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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this song is so damn illuminati how the hell you gonna symbolize it and put them out there .. come on the fire in the right eye really????
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I think she(Mona Lisa) paid to kill the dead man. The dead man knows this and needs to find a way to get justice. When he finds the kid at the end who sees him (beacause he is a ghost and nobody else can see him), he tells the girl to unveil the body and take the note out of the pocket. The crackaling at the end is the lady (mona Lisa) burning at the stake.
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Honestly it actually has to do with the movie sweeny tood it is easier understood if youve seen the movie and the music vid.
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I think this song is - like most other people think - about a prostitute and a man. He is intoxicated by her air of mystery and beauty and just can't help coming back and wants to believe they have a real relationship. They didn't, but then Mona Lisa begins to fall in love with him which, obviously, her career doesn't allow. She decides to keep his buisiness and keep up her facade.
There it is; short, sweet, and simple.
- Cro -
I pretty much agree with the person that posted on Feb 9th, 18:42, but to add to it a little, this may be expanding upon I Write Sins Not Tradgedies.
In I Write Sins Not Tradgedies, the bride to be ends up being a whore who cheated on her fiancee. Mona Lisa could be the same woman. The first "he" in the story could be the fiancee days before the wedding, suspicious of her activites. The Ballad of Mon Lisa could be what happens before I Write Sins Not Tradgedies, because in the latter song, he finds out she has been cheating, which could mean prostitution. -
I think (from seeing the music video) that "mona lisa" or Mary, is a mortician who is going out of business and kills the narrator (Brendon Urie) to keep from closing her shop, and starts to get more customers thus the "You're guaranteed to run this town" and "I'd pay to see you frown" is referring to how she is acting sad at the funerals.
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Ya I agree most of you are wrong. Basically a girl killed a guy, could have something o do with prostitution who knows, any ways no one else knows about what she did and the ghost of the dead guy tries to communicate with other people but they can't hear him except this little girl who helps him expose his murderer
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Most of you guys are wrong. This song is part of a scenery when a lover kills his loved one and the little girl can see the dead man's spirit and is psychic and reveals the truth. You guys will get it if you see the music video
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This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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I know wiki sucks, but its pretty spot on.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ballad_of_Mona_Lisa
Basically says that the song was first started before their second album, so its not about what had happened. Instead it says it is about Urie's inner struggles with himself and "fighting the dualities of my personality -- the side that fucks everything up and destroys everything and the other side that tries to pick up the slack. It's all growing pains." -
If you watch the video, she killed him. I think it has something to do with her mysterious murder of the man, and her hiding it.
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This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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i think the song talks about a prostitute and two man, the first man is her boyfriend who's assuming she's a whore but he's still not sure, this man own the first verse + the first chorus. in the chorus he makes a reference to mona lisa the painting, which is known for having a secret, when he says "i'd pay to see you frown" he's clearly talking about the girls real feelings. then the second verse is about a client of the girl; he thinks she has aids or something like that; he starts to get desperate, but he's still seeing the prostitute, in the sentence "if she had the proper words she would tell him, but she got nothing left to sell him." its clearly talking about her sickness and how she wishes she could explain but can't because she needs the money therefore she needs to be a whore. in the chorus his interpretation is a little different because when he says "say what you mean tell me im right." hes telling her about what he thinks and hes waiting for her confirmation. then the res of the chorus is him saying about how beautiful she is and then again about mona lisa.
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The way I interpreted this song is based on both the lyrics and the music video. With those in mind, I find that this has nothing to do with prostitution, but with a woman who has done nefarious deeds and ends up getting what she deserves.
"She paints her fingers with a close precision
He starts to notice empty bottles of gin
And takes a moment to assess the sins she’s paid for"
The woman is preparing for a special event while a man notices that she has been drinking and decides to confront her about why she started to drink.
"A lonely speaker in a conversation
Her words were swimming through his ears again
There's nothing wrong with just a taste of what you've paid for"
The conversation with the woman didn't go smoothly. It was probably mostly the man yelling at the woman while she kept quiet and avoiding his questions. After the conversation, the man leaves, the woman's mysterious words are ringing in is head. As for the third line, it could be either the woman's words as foreshadowing or, more likely, referring to the man scolding the woman, a taste of punishment for what she's about to do.
"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"
The man wants the woman to answer him directly and confirm his concerns. He wants her to be clear.
"Woah, Mona Lisa,
You're guaranteed to run this town
Woah, Mona Lisa,
I'd pay to see you frown"
This part of the chorus is describing the woman. She is controlling and cunning, able to get whatever she wants and control everything and/or everyone around her. However, someone (the man?) wants to see justice come to her for all the things she has done.
"He senses something, call it desperation
Another dollar, another day
And if she had the proper words to say,
She would tell him
But she'd have nothing left to sell him"
The man can tell something is wrong, but he doesn't really act on it. In the meantime, the woman kind of wants to admit to what she has done, but she can't tell the man because she is unsure of how to tell him and not lose him or his interest.
"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"
"Woah, Mona Lisa,
You're guaranteed to run this town
Woah, Mona Lisa,
I'd pay to see you frown" (repeated)
Same interpretation as above. The man wants the woman to tell him what's bothering her directly, yet he kind of knows what it is. And, again, the woman is able to control her environment and someone (the man?) wants to see justice for her actions.
"There's nothing wrong with just a taste of what you've paid for"
This ending can be interpreted in many ways, but I'm just going to list two: one based on the music video and one based on the lyrics alone.
In the music video, the woman is finally taken and arrested for what she did. It ends with the sound of fire, suggesting that she was burned for her actions. This verse is referring to her punishment, saying that this is something she brought on herself and that she deserves it.
Based on the lyrics alone, however, it could have not ended. The woman might still be drinking and mysteriously dressing up while the man is in the background, waiting for the woman to confess. He might be confronting the woman too, reminding her of what she did and maybe trying to make the woman feel guilty and turn herself in. -
I think it has nothing to do with sex or prostitution.I think it's kinda like the video...someone killed the guy and no one knows and he's trying to tell someone who did it but they can't hear him...like a ghost.Then with the child she can see him and hear what he's saying,just like children can with ghosts in reality.But it seems like he tells her to look in the pocket and let everyone know and the child takes the paper and unfolds it,and the paper says 'Mary Did It'.Then everyone knows and she gets like tied up or something and from the end of the video and from the sortof smile on his face it seems like 'Mary' is being tortuered.Just my opinion.
Kisses and Hugs,Brianna
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