What do you think XO means?

Fall Out Boy: XO Meaning

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Album cover for XO album cover

XO Lyrics

I comb the crowd and pick you out
My mouth moves too fast for you to figure it out
It starts eyes closed to fingers crossed
"To I swear, I say"
"To I swear, I say"

To hands between legs, to "whatever it takes"
To drinks at the club to the...

  1. 1TOP RATED

    #1 top rated interpretation:
    anonymous
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    Mar 4th 2006 !⃝

    I think, it is about him TRYING to find REAL love in a business where all he can get is groupies and real love is more than hard to find. So he "combs the crowd and picks her out" and then he takes her to the bar, then to a hotel room, and eventually she leaves out of the emergency exit door. I'm figuring he sleeps with her, and I guess falls for her. but she turns out to be just like all the other groupies, and only slept with him because he was in FALLOUTBOY. "through the keyhole I watched you dress" - she slept with someone else "loose lips sink ships" - he found out somehow. "I left my conscience pressed, between the pages of the bible in the drawer, "what did it ever do for me" I say." ----- his conscience never does anything for him, the bible in the drawer is evidently a reference to a hotel room....i guess he regrets sleeping with her -- or just regrets falling for her because he should have known that she was not the kind he was looking for...

  2. 2TOP RATED

    #2 top rated interpretation:
    anonymous
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    Oct 22nd 2006 !⃝

    I think I'm so way off it's unnatural but here's my idea,

    yeah and about this song and "I slept with someone from fall out boy etc. Yeah I think the titles were switched to mess with our heads.
    Aanyway,
    the narrator is looking for a random groupie girl to sleep with (I comb the crowd (the crowd at a gig) and pick you out)and the rest of verse 1 is bascally just what happens after he meets the girl (get drunk and go to a hotel room ("to the "love"" means to the sex i.E. Either a polite way of saying sex or saying that the girl he slept with confused sex with love) and the "emergency exit door" is the narrator making a quick escape after they've had sex. ( I left my conscience pressed between the pages of the bible in the drawer) that's just referring to the fact that hotel rooms (especially the cheap motels lol) have bibles in the top drawer of the chest-of-drawers in the hotel rooms and "I left my conscience" in relation to the next part of the chorus is him saying he's gotten rid of his conscience and left it in the hotel where he slept with the girl because it's useless and it's never been any good to him (what did it ever do for me" I say (I say, I say, I say)
    it never calls me when I'm down) this makes me think the narrator has a girlfriend and in sleeping with the girl is thus going against his conscience. That or the girl is under age.
    "love never wanted me but I took it anyway" basically means he's done with love because it's always gone wrong when he's taken it so he's content with sex lol. Love never wanted him as in he was never meant to have love but he took it anyway and look what happened.

    "I hoped you choked and crashed your car" is the girl he slept with being pissed off at him but he's saying she's a "tear catcher" in the next line which means she was only rebound sex and that's all she ever was (ever were from the start)
    then the last bit is basically saying that the girl he slept with could do a "kiss and tell" and tell the papers that she slept with the narrator but "loose lips sink ships" if she tells there will be hell. Serious hell.

    Yup that's my explanation! ^^ even if it sucks at least give a raiting lol or at least tell me you get where I'm coming from ^^

