What does Memories mean?

Panic! At The Disco: Memories Meaning

Album cover for Memories album cover
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Memories Lyrics

He was the Congregation’s vagrant
With an unrequited love
When your passion’s exultation,
Then finding refuge is not enough
She was the youngest of the family
And the last to be let go.
They decided they would try
And make it on their...

  1. 1TOP RATED

    #1 top rated interpretation:
    anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Mar 27th 2011 !⃝

    well if you are looking at it literally, i think that its about how there were two people, a couple, i guess, who were always surrounded by other people who supported them and they were doing fine. these two people fell in love and thought they were going to have a bright future, but they began to struggle and became seperated from all the people who used to love them, which is where the "oh memories, whered you go? you are all ive ever known" comes from. all they had ever known before was all the easiness of life they had.
    then, apart from that, i also think this song has somthing to do with the seperation of the band, and how ryan and jon left. they represent the "memories", and brendon and spencer were so used to being with them when it came to music and it was "all they had ever known". they miss ryan and jon and they dont want to completely let their friendship go, though they know they already have. "how i miss yesterday, and i let it fade away, dont fade away!"

  2. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Jun 25th 2012 !⃝

    Once again, about Ryan.
    "He was the Congregation’s vagrant
    With an unrequited love
    When your passion’s exultation,
    Then finding refuge is not enough
    She was the youngest of the family
    And the last to be let go.
    They decided they would try
    And make it on their own." Brendon always strayed from his catholic upbringing, making him a vagrant. Him and Ryan had a great friendship, and decided to try and make Panic work.

    "When July became December
    Their affection fought the cold,
    But they couldn’t quite remember
    What inspired them to go.
    And it was beautifully depressing
    Like A Streetcar named Desire
    They were fighting for their love
    That started growing tired." Even though things got a bit tough, they still stayed together, although a bit winded. It was sad when they began to start breaking, but they still pushed on, even though they were tired.

    "Money lost momentum
    And the bills were piling high
    Then the smile, it finally faded
    From the apple of their eye
    And they were young and independent,
    And they thought they had it planned
    Should’ve known right from the start
    You can’t predict the end." Ryan left, and it made Brendon sad, he stopped smiling. He blames himself for thinking they could make it.

    "Oh, memories, where’d you go?
    You were all I’ve ever known.
    How I miss yesterday
    And I let it fade away
    Don't fade away!" What happened to us, I miss it. I feel like it's my fault, and I just let it happen. He wants Ryan to come back.

  3. Katie Lynne Ledesma
    click a star to vote
    Jan 24th 2012 !⃝

    "He was the Congregation’s vagrant
    With an unrequited love
    When his passion's exultation,
    Then finding refuge is not enough"

    First of all, I don't think it matters if the subject is a he or she. Second, "Congregation's vagrant" is somewhat of an oxymoron. A vagrant is a person who wanders from place to place; wanderer; rover; wandering idly without a permanent home or employment, and a congregation is an assembly of persons who are brought together under common means, which could be interpreted in this work as life altogether. You can't belong to something if you are a roamer. Any simple way of putting it would be "Life's wanderer". "With an unrequited love," put it together, he means he has a belonging somewhere, but he isn't complete, he loves but there is no love in return...how sad. Tied to that is "When his passion's exultation
    When finding refuge is not enough" so, wandering or lost in life(he doesn't really know what he wants) because he cannot be at peace, find refuge, even when he is at a good point in life, because he just wants love. I don't even think he really knows if he wants love.

    "She was the youngest of the family
    And the last to be let go.
    They decided they would try
    And make it on their own"

    The girl he loved had a lot of obstacles to getting her, the main one being her parents' concerns about letting their little daughter go, they probably wouldn't let him see her, but remember, she couldn't return the love for some reason, she may have wanted to, otherwise it may have not mentioned her having been held back... So it was worth a shot, they wanted something desperately, no idea what would happen, but are taking the chance in being together..

    "When July became December
    Their affection fought the cold,
    But they couldn’t quite remember
    What inspired them to go."

    Time and struggle with the girl's obstacles has put a huge impact on their feelings for each other, so much that they don't really see why it's worth it or why they wanted to be together in the first place..

    "And it was beautifully depressing
    Like A Streetcar named Desire
    They were fighting for their love
    That started growing tired"

    "Streetcar Named Desire" is an old black/white film based on a novel, and in this case, is being used as a metaphor. If I remember correctly it is referring to the character that arrives at the other girls house. She has had a shady past and I would associate an old car with that girl...she has been riden on and passed throughout town!... So, it seems as though they are sort of numbed about the relationship after he has seen her past and is intimidated by it... she knows she is wreck-less but appears to still care about him and he still loves her, she's just been hurt and used so many times, she doesn't know how to love anymore, so they don't really know what to do, continue the relationship.

    "Money lost momentum
    And the bills were piling high
    Then the smile, it finally faded
    From the apple of their eye
    And they were young and independent,
    And they thought they had it planned
    Should’ve known right from the start
    You can’t predict the end."

    (This part really makes me cry.)
    It's mostly self-explanatory, pretty obvious, "money" refers to emotions, "And the bills were piling high" refers to the emotional toll(or really, any other price) they had to pay. They lost their hope and will to keep it going even though it meant a lot. They thought it was a good idea in the first place, but they were in over their heads and ended up getting hurt...

    "Oh, memories, where’d you go?
    You were all I’ve ever known.
    How I miss yesterday
    And how I let it fade away
    Oh, memories, where’d you go?
    You were all I’ve ever known.
    How I miss yesterday
    And how I let it fade away
    Don't fade away!"

