What do you think I've Got A Dark Alley and a Bad Idea That Says You Should Shut Your Mouth means?

Fall Out Boy: I've Got A Dark Alley and a Bad Idea That Says You Should Shut Your Mouth Meaning

Album cover for I've Got A Dark Alley and a Bad Idea That Says You Should Shut Your Mouth album cover

I've Got A Dark Alley and a Bad Idea That Says You Should Shut Your Mouth Lyrics

Joke me something awful just like kisses on the necks of "just friends"
We're the kids who feel like dead ends
And I want to be known for my hits, not just my misses
I took a shot and didn't even come close
At trust and love and hope
And the...

  1. 1TOP RATED

    #1 top rated interpretation:
    FOBgirl32
    click a star to vote
    Oct 30th 2005 !⃝

    I've noticed that in many other forums people are trying to find the meaning of this song and totally wrong. Only true FOB fans realize what this song means, and I thought I would post it for you!

    Pete was going through a rough period of depression/anxiety before the release of "Cork Tree". Before they were even done recording he ended up taking a drug called Ativan to help with depression and to help him sleep. His condition became so bad that back in November, while sitting in a Best Buy parking lot, he took a mouthful of the pills, popped in "Take this to your grave" into his CD player, then called up his manager. While talking, his speech became slurred which panicked his manager. Pete then lost consciousness and his manager knew something was wrong because Pete wasn't responding and he could hear the music in the background. Pete's mother was called and she came to the aid of her son, finding him slumped over in the drivers seat. She took him to the hospital.

    This song is like his personal song where he opens up his problem. Because its so personal, they won't sing it at concerts. If you listen to the words, you can hear about how he was worried that the album would bomb, "faking it for the airwaves, force our smiles..", wants to be "known for their hits and not just their misses," "reputations on the line" and how they would be considered as "the poets are just kids who didn't make it." "And the record won't stop skipping" is attributed to him passing out in the car with his bands record playing.

    "Please put the doctor on the phone...." that whole part was considered the suicide note he fortunately never had to write.

    ...Hopefully this explains the song's deeper meaning to people better than the same old "boy/girl troubled relationship" storyline.

  2. soulpunkiest
    click a star to vote
    Mar 14th 2017 !⃝

    i personally think this songs main topic is self doubt and hatred (well yeah, DUh) also, the lyrics very much symbolise (to me, a least) everything going wrong, everything imaginable.
    "the record wont stop skipping" i think of as a metaphor for life, a life that is scratched and ruined and was once good but now just needs to be thrown away.
    "we can fake it for the airwaves, force a smile, baby half dead, from comparing myself to everyone else around me" is, of course, symbolizing the horrid self doubt that the narrator faces on a daily basis, leaving them dead on the inside and feeling worthless, as if they have no meaning whatsoever.
    "i took a shot and didnt even come close" as if the narrator tried, but failed in a big way leaving them depressed and initially the reason that they are in this horrible and depressed state.

  3. Michael Dunmyer
    click a star to vote
    Jun 12th 2011 !⃝

    I heard the song "Hallelujah" was playing during his attempt, thus the song "Hum Hallelujah" was named. Both songs are about his attempt at scuicide.

  4. uiwuiw
    click a star to vote
    Apr 18th 2010 !⃝

    here it is guys..he did the suicide attempt inside his car in a best buy parking lot while listening to Jeff Buckley's hallelujah, and then he took a bunch of Ativan(anti anxiety),called his manager,then his manager called his mom,and his mom got him to the hospital and pete has to stay for 1 week in the hospital..thats why he wrote this song along Hum Hallelujah

  5. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Aug 30th 2009 !⃝

    'Wentz - who was on prescribed medication at the time - said: "I was completely lost and out of control. I got in my car. I remember I was listening to Jeff Buckley doing Leonard Cohen's 'Hallelujah' and sat there and took a bunch of [anxiety drug] Ativan in a parking lot.

