Panic! at the Disco - Camisado (Relax, Relapse) Lyrics & Meanings

Cover art for Camisado (Relax, Relapse) lyrics by Panic! at the Disco

by greeen

20y ago

ugh.

don't you guys get it yet?

this album is a story. "the only difference" and "london beckons" are dislaimer-like prologues. "nails for breakfast" is the introduction. we have a guy in a hospital bed. why? he attempted suicide. "this was no accident". actually, he was "theraputically" trying to cope with a "chain of events" by killing himself. what were these events? well the rest of the album functions to reveal the reasons why he is lying in this hospital bed.

he obviously did something pretty drastic, because he has made the "ICU hall of fame". he is a "regular decorated emergency". in a sense, he is defining his own self-worthlessness.

we have a lonely guy, who is looking for attention so he tries to kill himself. he calls the hosptial to let them know he is dying, he has a tone of "apathy" to show his lack of passion for living, hoping this will make the doctors more urgent to come to his rescue. now he is in the hospital and he realizes he is nothing more than the standard suicide attempt these doctors see everyday. the doctors were so careless the "anesthetic never sets in". in his quest for attention, he has only become just like every other "regular decorated emergency". a bloody mess.

if you notice in "the only difference" he says he is the narrator...well I believe he is narrating a story about himself. therefore he refers to himself when he says "I" and he is also talking to himself in third person when he thinks about how the "the bruises and contusions will remind [him] what [he] did [to himself] when [he] wakes". we he says "we deal" it is almost a satiric remark, because he is commenting on his own dillusionment- almost in a schitzophrenic type of way. it's actually kind of creepy.

after he realizes he is nothing more than the average suicide attempt he feels even more worthless, he creates another fiasco on the gurney. luckily the hospital camera's caught that one. i think this line is just added in to mock how ridiculous the whole situation really is.

it's ironic that he commits suicide, but calls the hospital to let them know. this shows he is "desperate for attention" as he says he is in "london beckons". when he calls the suicide "support line" in "nails for breakfast" this notion is further confirmed.

when he says "you can't take the kid from the fight, take the fight from the kid" he is saying that if you can't remove someone from their personal struggles (his is with suicide), you remove their struggles from them. i think this refers to hospitalization to ensure that he doesn't attempt suicide again.

basically, if you can't keep a kid away from attempting suicide, keep the ability to attempt suicide away from the kid. and that is why he is in this hopsital....which all falls in line with the story. it's kind of like we're traveling backwards.

ugh.

don't you guys get it yet?

this album is a story.  "the only difference" and "london beckons" are dislaimer-like prologues.  "nails for breakfast" is the introduction.  we have a guy in a hospital bed.  why? he attempted suicide.  "this was no accident".  actually, he was "theraputically" trying to cope with a "chain of events" by killing himself.  what were these events?  well the rest of the album functions to reveal the reasons why he is lying in this hospital bed.

he obviously did something pretty drastic, because he has made the "ICU hall of fame".  he is a "regular decorated emergency".  in a sense, he is defining his own self-worthlessness.

we have a lonely guy, who is looking for attention so he tries to kill himself.  he calls the hosptial to let them know he is dying, he has a tone of "apathy" to show his lack of passion for living, hoping this will make the doctors more urgent to come to his rescue.  now he is in the hospital and he realizes he is nothing more than the standard suicide attempt these doctors see everyday.  the doctors were so careless the "anesthetic never sets in".  in his quest for attention, he has only become just like every other "regular decorated emergency".  a bloody mess.

if you notice in "the only difference" he says he is the narrator...well I believe he is narrating a story about himself.  therefore he refers to himself when he says "I" and he is also talking to himself in third person when he thinks about how the "the bruises and contusions will remind [him] what [he] did [to himself] when [he] wakes".  we he says "we deal" it is almost a satiric remark, because he is commenting on his own dillusionment- almost in a schitzophrenic type of way.  it's actually kind of creepy.

after he realizes he is nothing more than the average suicide attempt he feels even more worthless, he creates another fiasco on the gurney.  luckily the hospital camera's caught that one.  i think this line is just added in to mock how ridiculous the whole situation really is.

it's ironic that he commits suicide, but calls the hospital to let them know.  this shows he is "desperate for attention" as he says he is in "london beckons".  when he calls the suicide "support line" in "nails for breakfast" this notion is further confirmed.

when he says "you can't take the kid from the fight, take the fight from the kid" he is saying that if you can't remove someone from their personal struggles (his is with suicide), you remove their struggles from them.  i think this refers to hospitalization to ensure that he doesn't attempt suicide again.

basically, if you can't keep a kid away from attempting suicide, keep the ability to attempt suicide away from the kid.  and that is why he is in this hopsital....which all falls in line with the story.  it's kind of like we're traveling backwards.