  3. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Dec 27th 2015 !⃝

    What I get out of this song seems to be slightly different from what I've already read. I'll try making this explanation clear enough. :3
    "I comb the crowd and pick you out. My mouth moves too fast for you to figure it out." This seems to be stating how the narrator found a girl, former "lover" or not, who he wants sexual attention from. This sudden "relationship" seems to be described as a fast-paced, irrational, sex-based one.
    "It starts eyes closed to fingers crossed to 'I swear I say.'" This along with plenty other lines, prove how fake this "love" is. The narrator is "swearing his love" to this girl, but lying while he does it.
    "To hands between legs to whatever it takes to drinks at the club to the bar to the keys to your car to hotel stairs/stares to the emergency exit door." This is explaining the progression of the night and how their trying to keep this affair a secret. To keep from touching each other they keep their "hands between legs," doing "whatever it takes" to keep their secrets hidden. Getting drinks at the club and the bar could only mean they're getting drunk, which doesn't make this "affectionate relationship" any better off. Until they take her car to the hotel (hotel stairs/stares, they're interchangeable, they both work, just think about it) where they could finally express their affection. Then when it's over, he heads to the emergency exit door to pretend this never happened.
    "To the love I left my conscience pressed between the pages of the Bible in the drawer. What did it ever do for me I say? It never calls me when I'm down." During this one night stand, his conscience has abandoned him, probably partly because of his drunkeness, and left him with no morality at all. His conscience never seemed to be such a conscience anyway. It never seemed to keep him from doing things he would eventually regret, like it's supposed to. In the FOB songs "I Slept With Someone In Fall Out Boy And All I Got Was This Stupid Song Written About Me" and "Fame‹Infamy", the narrator also mentions the way his conscience always fails him. Anyway, he "leaves it in the Bible" because he's so messed up so he's just letting the Bible sort out all of his problems for him.
    "Love never wanted me, but I took it anyway." Simple enough. The narrator isn't good at fostering relationships, but he forces it on himself even though he knows he won't allow it to thrive. He only does it for the pleasures.
    "Put your ear to the speaker and choose awe or sympathy, but never both." Contrary to common belief, it's not "choose love or sympathy," but this is a very similar concept. The narrator is telling this girl to listen to what he has to say, whether it's the truth or not, then choose whether she's doing this because she likes his story, his looks, his rep, etc, or because she actually wants to love him and feels empathy towards him. It obviously ended up being out of awe, though, because of their relationship being just for the sex. Either way, this narrator was still planning on getting laid.
    "Last time, I hoped you choked and crashed your car." At first, he wasn't entirely sure about this "relationship." He didn't know if he was actually willing to keep the burden of secrecy. Instead of facing the girl and telling her how he feels, it sounds like he hopes something happened to her (maybe not that drastic) that would give him an excuse to get out of it. But, obviously, he's warmed up to it.
    "Hey, tear catcher that's all that you are and ever were from the star I swear I say." This line further proves the foundation of their relationship. It's supposed to be kept secret that it's sex-based, and obviously it was meant to be that wat from the beginnig. She was a tear-catcher from the start, someone there to pretend she cares about him but really doesn't.
    "To the love I left my conscience pressed between the keyhole as I watched you dress, kiss and tell (loose lips sink ships)." So the narrator has not only warmed up to this relationship but has become desperate for it. But it seems that he knows that either the girl or he himself is planning on spilling the secret and therefore ending the affair, so he's favoring these lustful moments before they're over.
    So that's my take on the song. Hope it helped :3

  4. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Jun 16th 2012 !⃝

    I've always thought this song was about Pete's relationship with Jenae White, who he met when she began showing up to early Fall Out Boy gigs. ('I comb the crowd/And pick you out')
    They had quite a rocky relationship, and she was found out to have cheated on him with two of his close friends on the same weekend. ('Kiss and tell/Loose lips sink ships')
    More about Jenae and Pete's relationship can be found at
    codeaires.tumblr.com/post/2977224597

  5. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Mar 31st 2012 !⃝

    Basically, it's a strategic plan to get laid; an ode TO whatever it takes to get it...loose lips sink ships meaning, stealth is only achieved by secrecy.

    I comb the crowd and pick you out
    My mouth moves too fast for you to figure it out
    * He chooses who he wants for the night and prays that the girl isn't privy to his intentions..."My mouth moves too fast for you to figure out" = "loose lips."

    It starts eyes closed to fingers crossed
    * He crosses his fingers in hopes his stealthy efforts are maintained and that his mouth doesn't sink the ship...he wants to get laid.

    To the love, I left my conscience pressed
    Between the pages of the Bible in the drawer
    "What did it ever do for me" I say (I say, I say, I say)
    *TO the Love (aka schematic), he will pretend to "love" if he has to and doesn't really care because so he uses the word loosely.