    "And I called up my manager because I was, at that point, completely out of my head with Ativan. And I was talking to him and I was slurring my words, so he called my mom and my mom called me and she came and got me and we went to the hospital." '

    http://www.itv.com/Entertainment/celebrity/Articles/Pete-Wentzs-suicide-confession.html

  6. Steelcity
    click a star to vote
    Aug 2nd 2009 !⃝

    To clear the hallelujah mess. Pete was listening to hallelujah by jeff buckley when leaving the hospital in the car with his mom. In the car when attempting suicide he was listening to tttyg.

  7. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Jul 22nd 2008 !⃝

    I always thought Pete was listening to Jeff Buckley's Hallelujah when he OD'ed, hence the song hum hallelujah off of infinity on high.

    Anyway, this song is about the best buy incident. I think that's pretty obvious.

    -hanna.

  8. Wildwest814
    click a star to vote
    Jan 28th 2008 !⃝

    Yes, this song is about Pete's suicide attempt. I think that anyone can relate to it if things in their lives are getting to them (comparing myself to everyone else around me)

  9. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Dec 27th 2007 !⃝

    7 minutes in heaven is about pete's suicide attempt. I've got a dark alley... Is more in a sense the suicide letter he never wrote.

  10. dancemylifeawy
    click a star to vote
    Nov 16th 2007 !⃝

    "Patrick wrote this song for Pete. If you listen to the lyrics its like he's saying that he doesn't want Pete to leave. Second, to that anonymous dude who said that Pete was listening to Hum Hallelujah...you dumbass, that song didn't even exist yet! This was before From Under The Cork Tree!"

    Pete wrote it...
    Hum hallelujah is not on From under the cork tree, it's from their newest CD
    And this song wasn't from BEFORE from under the cork tree because it is ON From under the cork tree.

    and the song he was listening to was "hallelujah" by Jeff Buckley but it was originally by Leonard Cohen

  11. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Aug 16th 2007 !⃝

    Can you tell me is Pete singing in this song and if he is when? Can you tell me exactly the words he is singing? Please !

  12. anonymous
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    Aug 2nd 2007 !⃝

    So the interpretation is great but just a side note...Ativan is not for depression; it is a fast acting panic attack medicine (make you numb, really tired, not panicy, etc.)

  13. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Jun 15th 2007 !⃝

    It was the song hallelujah.
    hum hallelujah is pete's own personal version.
    but he says in a video interview he was listening to hallelujah by jeff buckley.

  14. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Jun 11th 2007 !⃝

    First off, the first person is so totally right, for the most part. It aparently wasn't Pete who wrote this particular song. Patrick wrote this song for Pete. If you listen to the lyrics its like he's saying that he doesn't want Pete to leave. Second, to that anonymous dude who said that Pete was listening to Hum Hallelujah...you dumbass, that song didn't even exist yet! This was before From Under The Cork Tree!

  15. RoadWhacker
    click a star to vote
    May 27th 2007 !⃝

    I don't know if this is true because I'm not a bif FOB fan but I've noticed something about the titles of FOB songs and the titles of UnderOath songs. Like "I've Got A Dark Alley And A Bad Idea That Says You Should Shut Your Mouth" by FOB and "I've Got 10 Friends And A Crowbar That Says You Aint Gonna Do Jack" by UnderOath seem rather coincidental. Also FOB has the song "Champagne for My Real Friends, Real Pain for My Sham Friends" and UnderOath has the song "Its Dangerous Business Walking Out Your Front Door". I don't know if there is any relation with the song but I just thought I'd throw that out there for fun and see what comes of it.

  16. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Apr 11th 2007 !⃝

    the last anonymous was correct!
    the one above and if you don't belive me
    take it from pete himself...
    http://www.halfofus.com/pop/videoplayer.aspx?tID=1&videoID=5&chapterID=1

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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