Reason:

+5

Users:

Reply · 4 Share

by xemodogx 15y ago

makes sense, however,,, ive been trying to tie the other songs into the story, and, i cant, maybe you could help?

Not Valid

by Briggs123 10y ago

@greeen I agree very much and I definitely understand almost all of the songs and how they are tied in but the song Build God, Then We'll Talk is very confusing! Can you help?

by l00kitsrainin 10y ago

@greeen actually, as far as i know, its about ryan ross's alcoholic father. "The bruises and contusions" might refer to the ones he left on ryan when he was drunk.

by one of many

20y ago

all i know is that ryan ross is a poetic genuis. i seriously don't know how he does it.

+3

Users:

Reply · 0 Share

by Wilf_x

20y ago

This song is about drugs and desperation "on the gurney" and "your bruises and confusions will remind you" give away the drugs bit and the lexical set of suffering "relapse", "hospital", "emergency" relates to the way some people are almost in hospital every weekend and they end up there again and again and can't just stop it, it becomes convention and it becomes the same. "This is the scent of dead skin on a linoleum floor" abuse at home? Possible... maybe just the familiar smell of a hospital.. "regular decorated emergency" the decorated means "wasted" as far as I can gather and the references to "fighting" are to do with fighting this routine of going out and getting fucked up on pills. Thats how I see it but then what do I know :P

+1

Users:

Reply · 0 Share

by catval

10y ago

okay i'm a little late to the party but here's what i get from this song

i got really excited at the possibility of this song being a Fight Club reference because it is my all time favorite movie, and judging from Panic!'s love of Chuck Palahniuk and that they've already written a song based off of one of his novels (Time to Dance, Invisible Monsters), the idea isn't far-fetched. (Spoilers for Fight Club btw if you haven't seen/read it, and i highly recommend you do)

let's start with the name Camisado: In military tactics, a camisado, or camisade, is a surprise attack occurring at night, or at daybreak, when the enemy is supposed to be asleep. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camisado

In Fight Club, the unnamed main character/narrator has a multiple personality disorder. He "meets" a man named Tyler Durden who is later revealed to be the same person, although the narrator is unaware. In the movie, there is a ton of foreshadowing such as when the audience is taught about changeovers in film, which is used as a metaphor for the narrator switching personalties, or the camera lingering on Tyler as the words "If you wake up at a different time in a different place, could you wake up as a different person?" are spoken. (holy foreshadowing batman) Tyler is infiltrating or "attacking" the narrator's mind and taking over while he is asleep, causing him to "wake up as a different person".

The multiple mentions of being in the hospital throughout the song are fairly vague when it comes to association with the movie: it's called Fight Club, people fight, people end up in the hospital.

The lines "The anesthetic never set in and I'm wondering where The apathy and urgency is that I thought I phoned in" also don't have much to do with the movie, but the idea of the patient requesting the nurse or doctor to be "apathetic" reminds me of the narrator's sarcasm and cynicism.

The pre-chorus "Just sit back, just sit back Just sit back and relax Just sit back, just sit back Just sit back and relapse again" makes me think of the narrator going through the process of switching personalities so often that he can almost "slip" back into Tyler. i know a lot of people think that the song is about a drug addict who keeps ending up in the hospital, and that Ryan said the song was influenced by his dad, and i do agree with that interpretation as well.

"Can't take the kid from the fight, take the fight from the kid" is fairly self-explanatory. The narrator has an addiction to the fight club he creates with Tyler in the film, and often goes too far when fighting. In one scene, he beats a man until he has barely any teeth left in his mouth and is completely disfigured (the guy he beats up is Jared Leto btw). If you can't keep him from fighting, end the fight club; which is what he tries to do at the end of the film when it goes too far.

The line that kind of hit me in the face was "This is the scent of dead skin on a linoleum floor". In a particularly disturbing scene in the film, Tyler and the narrator are in the kitchen (with linoleum flooring) and Tyler pours acid on the narrator's hand and holds his wrist, keeping him from washing it with vinegar to neutralize the burn. The acid burns the skin off of the top of his hand.