    The memories and times they spent together really influenced who they turned out to be as a person and where their hearts stood. The good and the bad, they miss and they regret, they don't want it to end but it ended anyway. Another reasoning for the end could be, The girl could have actually let her wrecklessness get a hold of her and done something that ended up costing her her life. He tried to love her and make her happy, save her... but the only person who could save her was herself.

    I've got this nailed.

  4. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Sep 30th 2011 !⃝

    The song is telling a story...

    He was the Congregation’s vagrant
    With an unrequited love
    When your passion’s exultation,
    Then finding refuge is not enough
    She was the youngest of the family
    And the last to be let go.
    They decided they would try
    And make it on their own

    Okay so the part about the guy is introducing him as a wanderer of a group of people. HE has no definite home. HE was or is in love with someone or something that doesn't return that love but he is always searching. Then it's saying when your passion is triumphant and high you feel like you don't need to search for a home or shelter and it is not satisfying. The part about the girl is saying she was the youngest of the family so she was last to leave home. It's says they left home and decided to try to make it without help.


    When July became December
    Their affection fought the cold,
    But they couldn’t quite remember
    What inspired them to go.
    And it was beautifully depressing
    Like A Streetcar named Desire
    They were fighting for their love
    That started growing tired

    So July and December are a metaphor. July represents the point where their passion and hunger for leaving home was great and December represents the hard part of life they didn't realize existed. Their passion was still alive but they couldn't quite remember what made them want to leave the security of home. It was really depressing to have their inspiration crumble around them but in a glamorus way like the movie A Streetcar Named Desire. (IT is a movie about a girl leaving home and her reality crumbling) They were fighting for their passion but it started to wear them out. Their passion began to die.

    Money lost momentum
    And the bills were piling high
    Then the smile, it finally faded
    From the apple of their eye
    And they were young and independent,
    And they thought they had it planned
    Should’ve known right from the start
    You can’t predict the end.

    They didn't have as much money as they did in the beginning, but the bills kept coming and just piling high. Then the passion they once had faded and dissappeared. In the beginning they thought they knew what was going to happen. But they should've realized you can't plan the future.

    Oh, memories, where’d you go?
    You were all I’ve ever known.
    How I miss yesterday
    And I let it fade away
    Don't fade away!

    They miss their past and they let it go by so quickly with these big city dreams. Now they miss it and never wanted it to fade.

  5. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Sep 18th 2011 !⃝

    It's all based on the play "A Streetcar Named Desire",written by Tennessee Willams.

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
  6. anonymous
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    Aug 28th 2011 !⃝

    Could be totally wrong but when I first hard this song I kind of got the feeling that this was about panic! at the disco themselves. Like how they were so young when they started out and they had to leave their families and even go against some of their wishes. But at the time they weren't too worried because they were so excited about their music and what they were doing. But eventually the band started fighting (metaphor for fighting for their love growing tired, and the smiles fading) and now that their broken up brendon is reminiscing about all the good memories they had before everything got all complicated but he knows everything will be fine in the end.

    In summary, I think the couple in love and going through a rough patch is a metaphor for Ryan, brendon, Spencer, and John/ Brent and their histories together.

  7. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Aug 1st 2011 !⃝

    I personally think that this song is about Ryan and Brendon and how they used to be so close, and know they have grown apart. Now me and my friend believe in Ryden so suck it, but if you look at the lyrics, Brendon was the youngest in his family. And they all went there sepperate ways, like in the song. And they where fighting to stay together within the band, and when it says something about fighting for their love, Brendon would always try and kiss Ry on stage, but Ry wouldnt let him. He would a few times, and he was literally fighting for it. Thats what we think anyway, listen to the song and you will know that we are correct. Suck it, b*tches!

  8. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Jul 4th 2011 !⃝

    Yeah, in that last post... I meant WOULDN'T write about something as simple as money troubles.

  9. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Jul 4th 2011 !⃝

    I just feel like they would write about anything as simple as money troubles or whatnot. I could be wrong.

    HOWEVER, and it may just because I'm a bit obsessed... this song reminds me a lot of The Hunger Games series.

    "When July became December
    Their affection fought the cold,
    But they couldn't quite remember
    What inspired them to go."
    After the games, Katniss and Peeta grow cold to each other.

    I don't know, I can't think of everything right now, but I had the whole song in my head how it matched The Hunger Games series. :P

  10. anonymous
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    May 23rd 2011 !⃝

    It's pretty much about how this couple was young and in love, and thought they'd always be together, but then their loves becomes a burden and they don't even know why they are still married. They stop ' fighting for their love " Oh, and the chorus is like both of them missing how their young love felt.Then, they couldn't keep up with their bills and finances and finally lost all of their love for each other. The narrator basically says at the end that they were too overconfident from the start about their love and they should have known that they couldn't predict tthat they would be in love forever

  11. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    May 16th 2011 !⃝

    I think it is that a couple rushed into love and it wound up hurting them because they lost the love they really felt and wanted to go back to way it was before

  12. anonymous
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    May 14th 2011 !⃝

    I think the overall theme is that, not ''all you need is love''. this young couple were delusional, and before being in their own, had everything in silver plate. But when alone, problems quickly star to come up, and eventually, they forget the reason why they are there in first place (But they couldn’t quite remember
    What inspired them to go.
    .). they also miss the old times, were everything was sweet and easy (memorie, where you go)

  13. anonymous
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    May 14th 2011 !⃝

    Well, its sorta like it, says, i just wanted to post to say that this song reminds me of the book, "The Great Gatsby"

  14. anonymous
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    Apr 4th 2011 !⃝

    I personally think that it's the story of a couple that runs away to be together, and at the beginning of it all they feel great, and free and independent, but soon other complications come up (such as money troubles)and they realize that they had rushed things a lot and that they weren't ready for something that big (I think that since they ran away they kinda feel like their married and abruptly grown up) or that affectionate about each other anymore, as they were in the beginning.


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