    It never calls me when I'm down
    Love never wanted me
    But I took it anyway
    Put your ear to the speaker
    And choose love or sympathy
    But never both
    Love never wanted me
    *This is the funny part! "Put your ear to the speaker and choose love or sympathy but never both." He is saying that if you choose to feel sorry for him that "love never wanted me" or "calls me when I'm down" than he would gladly accept a sympathy f***. Or, if you choose to think he loves you when he doesn't, he'll say it so long as it gets him laid. Which ever works.

    Tear catcher, that's all you are, indicates that it ended up being a sympathy f*** and is sort of a "hey, get lost" type thing. Or maybe he played the sympathy role to get her interested and then said he loved her to get laid and she actually believed it and he is aggrivated by her stupidity.

    He escapes through the emergency exit before she wakes and then watches her reaction when she finds him gone.

    Kiss and tell...now he is about to tell everyone. The loose lips now will sink her ship. She was easy and he has no regrets/respect which could be possible he is questioning what love even means because all he has known was how to get into a girls pants, then loosing respect for her, and questioning why girls are so effing dumb in the first place to believe that sympathy = sex or to think that some guy at a club that you meet for the first time could love you. It isn't really a lack of conscience but more to do with a lack of respect and just realizing that the world is full of stupid girls like that.

    Eventually, they grow up and see how superficial they both are; boy only wants to get laid, girl only wants love.

    People do grow out of that, right?

  6. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Mar 31st 2012 !⃝

    All I have to say is I notice almost none of the kids posting here mentions some key lyrics - it never calls me when I'm down, love never wanted me. but I took it anyway. put your ear to the speaker, and choose love or sympathy!

  7. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Mar 5th 2012 !⃝

    .you posted this on 10 Mar, which was a THURSDAY. which taollty violates the music monday concept!*panic* *panic*nothing makes sense anymoreeeee

  8. anonymous
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    Sep 12th 2011 !⃝

    I think the song is about adultery. The guy and his girlfriend or wife or whatever got into a fight and the guy leaves to a club/ bar, gets WASTED and finds a girl. The first part of the song is the progression of the night. ("It starts eyes closed then fingers crossed, to I swear, I say"/To hands between legs, to "whatever it takes",To drinks at the club to the bar, to the keys to your car, to hotel stairs to the emergency exit door").
    The alchohol, as it does with most, made him think really irrationally("I left my conscience pressed between the pages of the Bible"), but his conscience didn't stop him from consuming all he drinks, so it wasn't any help anyway("What did it ever do for me, I say"/ It never calms me when I'm down").
    "Love never wanted me" refers to his bad luck with love and "But I took it anyway" is him saying that he'd make it work some how.

    "Put your ear to the speaker and choose love or sympathy, but never both." All this time his significant other had been soberly looking for him/ watching from afar and followed them to the hotel. "Put your ear to the speaker" is her listening in and realizing the truth, and "Choose love or sympathy" is her deciding whether to be angry(that he cheated, obviously or be sad(that she could've caused this)
    "But never both" you can never choose to be sorry AND angry at someone because they just don't mix.
    "Love never wanted me"-She has bad luck with relationships, too.

    "I'd hoped you choked, and crashed your car." her thoughts when he was gone for a while, though she feared that maybe he had been unfaithful.She would've rather him crash his car then cheat.
    -
    "To the love, I left my conscience pressed between the key-hole. Watched you dress, Kiss and tell,
    Loose lips sink ships"
    -
    "I left my conscience pressed between the key-hole"
    She's about to start acting irrationally, too.

    Okay so the POVs change again. It's the morning, the guy is hungover and he starts to realize what he's done.
    "Kiss and tell, loose lips sink ships"
    I think he might be begging/threatening the girl he picked up at the bar to not let anybody to know they'd been together for the fear that his girlfriend and everyone else will find out.
    "Loose lips sink ships" is from WWII meaning that unguarded talk could lead to an enemy's spy to overhear and intercept, destroying ships.