The repeating lines, "It's not so pleasant. And it's not so conventional It sure as hell ain't normal But we deal, we deal" are a nod at Tyler and the narrator's way of living. They are squatting in an abandoned, decomposing house that is a mile away from any sort of town. They steal and scam to make any sort of money, the narrator threatens his boss to give him a bunch of paychecks and expensive office technology before he smugly quits. Tyler and the narrator have an "unpleasant" and "unconventional" way of living, but they "deal".

Have you ever heard someone say that someone is a "decorated war veteran?" This means they fought and won medals, and are probably well known/prestigious. I think that "I'm a regular decorated emergency" is about Tyler's infamy. Tyler (the narrator believes that Tyler is the one doing this) crosses the country to set up Fight Clubs across the nation. The guys in these clubs are seen repeating certain phrases and using key words to discreetly mention that they are part of fight club (because the first rule of fight club, as everyone knows, don't talk about fight club). He also gives them the same acid burn, as a sort of initiation. He is well known and respected by every member of every fight club, and they all call him "sir". Because of this, one could consider him decorated. Calling him a decorated "emergency" nods at the fact that he is INFAMOUS, not famous.

"The bruises and contusions will remind me what you did when you wake" Now this is a favorite of mine. Notice the use of the word "you". "[...] will remind of what YOU did when YOU wake". This is the narrator speaking to Tyler, he is telling him that he is unaware of what he is doing while Tyler is in control (or awake), but the aftermath fills him in.

Then of course the first and final lines, "This was no accident This was a therapeutic chain of events". It's not an accident that this keeps happening, that Tyler keeps taking over. It's his mind, there is a chemical imbalance, a mental disorder that is causing this chain of events. It is therapeutic for the narrator because it helps him deal with himself and his failures without facing himself. Therapy is repeated in the song and in the movie. The narrator has insomnia and realized that he can only sleep when he cries, and that he can only cry when he is around other miserable people. So he starts going to support croups for cancers and parasites and blood diseases. When he "meets" Tyler, that is when Tyler fully manifests and the narrator begins speaking and interacting with him. He repeats the process of becoming Tyler as a therapeutic solution to his insomnia, and his own insecurity.

Wow this took a while to write but i had a blast doing it. I love Panic! At the Disco and Fight Club is my favorite movie so i really hope I'm right!!

My Interpretation

okay i'm a little late to the party but here's what i get from this song

i got really excited at the possibility of this song being a Fight Club reference because it is my all time favorite movie, and judging from Panic!'s love of Chuck Palahniuk and that they've already written a song based off of one of his novels (Time to Dance, Invisible Monsters), the idea isn't far-fetched.
(Spoilers for Fight Club btw if you haven't seen/read it, and i highly recommend you do)

let's start with the name
Camisado: In military tactics, a camisado, or camisade, is a surprise attack occurring at night, or at daybreak, when the enemy is supposed to be asleep.
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camisado

In Fight Club, the unnamed main character/narrator has a multiple personality disorder. He "meets" a man named Tyler Durden who is later revealed to be the same person, although the narrator is unaware. In the movie, there is a ton of foreshadowing such as when the audience is taught about changeovers in film, which is used as a metaphor for the narrator switching personalties, or the camera lingering on Tyler as the words "If you wake up at a different time in a different place, could you wake up as a different person?" are spoken. (holy foreshadowing batman)
Tyler is infiltrating or "attacking" the narrator's mind and taking over while he is asleep, causing him to "wake up as a different person".

The multiple mentions of being in the hospital throughout the song are fairly vague when it comes to association with the movie: it's called Fight Club, people fight, people end up in the hospital.

The lines "The anesthetic never set in and I'm wondering where
The apathy and urgency is that I thought I phoned in" also don't have much to do with the movie, but the idea of the patient requesting the nurse or doctor to be "apathetic" reminds me of the narrator's sarcasm and cynicism.

The pre-chorus "Just sit back, just sit back
Just sit back and relax
Just sit back, just sit back
Just sit back and relapse again" makes me think of the narrator going through the process of switching personalities so often that he can almost "slip" back into Tyler. i know a lot of people think that the song is about a drug addict who keeps ending up in the hospital, and that Ryan said the song was influenced by his dad, and i do agree with that interpretation as well.

