Vices Virtues Take a Vacation

So many of us have been thinking of Vices & Virtues as a sort of "response" to Take a Vacation! (from a Rydon/Ryden viewpoint). And if you haven't, it's about time you started. Because, honestly, there are some serious parallels you need consider.

First, I'm going to go back to the whole "summer fling" theory, as demonstrated by the numerous references to summer in a multitude of Panic! at the Disco, starting with their second album, Pretty. Odd.

"He fell in love in the middle of summer." –When the Day Met the Night

"Allow me to exaggerate a memory or two, when summer lasted longer than we do." –Folkin' Around

"Fall comes early and summer leaves." –From a Mountain in the Middle of the Cabins

This trend continues into their most recent album, Vices & Virtues.

"When July became December, their affection fought the cold, but they couldn't quite remember what inspired them to go." –Memories

"Put another ex on the calendar. Summer's on its deathbed." –The Calendar

There aren't any direct references to summer off the Young Veins' album, Take a Vacation! But there are, however, a couple of songs that evoke a summery / fling feeling. Namely Cape Town and Take a Vacation!

Hand-in-hand with the "summer fling" theory, comes the "ocean sex" theory (which supposedly happened in July, according to some journal entries / sources), which is, again, referenced to in many Panic! at the Disco and Young Veins songs.

"If all our life is but a dream, then we should feed our jewelry to the sea." –Northern Downpour

"The men all played along to marching songs and boy, did they have fun behind the sea." –Behind the [i]Sea[/i]

"Who could love me? I am out of mind, throwing a line out to sea to see if I can catch a dream." –She Had the World

"But leave the waves at the ocean; keep them all in a picture." –Take a Vacation!

"All I do is lie by the ocean side." –Dangerous Blues

"Even the tide gets high at night." –Dangerous Blues

"We'll swim in dreams." –Maybe I Will, Maybe I Won't

"I feel the salty waves come in. I feel them crash against my skin." –New Perspective

And going along with that theory are all the references to boats and/or sailing.

"Seven days over the seashells. Sunk so many leagues." –Everyone but You

"We'd sail across the world." –Heart of Mine

"Hey, hey, we are a hurricane. Drop our anchors in the storm." –Hurricane

"'Cause I am an anchor. Save her or feeling it sinking in." –Trade Mistakes

Wow. That was a lot of lyrics. My brain hurts. (Also take note of all the mentions of dreaming in these lyrics, plus in a load of their other songs.)

Now on the parallels between Vices & Virtues and Take a Vacation! I'd like to start off this section by asking if I'm the only one who finds it … "interesting" that there's a Take a Vacation! song called "Die Tonight," and a Vices & Virtues song entitled "Let's Kill Tonight." Wow, Brendon, plagiarism much? (Just kidding.)

Actually, the first thing which really struck me as an odd coincidence between the two albums was the line "I've been to Tokyo and to South Africa, so many place that you might say I've seen it all," from the Virtues & Virtues bonus track "Bittersweet." I immediately thought of the Take a Vacation! song "Cape Town." Because, you know, Cape Town is the capitol of South Africa. Not to mention the Take a Vacation! song "Heart of Mine," with its "I've seen a lot of things going on all around the world," lyric.

"I need to take a vacation!" loudly exclaims the title track, Take a Vacation! To which, Ready to Go (Get Met out of My Mind) replies, "I'm ready to go."

Another interesting call-and-response type of parallel between the two albums can be found in Lie in the Truth and Hurricane. "I'll lie to the truth, 'cuz you lied to it too," is Ryan's way of saying, "I'm not going to tell anyone about our [obvious] relationship. But, you know, you can't blame me, because you never told anyone either. So it's all okay." But apparently Brendon is not okay with that, because he says, "I confess to the rumor of us." He's trying to say that he's stronger than Ryan; he'll be honest.

And has anyone else noticed the obsession with sheep?! "I'm tired of counting sheep to see her. I sleep because I need here," says Everyone but You, and "If I could trade mistakes for sheep, count me away before you sleep," returns Trade Mistakes.

Which, I suppose, is an awkward sort of segway into their obsession with damning the other to Hell. "They will send him straight to jail, where he'll die and go to Hell," proclaims The Other Girl. "May your feet serve you well and rest be sent to Hell, where they have always belonged," Brendon jabs back with Let's Kill Tonight.

Not to mention their obsession with losing their body parts. In Maybe I Will, Maybe I Won't, Ryan asks, "Who stole all my bones?" And in Trade Mistakes, Brendon says, ""I feel marooned in this body. Deserted, my organs can go on without me."

"I know it sounds a little odd, but love is all I'm really after," says Everyone but You, while I Wanna Be Free (a bonus track), cries, "I wanna be loved!"

And now for some random Rydon/Ryden evidence from Vices & Virtues!

Turn Off the Lights, a bonus track, says, "I'm taking every chance I've got like the man I know I'm not." Could this be Brendon's way of saying that he's gay, because oftentimes homosexuals and other non-heterosexuals who are in denial and/or ashamed of their orientation don't feel like "real" men and women. (This thought always maks me sad.)

"My favorite place is the warm embrace of holding your head back in a bathroom stall," says another bonus track, Bittersweet. Welp. First of all, "bathroom stall" implies that Brendon's talking to another male because if it's a stall than it's not a single toilet bathroom and therefore it's in a men's (or women's) room, except Brendon, as a man (we think), wouldn't be in the women's room. A fellow deviantARTist pointed out that "holding your head back in a bathroom stall" sounds like he's holding someone up as they throw up. This might be a reference to Ryan's (possible) drinking problems, which he also references in The Ballad of Mona Lisa ("He starts to notice empty bottles of gin.") and Kaleidoscope Eye ("When your chips are down and your drinks are all gone, I'll still be here, waiting and wishing for you to come home.") On the other hand, the line could also be talking about Brendon holding Ryan's hair back as Ryan blows him.

There's an endless amount of lyrics and lines I could point at and say, "See?" But I won't. So instead, I'll close out with a happy response.

"You always had this heart of mine," Ryan (Heart of Mine) says, and Brendon (Always) replies, "It was always you falling for me."

P.S. If any of you have found any other similarities like these, feel free to post them in the comments. ?