Some of your favorite lyrics from Brand New, Panic! and more explained by fans
[Photo by: Jonathon Weiner/Waterparks]
We all love looking up the lyrics to our favorite songs, whether it’s to memorize them or analyze them. Genius allows fans, bands and artists to annotate lyrics to our favorite songs. Here are some of your favorite lyrics explained by fans (and Panic! At The Disco themselves).
Read more: 18 memes that finally explain emo lyrics
Brand New — “The Boy Who Blocked His Own Shot”
LYRICS: “You are the smell before the rain/You are the blood in my veins”
WHAT IT MEANS: The smell that accompanies rain is called petrichor. This word is constructed from the Greek petra, meaning stone, and ichor, the fluid that flows through the veins of gods. This girl is the reason why he is special. When she is with him he is a god amongst men. Without her Jesse is just any ordinary mortal. (submitted by swirlee)
Fall Out Boy — “Uma Thurman”
LYRICS: “Take me down the line/In Gem City we turn the tide”
WHAT IT MEANS: Although multiple locales have taken on the moniker “Gem City,” this is most likely a reference to Quincy, Illinois. Fall Out Boy originally hails from Wilmette, Illinois, and have played in Quincy numerous times. (submitted by DaveHowell, MorganMagrid and MrXercules)
Panic! At The Disco — “Emperor's New Clothes”
LYRICS: “Welcome to the end of eras/Ice has melted back to life/Done my time and served my sentence”
WHAT IT MEANS: This is a 100 percent autobiographical track. There’s a piece of me that I can put in the past now. I’m jumping forward as a new character, as a new artist, that’s what I’m talking about: taking it all back for myself. (submitted by Panic! At The Disco)
Paramore — “26”
LYRICS: “And I’ve been chasing after dreamers in the clouds/After all wasn’t I the one who said/To keep your feet on the ground/Man, you really brought me back down”
WHAT IT MEANS: A call back to “Brick By Boring Brick” from 2009’s Brand New Eyes, which features the line: “Keep your feet on the ground when your head’s in the clouds.” Both examples convey the idea of chasing after one’s hopes and dreams while staying rational and realistic by keeping your feet on the ground—as they may not be perceived as achievable. You might be setting yourself up for disappointment if you don’t keep yourself grounded.
“Brick By Boring Brick,” it comes across more like a word of advice or warning, whereas here it sounds like she’s admonishing herself for getting caught up in the same thing she had been cautious of—or perhaps for being the person to bring someone down, as she now realizes how that feels. (submitted by TildeBreak and Obscure)
Trophy Eyes — “Heaven Sent”
LYRICS: “So damn smart and interesting/Don’t say that you weren’t warned/I’m so dangerous”
WHAT IT MEANS: The singer ends the song with a snarky part of the post-chorus. He calls himself smart and interesting and points out that the romantic partner was warned of the danger in dating him, then somewhat devilishly ends the song with the self-aware “I’m so dangerous.” You can almost hear his smirk. (submitted by camson)
Waterparks — “Stupid For You”
LYRICS: “You’re yellow, I’m natural blue/Let’s get together and be green like my mind/At least I’ll match your eyes/Jealous and hypnotized”
WHAT IT MEANS: As an allusion to other songs they’ve written, Awsten refers himself as a natural blue (he dyes his hair blue a lot and he claims it’s natural as a joke), and the girl he’s addressing as yellow, because Ciara Hanna (his current girlfriend) played the yellow Power Ranger. When you mix yellow and blue, you get green. Assuming that this song was conceptualized before they got together, he is saying the two should “mix,” or to go out. Green is also a color that is closely associated with envy, which is referenced in the next line. (submitted by Pastorelle and viawentztop)
Pierce The Veil — “King For A Day”
LYRICS: “I take a look up in the sky and I see red/Red for the cancer, red for the wealthy/Red for the drink that’s mixed with suicide/Everything red”
WHAT IT MEANS: Red is a strong color; it’s used to show emotion. Continuing the song’s suicidal theme, red represents blood and pain. Seeing only red is seeing the pain in the world—the pain of cancer victims, the pain of the wealthy, and the pain of alcohol.
The “suicide” in the red drink is likely poison in wine. This is alluding to the famous Shakespearian play Romeo And Juliet. In this play, Romeo drinks poisoned red wine in order to immediately be with Juliet in the afterlife. (submitted by MichaelLowry, vox00, Fuenciadoshipper, DirtyPunkKid, Rock_On78, JesseRu and VinylZombie_MCR)
Memphis May Fire — “Carry On”
LYRICS: “Careful what you say/They don’t need to know what you believe/God forbid I stand for something/God forbid I stand alone/God forbid I tell my story/God forbid it offers hope”
WHAT IT MEANS: Listeners of the band enjoyed their previous albums, as they didn’t have a “preachy topic” in the songs. With the whole motive transitioning to alternative metal, and a more religious standpoint, fans have told Matty [Mullins] to drop the religious talk, or they will be dropped by the listener. Matty is using his fame to stand up for what he believes in and tell his story and offer hope to people who need it. (submitted by jbotting347 and iNoOrdinaryWolf)
Dance Gavin Dance — “We Own The Night”
LYRICS: “Let your hair down have one more round/Drink til you believe it/Sloppy kisses, dirty wishes/Baby this is living/Roller coaster/Up and down in random motions/Oh come in closer/Ditch your problems, better days are coming”
WHAT IT MEANS: These lines are being sarcastic. Tilian [Pearson] is poking fun at people (including himself) who try to solve their problems by drinking. In the moment things like “drink[ing] til you believe it” (that things are okay) seem like a good solution, but in the end it does not actually do anything but waste time. His regret in these actions is shown later in the song when he says, “Where did I go wrong? There’s nothing I can do, the thrill is gone…” (submitted by mattenthehat)
Neck Deep — “Can’t Kick Up The Roots”
LYRICS: “The golden groves are lined with affluence and roses/But the bagheads down by Central Station are closer to where home is”
WHAT IT MEANS: The golden groves is most likely a nod to how beautiful Wales is portrayed as a country, especially for it’s scenery. He’s referring to the concert venue Wrexham Central Station, where he and his friends went to see bands play in his teens, and “bagheads” down by venue are the type of people he would associate home with more than the classic portrayal of Wales. (submitted by Tommoslav, EliMorgan and viawentztop)
Agree? Disagree? Tell us what you think these lyrics mean in the comments.
