Calm Before The Storm- Fall Out Boy-

An analysis of: Calm Before the Storm by Fall Out Boy
         Songs are written to evoke meaning and to express the feelings that the writer has and wants to demonstrate to their audience. They are usually written as a means of coping with certain situations the writer is going through at the time. Listeners can sometimes be able to perfectly capture the emotions that a song is attempting to convey. However, sometimes, listeners create their own meanings to songs and are able to find solace through listening to them. Calm Before the Storm is a carefully crafted song that brings about feelings of great regret and despair. The listener is able to feel what the singer is feeling and able to draw unique feelings of their own from the song.
         The song commences by illustrating an image of a guy looking out his window. This guy is longing for what he used to have; a girl who he loved deeply. This girl has obviously moved on as is implied by the singer when he says, “[W]hat escapes me; what he has, a better kiss that never lasts.”  He doesn't see what she sees in the other guy who she is currently kissing. He is jealous and does not know what to do. However, he is contemplating revenge of some degree on this new man of hers. The writer also displays the strong desire of the guy to know exactly what this girl is doing every moment of her life. Of course, he imagines the worst of things; he imagines her doing things that are perhaps beyond friendly with this new man of hers. This is supported when he states, "what you do on your own time is just fine, my imagination’s much worse. I just never want to know." It displays how he thinks of what she must be doing with her man, but then he second thinks it and would rather not know the things she does. He would rather be oblivious to what they do together than think about the intimate actions they commit.
         As it is implied through the song, the writer is longing to have the girl back. Perhaps they have just recently ended their relationship and have attempted to establish a friendship. But now he is growing tired of just being friends. Obviously this guy cannot just be friends with her; he strongly desires to have her back with him and away from her new man. He does not want what he used to have with her to be gone so quickly. He still has strong feelings for her but just doesn't have the courage and self confidence to go up to her and tell her that he wants her back. He desperately wants to believe her plea to "not say its over" but then feels like a fool for actually believing in her. He is not ready to move on and suffers every time he thinks of her with her other man. He is not quite ready to let what he had with her to be "dead and gone". However, he is trying to deal with the idea that it is truly over between them. This message is implicit at the end of the song: “the sun burned out tonight.” This meaning that the deep “fiery” passion that used to exist between them is finally burned out and now it is time to move on.
         As it is seen in Calm Before the Storm, songs are used as a way to channel feelings and be able to cope with certain situations. In this song, it is seen that the singer tries to cope with the loss of a girl of whom he strongly loved. He is forced to deal with the fact that she and him will never be together again and that their relationship is “dead and gone.”