Panic! At The Disco: Time to Dance Meaning
Time to Dance Lyrics
Just for the attention.
Cause that’s just ridiculous . . . ly odd
But she sure is going to get it
Here’s the setting
Fashion magazines line the walls
The walls line the bullet holes
Have...
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I just finished reading "invisible monsters" and incidently just started listening to this band. And I must say that the song is a dead-on summary of the book. Like others have said below, I don't want to give away the book the basic plot is outlined as such: there are three main characters, all models, competing for the spotlight. This is where the "photo-op" and "give me envy, give me malice" sections come in (the lyrics actually imitate chuck palanuk's writing style), and the "boys will be boys, hiding in estrogen and aubergine dreams" pretty much cements this theory (once again, I don't want to give away the book but if you read it this will become clear). The begining of the book is actually the ending of the story, in which one of the characters shoots another with a shotgun during her (the shooter's) wedding.
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I have never read the book "invisible monsters", and from the points previous people have made, there seem to be some definite references to the book, but I think the references are probably double meanings--phrases from the book that mean something in the book and something to the story of the song.
From the refernces to shotgun wedding, the girl has obviously gotten pregnant out of wedlock and now she is about to get married. "she didn't choose this role but she'll play it and make it sincere ..." she didn't plan on getting knocked up and this wasn't how she envisioned her life, but this is what has happened and she's going to try to convince everyone else (maybe even herself) that she's happy.
"so you cry, you cry (give me a break)
but they believe it from the tears and the teeth right down to the blood at her feet" : she cries when she's alone, but everyone around her believes her at the wedding from her tears (of joy) and the teeth (smiling) right down to the blood at her feet (could be her water is breaking/miscarriage/abortion--not sure on this yet)
"have some composure
where is your posture?
Oh, no, no
you're pulling the trigger
pulling the trigger
all wrong" :
her parents/family/friends are telling her to pull herself together for the big day, but the narrator is telling her not to go through with the wedding. You're pulling the trigger all wrong--you don't need to get married. "the walls line the bullet holes" = all the previous shotgun weddings that took place in that ballroom.
"she's not bleeding on the ballroom floor just for the attention because that's just ridiculous . . . Ly on" I think she's either cut herself, or slit her wrists and to an outsider it would be ridiculous to hurt yourself for attention, but she's hurting and no one notices her.
"give me malice, give me envy, baby, give me attention" perhaps this is her talking to her new husband who didn't want to get married so young either and she's saying "give me anything, just care"
"you sure you should have let her have it?" it=the wedding/the baby.
I don't doubt the song has references to the book but I think the references just add more meaning to the story line. A girl gets pregnant and it ruins her and the boy's dreams. And they end up making the same mistake that has been made thousands of times before them. It's a deep song--there are a lot of good lines in it. -
I think the magazines represent how she wants to be & like where 'youre pulling the trigger all wrong' you can't do anything right you'll never fit in that kind of thing
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I agree with most of your guys' interpretation of the song, only up until the "shotgun wedding" part.
in my opinion, I believe that panic! is referring to evie, in the novel, having a 'shotgun wedding' with allen or adam [or w/e his name was]near the end. She clearly just met him, and her mom [that one realtor] had also said that it was a relief that her daughter was finally getting married.
if it weren't for the wedding [the setting, the place, and the time] the whole incident at the end probably wouldn't have happened.
so, maybe that's why the "shotgun wedding" played such a big roll in both the novel and the song.
...then again, that's just my opinion. -
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I think Panic! At The Disco probably took a lot of the ideas from the book Invisible Monsters and included their own real life experiences in it to create something impossible for us overanalyzing critics to dissect completely =)
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This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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ladies and gents,
alot of the interpretations came in as being based off of a book. Having read these interpretations and get an idea at what this book is about, it is possible. I on the other hand feel that this is a symbolic song refrencing to past experiences for whoever wrote this song.
I will start with the most important, however most deceiving part in the song. "shotgun wedding". This phrase became really popular in the late 50's and early 60's when kids would fool around and end up with a little one o the way before marriage. The father would end up on the porch of the guy with a shotgun and force him to marry his daughter and be a father to this kid. of course this isn't nearly as much of a problem now, but it has grwon to be know as any type of forced or arranged marriage.
The next part would be "you're pulling the trigger, pulling the trigger, all wrong!" this is coming from a guy (singer/writer of song) who lost the girl to the arranged/forced marriage. The pulling the trigger all wrong is, in a sense, a slap to the face saying, "you are screwing up our relationship in the wrong way, honey."
The next section, "give me envy... baby, give me a break!" it leads all the way through and it could be from the new guy to the writer of the song saying, "be jealous, hate me and hope I suffer but listen to me" and the second half could be the guy trying to push the girl's explination away (baby, give me a break).
The second to last part (im almost done, bare with me) strtches through the whole verse of the girl not chosing the role to boys will be boys hiding in estrogen and wearing aubergine dreams. The first 2 lines (according to the lyrics I have) are saying that she did not want this new relationship or marriage but she will decieve and make it look like she is happy for all the people watching her. Then it leads to 'so you cry' to the 'blood at her feet' which in the begining shows the people at the wedding crying for happiness, then leads to the symbology of the girl becoming pregnant, thus later the boys playing in estrogen, shows guys yearning to be with women and helping them grow and getting some action on the way. The aubergine dreams is possibly an explanation to the ecstacy which comes after being in a sexual encounter.
The final part I wish to address is the have some composure and the photo op. The have some composure is aimed to the girl from the writer where he is saying, " hey, you got yourself into this, you better hold it together and not fall apart for these people." and the photo op is most likely just the writer pointing out to the camera man, " take that picture, they willl like that one. Smile. Its your OPPORTUNITY to be remembered."
after all of that, I may be wrong, I may be right, I just have been in a similar situation and I thought there was way to much feeling and passion going into those lyrics than reading them out of a book and thinking, "this would make a great song." music is an expression of self and a way to show how you really feel to the world, this is not the only song that panic! has done where they talk about feeling and use obscure refrences to throw everyone off. This song has such a similar meaning to "I write sins, not tragedies" that you have to almost suspect that one of the band members had his heart torn out. -
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'Photo op' means opportunity, not operation!
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I have heard that this songs based off the book or something called invisible monsters I haven't read it so I'm still very sketchy about it but I've heard that it's about a photo shoot and and there's like a dead person and a live one and their doing the photo shoot about a wedding and I guess its a shotgun wedding with this point being played in this part of the song "I've me envy, give me malice, give me your attention
Give me envy, give me malice, baby, give me a break!
When I say "Shotgun", you say "Wedding"
"Shotgun", "Wedding", "Shotgun", "Wedding" " which is also the director saying he wants those emotions in the shot
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