulls him out of his confused daze and shows him the cold hard truth-- his bride-to-be is really cheating on him.

    -the ending shows a part where the conscience and the groom bow down and the conscience is back in the groom himself. This shows who the groom really was; part of the circus- a ring-master.

    [this is based loosely on my beliefs and those who have successfully convinced me.]

  14. anonymous
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    Oct 11th 2006 !⃝

    This song is based on the book "invisible monsters" written by chuck palahniuk. It's talking about the wedding that happens at the beginning of the book and at the end [i haven't finished the book yet, but I know that it's one of those books that start with the ending] and about all the things that happend before the wedding. You'll understand the song a lot better if you read the book. It's a very good book.

  15. anonymous
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    Oct 6th 2006 !⃝

    I think that brendon is just the grooms(danielle isaacs)conscience telling him that the bride is cheating on him and when they say that "technically our marriage is saved" its saved from maker a bigger mistake and actually going through with the marriage and like at the end when danielle isaac has brendons outfit on its cause his conciennce goes back into him !




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