Music Review: Fall Out Boy "My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark (Light Em Up)"

Fall Out Boy

My Songs Know What You Did In the Dark (Light Em Up)

Album:  Save Rock and Roll

Year: 2013

           Patrick Stump delights in making his girlfriend miserable in the revolting  “My Songs Know What  You Did…”

          Domineering synths and “whoa ohs” open the single, setting an overbearing tone.   His girlfriend commented one night in bed that she could handle the worst of him. She reasoned everyone has a bad side to them. He smirked and gave her a kiss goodnight. He couldn’t believe her nerve. She’s naïve to think only a conversation and listening is all he needs.  He starts of thinking snarky insults which would hurt her and he grins.  He will blame, demean, whatever he has to and then play the misunderstood card to others. He wants to see her cry and scream at him. He wants to go off on someone and he wants it to be her. (“Be careful making wishes in the dark, dark/Can't be sure when they've hit their mark, mark/And besides in the mean, mean time/I'm just dreaming of tearing you apart/I'm in the details with the devil/So now the world can never get me on my level/I just gotta get you out of the cage/I'm a young lover's rage/Gonna need a spark to ignite.”)

         In the chorus, he decides to accuse her of sleeping with someone else to get her upset.  (“My songs know what you did in the dark/So light 'em up, up, up/Light 'em up, up, up/Light 'em up, up, up/I'm on fire/So light 'em up, up, up/Light 'em up, up, up/Light 'em up, up, up/I'm on fire/Oh, whoa, oh, oh, whoa, oh, oh, whoa, oh, oh, whoa./In the dark, dark/Oh, whoa, oh, oh, whoa, oh, oh, whoa, oh, oh, whoa./In the dark, dark.”)

          He’s a creative person and it’s expected he be a jerk. Like a writer, he has a lot to say and is full of pain, being too depressed to live any longer. A compliment will cause the self-loathing to continue, spilling into the next day. No matter what she says or does, she won’t ever be able to provide him any comfort. She’s in the corner, sobbing, screaming at him to shut up. He shrugs it off. He finally broke her and snatched the sweet smile from her. She will no longer see herself in a positive light. His words will haunt her. As a kid, his father abused him and his mother stood by and watched. Years of resentment caused him to be a mean person and he isn’t going to change. (“Writers keep writing what they write/Somewhere another pretty vein just died/I've got the scars from tomorrow and I wish you could see/That you’re the antidote to everything except for me/A constellation of tears on your lashes/Burn everything you love, then burn the ashes/In the end everything collides/My childhood spat back out the monster that you see.”)

       The chorus is sung twice to end the single.  
    

    Stump’s clipped, cantankerous vocals bluster, knocking over his target with unnecessary cruelty. Causing pain is a sport for him. Permeantly damaging a a person’s worth is a victory. He has no desire to become a better person.

   The foul “My Songs Know What You Did…” is stained with grease, some unknown juices and has a strong odor of piss that lingers after it’s gone.