    This is my interpretation of this song. I've been a fan of Fallout Boy for a very long time and I've been listening to this song nonstop for the past two days. It's okay if you disagree. I hope I helped some.

  9. lightning216
    click a star to vote
    Jul 8th 2011 !⃝

    it's way more than a "ANTI-LOVE" song it's about a guy whose should feel guilty about the life he lives but doesn't. "To the love, I left my conscience pressed Between the pages of the Bible in the drawer
    "What did it ever do for me" I say (I say, I say, I say)It never calls me when I'm down"
    he doesn't care if he feels guilty or not
    ( i made this before i had a profile
    i didn't copy any ones meaning of the
    song but my own)

  10. anonymous
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    Jul 6th 2011 !⃝

    it's way more than a "ANTI-LOVE" song it's about a guy whose should feel guilty about the life he lives but doesn't. "To the love, I left my conscience pressed Between the pages of the Bible in the drawer
    "What did it ever do for me" I say (I say, I say, I say)It never calls me when I'm down"
    he doesn't care if he feels guilty or not

  11. blacknwhite13
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    Jul 4th 2009 !⃝

    Its mainly about a boy who just meets a girl dancing in a crowd at a club, "I comb the crowd and pick you out." Then it says all the steps they take to "get to know each other" like, "To hands between legs, to whatever it takes, to drinks at the club, to the bar, to the keys in your car, to hotel stairs, to the emercency exit door." Then once the night is over the boy thinks to himself, "What was I thinking?" because the girl must have been a total troublemaker. That's what, "To the love, I left my conscience pressed between the pages of the bible in the drawer." means, same with, "love never wanted me." But he thought that he really loved her.

  12. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Mar 11th 2008 !⃝

    I think this song is about cheating on someone. Unlike other songs of theirs, the singer is being cheated on, he's the one cheating on someone else.

    It's about a guy who hooks up with a girl in a hotel. Obviously, he wasnt thinking clearly, and later regrets his decision. " I left my consience pressed between the pages of the bible in the drawer."

    As I said, he regrets his decision, and is afraid his girlfriend/wife/whatever, is going to find out. "Kiss and tell, loose lips sink ships."

    I could be wrong, but that's what I got outta this song.

  13. Wildwest814
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    Jan 28th 2008 !⃝

    I think this songs about succumbing to sexual feelings and foregoing love (I left my conscience pressed through the keyhole I watched you dress)

  14. randomperson
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    Nov 9th 2007 !⃝

    This song - this may have already been said - is about (in my opinion) a guy who constantly finds himself in bad relationships in which the girl does not really love him back, but more pitties him - "put your ear to the speaker, choose love or sympathy, but never both, love never wanted me, but I took it anyway" - and after they where together, he see her cheating on him - "...through he key hole, I watched you dress, kiss, and tell, loose lips sinks ships..." - I really like that line, which I kinda think is saying that when you go around cheating on people, nobody ends up happy. In a way, I think that he has almost given up on finding real love and thinking things through - "To the love, I left my conscience pressed between the pages of the bible in the drawer, what did it ever do for me I say..." As well, he goes out and finds this girl even after knowing what she is and what she will do - he is so tired of being down over losing out that he doesn't care anymore.

  15. anonymous
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    Sep 17th 2007 !⃝

    Pete said at a fall out boy concert that it was about one night, one town and one girl.
    He's obviously going to be right=]

  16. anonymous
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    Jul 30th 2007 !⃝

    I always thought that "loose lips sink ships" meant that going around kissing and getting with people without it really meaning anything ("loose lips") got you into trouble ("sinks ships")... yes no??? I don't know, but either I think it fits better into the song that way anyway...

    Maybe they used the expression from WWII and used it in the way above, to fit into the song as a metaphor.

  17. psPatrick2707
    click a star to vote
    Feb 17th 2007 !⃝

    Face it, this songs about one night stands and those nights where you just let loose and drink and wake up the next day confused and feeling like shit.

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