"Build God, Then We'll Talk" by Panic! At The Disco- Review/ Analysis

Ages 15+
The purpose of this piece is to analyze and review an intricately written song and reveal it's true meaning. I also want to show that not all alternative bands are just about sex, drugs and rock and roll.

Panic! At The Disco is known for being a band that puts a lot of thought into their lyrics. That’s an understatement. What many fail to realise is the underlying theme of each one of their songs. In their first album, titled “A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out”, the three hits “Lying is the most fun a girl can have without taking her clothes off”, “But it’s better if you do”, and “I write sins not tragedies” are all interconnected with each other creating a story. This is obvious by how the last few notes in “But it’s better if you do” seem to lead into the beginning of “I write sins not tragedies”. However, the song I will be focusing on and analysing is “Build God, then we’ll talk”, which has a deep meaning when broken into parts (if you haven’t read the lyrics or heard the song I greatly advise it).

One of the main themes in Panic! At The Disco’s songs is religion, but their lyrics are so ambiguous that it is difficult to distinguish the messages that they send. It is clear, however, that the song is about adultery.

It's these substandard motels on the (lalalalala) corner of 4th and Fremont Street. Appealing only because they are just that unappealing
Any practiced catholic would cross themselves upon entering. The rooms have a hint of asbestos and maybe just a dash of formaldehyde,
And the habit of decomposing right before your very (lalalala) eyes.

You can tell from the first verse that they are describing a series of motels, below normal standard, that are a sight for unethical things. This gives a good opening to the “story” in the song by not only describing the setting, but by illustrating how completely horrible the place is, ultimately making the reader/ listener wonder what exactly makes the motels so horrible.

Along with the people inside
What a wonderful caricature of intimacy
Inside, what a wonderful caricature of intimacy

Tonight tenants range from: a lawyer and a virgin
Accessorizing with a rosary tucked inside her lingerie
She's getting a job at the firm come Monday.The Mrs. will stay with the cheating attorney moonlighting aside, she really needs his money.
Oh, wonderful caricature of intimacy.

The chorus and second verse only aid in the understanding that this song is, in fact, about an adulterous lawyer and a virgin, who was most likely convinced by her boss that she has to sleep around to get ahead in life. However, she is still staying true to God as you can see from the line “accessorizing with the rosary tucked inside her lingerie”. When they say, “A wonderful caricature of intimacy”, they are describing how cheating is contradicting or distorting the true image of intimacy. Intimacy is something that should happen between two people that actually love each other and by the lawyer cheating on his wife he is making the image of intimacy humorous like a caricature would make an image of a normal person humorous.

And not to mention, the constable, and his proposition, for that "virgin"
Yes, the one the lawyer met with on "strictly business"as he said to the Mrs.,
only hours before,after he had left, she was fixing her face in a compact.
There was a terrible crash (There was a terrible crash)
Between her and the badge
She spilled her purse and her bag, and held a "purse" of a different kind.

This verse is a little more difficult to analyse. There is speculation that it means the police raided the hotel room after the virgin was finished with the lawyer, who told his wife he was out on business. The “’purse’ of a different kind” refers to a baby in her womb. Other suggestions are that the virgin sleeps with the officer to avoid being arrested. This is probably the most complicated and ambiguously written verse in the entire song.

There are no...
Raindrops on roses and the girls in white dresses
And sleeping with the roaches and taking best guesses
At the shade of the sheets and before all the stains
And a few more of your least favourite things.

So, in the final verse of the song, Panic! At The Disco is clearly expressing their idea that virtue no longer exists in the overexposed world we live in. “Sleeping with roaches” refers to the virgin sleeping with unworthy men and the “stains” are the stains of regret and remorse. All in all, I think this song shows a lot about our society, but is written in a way that doesn’t just spell the meaning out for us. It requires the reader/listener to think, which is something not many musicians imply with their music.