"Can't take the kid from the fight, take the fight from the kid" is fairly self-explanatory. 
The narrator has an addiction to the fight club he creates with Tyler in the film, and often goes too far when fighting. In one scene, he beats a man until he has barely any teeth left in his mouth and is completely disfigured (the guy he beats up is Jared Leto btw). If you can't keep him from fighting, end the fight club; which is what he tries to do at the end of the film when it goes too far.

The line that kind of  hit me in the face was "This is the scent of dead skin on a linoleum floor". In a particularly disturbing scene in the film, Tyler and the narrator are in the kitchen (with linoleum flooring) and Tyler pours acid on the narrator's hand and holds his wrist, keeping him from washing it with vinegar to neutralize the burn. The acid burns the skin off of the top of his hand.

The repeating lines, "It's not so pleasant.
And it's not so conventional
It sure as hell ain't normal
But we deal, we deal" are a nod at Tyler and the narrator's way of living. They are squatting in an abandoned, decomposing house that is a mile away from any sort of town. They steal and scam to make any sort of money, the narrator threatens his boss to give him a  bunch of paychecks and expensive office technology before he smugly quits. Tyler and the narrator have an "unpleasant" and "unconventional" way of living, but they "deal".

Have you ever heard someone say that someone is a "decorated war veteran?" This means they fought and won medals, and are probably well known/prestigious. I think that "I'm a regular decorated emergency" is about Tyler's infamy. Tyler (the narrator believes that Tyler is the one doing this) crosses the country to set up Fight Clubs across the nation. The guys in these clubs are seen repeating certain phrases and using key words to discreetly mention that they are part of fight club (because the first rule of fight club, as everyone knows, don't talk about fight club). He also gives them the same acid burn, as a sort of initiation. He is well known and respected by every member of every fight club, and they all call him "sir". Because of this, one could consider him decorated. Calling him a decorated "emergency" nods at the fact that he is INFAMOUS, not famous.

"The bruises and contusions will remind me what you did when you wake"
Now this is a favorite of mine. Notice the use of the word "you". "[...] will remind of what YOU did when YOU wake". This is the narrator speaking to Tyler,  he is telling him that he is unaware of what he is doing while Tyler is in control (or awake), but the aftermath fills him in.

Then of course the first and final lines, "This was no accident
This was a therapeutic chain of events". 
It's not an accident that this keeps happening, that Tyler keeps taking over. It's his mind, there is a chemical imbalance, a mental disorder that is causing this chain of events. It is therapeutic for the narrator because it helps him deal with himself and his failures without facing himself. Therapy is repeated in the song and in the movie. The narrator has insomnia and realized that he can only sleep when he cries, and that he can only cry when he is around other miserable people. So he starts going to support croups for cancers and parasites and blood diseases. When he "meets" Tyler, that is when Tyler fully manifests and the narrator begins speaking and interacting with him. He repeats the process of becoming Tyler as a therapeutic solution to his insomnia, and his own insecurity.

Wow this took a while to write but i had a blast doing it. I love Panic! At the Disco and Fight Club is my favorite movie so i really hope I'm right!!

Reason:

+1

Users:

Reply · 0 Share

by Looalol

9y ago

While there are many different ways to interpret this song, it was aid by one of the members (I can't remember which nor which interview) that it was about Ryan's dad, who was an abusive alcoholic, and the times he ended up in hospital.

The lyric "The I.V. and your hospital bed This was no accident this was a therapeutic chain of events" is Ryan basically telling his father it was his own fault he ended up in that state.

The references to the hospital Setting is what he remembers seeing when he was visiting him. "This is the scent of dead skin on a linoleum floor This is the scent of quarantine wings in a hospital" These lines really show the hostility he has towards being there.

The lines "And it's not so pleasant and it's not so conventional And it sure as hell ain't normal but we deal, we deal" are about Ryan knowing that what was going on wasn't normal but he put up with it anyway which is common for children in abusive homes.

"Just sit back, just sit back, sit back, relax Just sit back, just sit back, sit back, relapse again, again Can't take the kid from the fight Take the fight from the kid, Sit back, relax, sit back, relapse again Can't take the kid from the fight but Take the fight from the kid, Just sit back, just sit back" This part is all about his dad falling in and out of addictions, and how he takes out his struggles on Ryan.

"You're a regular decorated emergency" This line in particular shows how much hatred and anger Ryan (quite understandably) feels towards his father over his alcoholism.

