kalpurna

A couple of notes:

1. We... win? *tentative Paul Gross arms*


2. You should still join fandom_counts, because, well. History does tend to repeat itself. Also, it's fun to watch the member count climb!


3. My birthday was made of awesome! I had good food with great friends and got an adorable haircut in an interesting neighborhood I'd never been to before. A++ all around. \o/

And now: bandslash content, with extra tinhat action!

Uhm, so I started typing a post sometime last week about my favorite Fall Out Boy songs, and why I love them. I'm not really a music fan, though, honestly, so much as I am a slash fan. So what ended up happening was that I wrote about them as canon resources, rather than as songs. And then I got out the tinfoil. And then I wrote a giant fucking treatise on G.I.N.A.S.F.S. So, uh, instead of my ten favorite songs, you get – my very favorite song! With a buttload of speculation.

DISCLAIMER: THIS IS ALL MADE UP, OKAY, PROBABLY THIS SONG IS ACTUALLY NOT ABOUT PETE AND PATRICK'S BIG GAY LOVE IN THE REAL LIFES, PUT ON THE T-SHIRT MARKED "FICTION." ALSO GO AWAY PETE WENTZ, STOP READING LJ, THANKS.
[Download]
The first thing about G.I.N.A.S.F.S. that pings me as a slasher is this: Pete has, canonically, put good songs on a lower publicity track than they might otherwise merit, because they had great personal meaning to him. In today's Q&A confirming that Hum Hallelujah will not be the next single from Infinity on High, he explicitly said that the reason it won't be a single is that it means something special to him.

G.I.N.A.S.F.S. is a great song. I'm a pop fan, I'm an average consumer, I tend to like things that other people like. I've got ordinary taste! And this song? By far my favorite track off the album. This track could absolutely be a hit for them, I don't doubt it for a minute. But somehow, it barely made it to release. It was a bonus track, y'all! The other bonus track is bad! I don't think it's honestly much of a stretch to say that this song may possibly have deep personal meaning to Pete. And it's called GAY IS NOT A SYNONYM FOR SHITTY. Excuse me while I go die.

So with that in mind, let's move on to a line-by-line interpretation of the text!

I've loved everything about you that hurts
So let me see your moves, let me see your moves
Lips pressed close to mine, true blue

I should first say: I think there are two "you"s in this song, at the very least. (Damn you, Pete, and your lack of names and referents!) This is fairly unambiguously, I think, a song about switching one love for another, a destructive one for one that feels like home. It's a song about trading in a bad model of relationships for one that works. So the first "you" in this passage refers to his ex(es), and possibly also to the new love on the horizon – he loves the things about people that hurt him most. The second you, in "Let me see your moves," is the new love, and the lyric is about giving a healthier relationship a chance. With kisses!

But the prince of any failing empire knows that
Everybody wants, everybody wants
To drive on through the night, if it's a drive back home

Okay, fuck this "new love" nonsense, I'm going to put on my tinhat and start saying what we're both thinking: PATRICK IS HIS HOME. Pete wants to do this Big Gay Love thing, even if it's hard, because Patrick is his home, he's what makes him feel okay. He's willing to make the biggest effort for him, because he's worth it.

Things aren't the same anymore
Some nights it gets so bad
I almost pick up the phone

Things have changed since he's figured himself out. He can't pretend life is remotely the way it was when he didn't know he was in love with Patrick, but at the same time, he finds himself wanting to fall back into old habits. The implied you here is an ex who wasn't right for him, and he knows that, but it's hard not to crawl back to the old mode of being. OR, he knows he should be avoiding calling Patrick just to hear his voice, but when he's feeling low, it's hard not to do it anyway. Possibly both meanings could apply simultaneously? He's hovering on the edge of making a stupid move, whatever the case.

Trade baby blues for wide eyed browns
I sleep with your old shirts
And walk through this house in your shoes
I know it's strange
It's a strange way of saying
That I know I'm supposed to love you
I'm supposed to love you

Uhhhhm. First of all, this is pretty queer even if it's about a girl, n'est-ce pa?

There's double entendre here, I think. "Supposed to love you" can be taken in two ways at once – the "you" he's expected to love, and the "you" he's destined to love. He's supposed to be with Patrick, even though it's strange – Patrick isn't who he would have expected to fall for in a million years. But he's supposed to love him. It's fate! Meanwhile, he's also "supposed" to love girls, according to society, but doesn't. Mmm, clever Pete.

Also also, dudes, that buzznet post Pete just made about wearing a sweatshirt that smells like his best friend and makes him feel not lonely. THIS IS OUR CANON.

(I'm not going to get into the "baby blues for wide-eyed browns" thing, because ugh, do not want. Poetic license is too much of a factor here, and I don't even know what color any of their eyes are – does Jeanae have blue eyes? Whatever, I seriously don't care, it's a metaphor. More than one "you," that's all I claim.)

I've already given up on myself twice
Third time is the charm, third time is the charm
Throw caution to the wind, but I've got a lousy arm

He wants to take the plunge and tell Patrick how he feels, but he can't bring himself to do it, and keeps wimping out. And he's emo. (This is not news.) Possibly "given up on myself" is also a reference to two serious, bad exes – Morgan and Jeanae? Who knows. (Also, poss. allow for poetic license with regard to numbers.)

And I've traced your shadows on the wall, now I kiss them
Whenever I'm down, whenever I'm down
Figured on not figuring myself out

Realizing that he's in love with Patrick is something he not only didn't want to do, but actually tried not to do. But thoughts of Patrick are what keep him sane when he's depressed – or, you know, Patrick singing him to sleep, whatever. His heart always comes back to this one place, to his home, and so in the end he couldn't avoid figuring himself out.

Born under a bad sign, you saved my life
That night on the roof of your hotel
"Cross my heart and hope to die, splinter from the headboard in my eye"
Photo-proofed kisses I remember so well

"Photo-proofed kisses," to me, is always going to evoke Mikey Way. It's kind of inevitable, considering how they (allegedly) avoided being photographed together. And "the roof of your hotel" denotes that they were staying in different hotels, so it can't be Patrick. And "you saved my life" is totally an MCR reference, dudes! In conclusion, this verse is about Mikey, I think.

In kalpurna's world of tinhats, the point of these lines is that Mikey showed him how to have a good relationship, even though it didn't work out with them. He wasn't actively destructive, which was pretty exciting for Pete. Pete was born under a bad sign, had bad luck in love – then finally had a good relationship, and it was with a dude. And when that ended, his eyes were open to see Patrick.

To my mind, G.I.N.A.S.F.S. was titled that because this is a song largely about his big male romance (and his first male romance) and how those were totes better for him than any of his girlfriends ever were. Gay is not a synonym for shitty, because for Pete, gay relationships have been the only ones that were any good. The title is a statement of defiance, and a declaration of intent – screw who he's "supposed" to love, he's going with who he's supposed to love. Uh, if that makes any sense.

UHM. SO THAT WAS A LOT OF SPECULATION. And it was pretty inarticulate, because I'm tres tired, but. What do you all think? Did your mileage vary? Am I pulling this out of my ass? What is the REAL deal with this song?