Can we take a minute and talk about "Nobody Puts Baby In The Corner" by Fall Out Boy? We all remember the famous line from Dirty Dancing. Patrick Swayze pulls Jennifer Grey from a stuffy dinner party at what once used to be a summer destination for families in VA. I have been there and it's a shell of what it used to be. I think it might even be abandoned.
The love story is pretty run of the mill, following a lot of the same tropes love stories in the 80's did. Especially about dancing. Looking at you Footloose. This song is one that I believe is severely under-appreciated.
The title is essentially an homage to a fan favorite, as many of FOB's titles are. The song is about the drama of a relationship that appears solid, even storybookesque on the outside. Behind closed doors it's toxic, lonely and isolating.
What you see on the surface doesn't just not tell the whole story. It's a complete lie. I wish I had half the lyrical ability Pete Wentz has because he uses the idea of this famous rescue to poetically say, "no one puts Baby in the corner... except me."
So let's take a moment to appreciate the fast paced lines just thrown out in a song that doesn't get enough credit for what it is.
First off, "I'll be your best kept secret and your biggest mistake."
Does she even comprehend the fact that keeping him a secret is a problem and a mistake in of itself? Calling himself the "best kept secret" makes him sound like a compelling forbidden obsession.
He immediately backs that up by claiming the title of "biggest mistake," knowingly admitting that he's the flaw guaranteed to unravel his partner's life. This is stone cold narcissism, where his significance in her life is destined to be to her own demise.
This toxic mindset quickly dives into the central, dark metaphor of the chorus with the lines: "So wear me like a locket around your throat. I'll weigh you down. I'll watch you choke."
This is far from a typical love song sentiment and oddly one of my favorite lyrics. He's telling his partner to wear him like a locket, how sweet… but by emphasizing it around her throat and promising to be a weight, he transforms this relationship-defining object into a form of control. But then we dive into the line "I'll watch you choke", she's not merely a casualty of his behavior. He's content to sit by and watch her slow suffocation.
The epitome of just how much he really doesn't care comes next with: "you look so good in blue."
She's struggling to breathe, she isn't just sad she's being deprived of what she needs. He's admiring the sign that his love is destroying her.
Here's the misdirection in the song title versus the actual reality. No one is rescued. He cornered "Baby," smothering her with an intense, suffocating relationship he didn't even want her to tell others about.
The lesson that this song ultimately teaches is that intensity can be mistaken for genuine connection. That the biggest threat is often the person who calls their draining, emotional attachment love. Simply knowing you're a mess won't save you or the person you claim to care about.