"The bruises and contusions will remind you what you did when you wake" This line could either be talking about the bruises on Ryan or the ones his father caused himself when drunk. It serves to say that there is a constant reminder of what pain his father had caused him that is unescapable for either of them.

"You've earned a place atop the ICU's hall of fame" In simple terms, its Ryan saying that his dad ending up in hospital is a regular occurrence. The sarcasm shows how fed up Ryan is with the whole ordeal.

Part of the beauty of most of Panic!'s songs are you can interpret them in many different ways, especially the ones Ryan wrote. While this is technically the right one seeing as this was what it was written about, the lyrics were chosen carefully so they could mean different things to different people which is one of the many gret things about this band.

Song Meaning

While there are many different ways to interpret this song, it was aid by one of the members (I can't remember which nor which interview) that it was about Ryan's dad, who was an abusive alcoholic, and the times he ended up in hospital.

The lyric "The I.V. and your hospital bed
This was no accident
this was a therapeutic chain of events" is Ryan basically telling his father it was his own fault he ended up in that state.

The references to the hospital Setting is what he remembers seeing when he was visiting him.
"This is the scent of dead skin on a linoleum floor
This is the scent of quarantine wings in a hospital"
These lines really show the hostility he has towards being there.

The lines "And it's not so pleasant and it's not so conventional
And it sure as hell ain't normal but we deal, we deal" are about Ryan knowing that what was going on wasn't normal but he put up with it anyway which is common for children in abusive homes.

"Just sit back, just sit back, sit back, relax
Just sit back, just sit back, sit back, relapse again, again
Can't take the kid from the fight
Take the fight from the kid,
Sit back, relax, sit back, relapse again
Can't take the kid from the fight but
Take the fight from the kid,
Just sit back, just sit back"
This part is all about his dad falling in and out of addictions, and how he takes out his struggles on Ryan.

"You're a regular decorated emergency" This line in particular shows how much hatred and anger Ryan (quite understandably) feels towards his father over his alcoholism.

"The bruises and contusions will remind you what you did when you wake"
 This line could either be talking about the bruises on Ryan or the ones his father caused himself when drunk. It serves to say that there is a constant reminder of what pain his father had caused him that is unescapable for either of them.

"You've earned a place atop the ICU's hall of fame"
In simple terms, its Ryan saying that his dad ending up in hospital is a regular occurrence. The sarcasm shows how fed up Ryan is with the whole ordeal.

Part of the beauty of most of Panic!'s songs are you can interpret them in many different ways, especially the ones Ryan wrote. While this is technically the right one seeing as this was what it was written about, the lyrics were chosen carefully so they could mean different things to different people which is one of the many gret things about this band.

Reason:

+1

Users:

Reply · 0 Share

by xnervousxwreckx

8m ago

I think this song is about Ryan's dad, who's was an alcoholic, and this was Ryan's way of spilling his emotions out into lyrics. How it talks about hospitals, is from how when Ryan's dad got drunk and ended up in a hospital multiple times, and Ryan would end up going to see him/pick him up. And if you read into the lyrics I think it makes a lot of sense.

Positive

Subjective

Sadness

Fear

Family Dynamics

Addiction

Emotional Expression

+1

Users:

Reply · 0 Share

by ADimeADexter

20y ago

www.fueledbyramen.com/panic/relaxrelapse.mp3

0

Users:

Reply · 1 Share

by ToriKatsu 16y ago

I think it is talking about a person addicted to a drug (like heroine or meth).

Can't take the kid from the fight take the fight from the kid Sit back, relax Sit back, relapse again

This part is talking about how he can't get away from the drug, and it is taking the life out of him. He tries to stop but relapses.

The part about waking up with bruises could just be a reference to not remembering what happened the day before. hence drugs, being around bad people. Also, he makes frequent visits to the hospital, but causes...

Not Valid

by BURNingHURTSaLOT

20y ago

http://www.purevolume.com/panicatthedisco/music

0

Users:

Reply · 0 Share

by blank_distortion

20y ago

The I.V. and your hospital bed This was no accident This was a therapeutic chain of events

Oh wait. It most definitely is.

0

Users:

Reply · 0 Share

by ciphillis

20y ago

Didn't look at it as a fight club refrence but yea now I think about it I kinda agree. And the new title combined with the lyrics makes me think of project mayhem.

0

Users:

Reply · 0 Share