Day 18: The Last of the Real Ones – Fall Out Boy

I promise Fall Out Boy is not a sponsor of this series.

But hey, they’ve come out with some good stuff recently, and a lot of it has been pumping through my earbuds in the last year or so. So I really don’t feel too bad about it. To me, they are able to encapsulate a range of emotions – anger, sadness, fear, love – using excellent sound and Pete Wentz’s edgy lyricism. Some people aren’t a huge fan of their “newer” sound, but I think it’s just a more refined version of their previous sound.

I won’t get too wordy, okay? They’re just good.

Day 18: The Last of the Real Ones – Fall Out Boy 

Poets like to express their love and devotion in very hyperbolic ways. Shakespeare compared his love to a summer’s day. The Police got a little creepy about how devoted they are. It just goes with a poet’s territory. Since you’re an artist, you don’t have a lot of money, so you can’t woo your date with expensive fineries. You gotta win her with words, Cyrano-style. And the opening verse of this song is pretty swoon-worthy as far as winning-over-maiden’s-heart goes.

I was just an only child of the universe
And then I found you, and then I found you
You are the sun and I am just the planets
Spinning around you, spinning around you
You were too good to be true, gold plated
But what’s inside you? But what’s inside you?
I know this whole damn city thinks it needs you
But not as much as I do, as much as I do, yeah

Omg, he compared me to the sun. Wait, does that mean he thinks I’m fat? Far from it. Our poet (Pete Wentz, lyrics sung by our boy Patrick Stump) is highlighting the uniqueness of this love – an only child finally finding someone they click with. It’s definitely that once-in-a-lifetime meeting. And sometimes it does end up being too good to be true.

‘Cause you’re the last of a dying breed
Write our names in the wet concrete
I wonder if your therapist knows
Everything about me
I’m here in search of your glory
There’s been a million before me
That ultra-kind of love
You never walk away from
You’re just the last of the real ones

It’s fun to think of your romance as “special,” or even of your love as special. Y’know, there’s just something about her. And that could be true. But fact is, she’s probably only special in that way to you. There’s nothing wrong with that “ultra” kind of love. Usually.

I am a collapsing star with tunnel vision
But only for you, but only for you
My head is stripped just like a screw that’s been tightened too many times
When I think of you, when I think of you
I will shield you from the waves if they find you
I will protect you, I will protect you
Just tell me, tell me, tell me I, I am the only one
Even if it’s not true, even if it’s not true, yeah

Ok y’all, getting a little clingy. Let’s take a step back. If he’s writing this song about her, no doubt he’s committed. But how well does he know this girl? After all, he called her “gold plated” in the first verse, which isn’t necessarily a compliment. Now he’s thinking about her all the time. Oh dang. He’s in love.

This song is also from M A N I A, which we’ve covered before. And like I said before, the album covers a lot of themes about, well, mania. And part of mania is hyperbole and obsession. This is a manic love song. You can feel it in the tempo, in the driving rhythm of the chorus. It’s a little bit cute, but it’s also supposed to feel like a bumpy ride through this cosmic landscape.

I’m here, at the beginning of the end
Oh, the end of infinity with you
I’m done with having dreams, the thing that I believe
Oh, you drain all the fear from me

And what’s hyperbole withouth juxtaposition? Just look at the scope of his love for her. Think he’s going too far? I don’t think he cares. Because we’re all manic in love, especially that first spark. I think we’ve all been in a place where our head feels like a “stripped” screw. If you’re anything like me, your therapist knows a lot about them. But something about it feels real to you.

It’s not usually a bad thing. Just don’t make it a mania thing.