Panic! At The Disco: The Ballad of Mona Lisa Meaning
Song Released: 2011
The Ballad of Mona Lisa Lyrics
He starts to notice empty bottles of gin
And takes a moment to assess the sin
She's paid for
A lonely speaker in a conversation
Her words are swimming through his ears again
There's nothing...
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“That whole thing with Mona Lisa was the idea that there is this character. For us, you look at the painting, and you can’t tell what this person is thinking. Not showing too much emotion, there’s this Mona Lisa smile masking what’s going on in that person’s head," he explained. "The song is about a battle in yourself […] an inner struggle in oneself. The duality in nature, where you see yourself as a bad person, and the good person trying to correct your bad habits. That’s what it was about. We thought that would be an easy way to describe how we were masking our own emotions and trying to figure out how we can solve the bad choices we make." - Urie's words on The Ballad of Mona Lisa
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This song is aboutBrendon's struggle with ADHD. He feels like he is two different people and it is a constant fight, but on the surface it looks like drama in a relationship.
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It's really holey and full of gaps. That is, the interpretation.
She paints her fingers with a close precision- she's not regretting what she did/she was drunk so she doesn't regret it
He starts to notice empty bottles of gin- she's probably been drinking to get rid of the guilt/she was drinking, and she was drunk when she did whatever was wrong, so she didn't really have much control, and didn't remember/she's been forced to sin, so she drinks so she doesn't feel so guilty
And takes a moment to assess the sin
She's paid for- he's starting to find out what she did
He senses something, call it desperation- she's desperate for this money or whatever
Another dollar, another day- she needs the money. the money puts food on the table, meaning another day
And if she had the proper words to say,
She would tell him- tell him what she's doing
But she'd have nothing left to sell him- she could be giving him lies to cover the fact she's done wrong, and she's 'selling' him these stories so he'll stay or something
There's nothing wrong with just a taste of what you paid for- she's paid for all the gin so she's tasted it and decided to drink it to cover the guilt and regrets
And there is my holey interpretation -
I have two interpretations, but only for small parts, like, one line.
Another dollar another day:
She's done something wrong, but she's still doing it, because it means money, and money puts food on the table, meaning another day
Nothing left to sell him:
It doesn't neccessarily mean that he is buying something from her. Selling stuff can mean giving them lies. She has nothing left to sell him-she's soon going to have to tell him the truth about what she did. -
This may make no sense but I Brendon once mentioned that this song sort of represented an inner battle he was having with himself. He was changing a lot an so was the band ( which can evidently be seen by their change in hair styles and wardrobe) and this song is sort of about the way he delt with it.
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Trying to interpret this song is hard without the music video.
The music video suggests that the man is dead and Mona Lisa (Aka Mary in the video) killed him. She's trying to be inconspicuous about and never frowning to show that something is wrong -hence the name 'Mona Lisa'. The man is just trying to show that she killed him and he finally does that by getting a girl to look in his pocket to reveal a note that say 'Mary did it'. At the end he says 'there's nothing wrong with just a taste of what you payed for' meaning she got her comeuppance for killing him. -
kay. so i think (just my opinion) that it's a story about a girl feeding lies to a man, and him wanting to find a reason to believe her and live happily, but she keeps lying.
She acts so proud and happy, pretending she's okay, but she's not really.
in the end, he figures that she'll never change herself for him, and he gets revenge with another girl. :) -
The story behind this song is that a man (brenden urie in the music vid.) gets poisened by his girlfriend. So the girlfriend holds a "party" (srrry idk what the real name is for it) so that it looks like she didnt do it. Mean while the ghost of the man tries to tell everyone what had happend but no one can see him besides a little girl; the ghost tells the girl to reach into the dead bodies pocket and it reviels to everyone what had realy happend. Then they kill the girlfriend.
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Mary killed the narrator but she puts on a little smile and crys with the crowd so no one will suspect her. In the song it says she is drinking gin which means she is guilty and painting her fingers--preparing for the funeral. "I pay to see you smile" according to the music video it might be "I'll pay to see you caught" because he was very happy when the little girl discovers the note and holds it up. "you're going to run this town" might be it is a quiet town in the country that has not seen much action and the news of Mary killing the narrator will leave people talking about it for ages.
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According to the top rated interpretation, it is a little disturbing that the kids in Nearly Witches say " Mona Lisa pleased to please ya "
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Okay, this song is so deep and beautiful, it overwhelms me. Although I'm extremely shocked that so many people seemed to have connected 'her' with a prostitute. :O
What I think is that there is a man (he) who was killed by hs wife/girlfriend and his spirit is still there. He probably had a split personality disorder because there seem to be two personalities to his ghost/spirit.
No one there can see/understand him except the little girl who takes out the little note from his pocket and showed it to everyone, revealing that 'Mary did it'. (Mary obviously being 'her'.)
When it is revealed that she indeed killed him, contrary to belief and her pretending like the grieving wife, she is punished and gets a 'taste of what she paid for'. She suffers for his sins.
She is compared to the Mona Lisa as she smiles even though she seems sad and thus gives the idea of an 'impostor' or pretending to be someone else, just like the woman pretends like a grieving widow even though she killed him. :|
Just what I think, I hope you like my interpretation. :)
Also, I just have to say that I absolutely ADORE this song and hope that everyone can enjoy and like it since it truly is amazing. :D
<3 -
If you watch the video then you'll see that the "dark secret" behind the "Mona Lisa" (who is named Mary in the video) is obviously referring to a murder. There are three main characters in this story: The spirit, the narrator, and the Mona Lisa.
The vampire looking man in all black(the singer without the hat on) is the spirit of the man who was murdered. They go through the Victorian Funeral process (covering mirrors and opening/closing windows etc.) to keep the spirit away, which isn't working in this case. The Narrator is the singer with the hat on. He wears futuristic clothing (from a Victorian standpoint) because he knows the truth, how the story went, and how it began and ended.
Anyway, the spirit tells the young boy (children are more susceptible to paranormal activity) that Mary murdered him, the boy reveals this and Mary is caught. My hypothesis for Mary is that the man she murdered was her husband.
The first part of the song "She paints her fingers with close precision/He starts to notice empty bottles of gin."-I'm interpreting this as Mary ignoring her husband, choosing to focus instead on painting her nails. She's obviously a heavy drinker as well, since there's empty alcohol bottles.
The next part of the song alludes to the idea that Mary has been rather promiscuous and her husband is starting to realize it. He questions her about it, but she won't reveal anything, until finally she comes out with it. She has in fact been whoring around, and she's rather good at it, the obsession of the town if you will. An argument takes place, and in her desperation to be free of him she kills him. At the funeral she's sure she's committed a perfect murder and gotten away with it, and is then revealed by the boy and the spirit.
The narrator is telling the story, except for a few lines, which are actually quotes from the other two characters. the line "...taste of what you paid for" can either refer to Mary being a whore or the fact that she murdered someone, and was then caught for it and most likely put to death.
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Based on the music video, which is centered around a murder/funeral of the victim, I'd say "mona lisa" is a women that the singer hates. She is the black haired women in the video. The women is very popular to everyone else (Mona Lisa, you're guaranteed to run this town)but the singer knows how she really is and hates her for it (Mona Lisa, I'd pay to see you frown). The Lines "Say what you mean, Tell me I'm right, And let the sun rain down on me, Give me a sign,I want to believe" I think means he wishes everyone else knew how horrible she was. At the end, the singer shows a girl the body and she finds the note saying "mary did it" and the black haired women is tackled and punished by the others. At the end the singer smiles and there are flames in his eyes, meaning he got what he wanted in the end; for people to know how horrible "mona lisa" was.
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whole song is about monalisa who destroyed a guy completly and that guy come to existence to tell people all truth about her that who is the killer of his heart and there is a devil face beside her smiling cute face ....
and lastly he did that n is free to go back
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I'm more to help one or more of the responses on here
about the struggle, the video clip shows two sides of the same man, a what you might call well dressed man, looking perfect and proper, then the more crazy and care free side, although the men don't really show different sides as to what's been said here, from at least one that i've read.
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