#if youd like my longer analysis of folie please feel free to ask!

[petewentzisblack1312]

would u ever analyze disloyal order? it is my favorite fob song but much of the verses honestly confuse tf outta me, particularly the second one. lol

of course! ill do that for you now. fun fact: disloyal order is the song that 100% sold me on fob

to begin with the title, it is a reference i am far too young to get and have just figured out after years of puzzling. its a reference to an elite boys club in the flinstones. disloyal order of water buffaloes as a title is just saying "society is made for a certain kind of people to succeed and its fucked up" and that makes all of the lyrics make so much more sense. its been so long.

the prelude describes the persona coming undone, and turning themself into someone elses ideal. trying to do so leaves them feeling empty inside, since this isnt what they want, this is whats expected of them. this fits nicely into the overarching theme of the album, which is [joker voice] society and how it shapes us for better or (more often), for worse. in fact, disloyal order, as an opener, is an introduction on the essay that is folie à deux, painting broad strokes of a lot of what it covers. the prechorus also touches on this, painting the persona as just a single malfunctioning part of a whole intricate system.

the first verse points to the persona waking up, dazed and covered in wounds, and covincing themself this is normal, and that they wouldnt remember it even if they tried. it goes on to talk about them bein arrested, and them needing medical attention, and that theyre certifiably insane, but also taking care to mention how sensational their story is. this verse tells us about the exploitation of sick people, and about people running themselves into the ground for fame or money. they dont need to be sold as a story, they need to be helped as a person.

the second verse gestures to themes of sex and romance. theres a moment where the persona misinterprets something innocuous as an advance (little girl got me staring odd/or is that just a telescopic camera nod). they then goes on to talk about soliciting sex workers– they can only really interpret woman in the context of being attracted to them. one could argue the line "all the rookies leave your badge and your gun on the desk when you leave the room" could be about inexperienced young lovers being told to sit this one out.

and then, the chorus, which asks people to embrace apathy (boycott love) and to stay ignorant and repeat the same old mistakes (detox just to retox). the line "id promise you anything for another shot at life" implies someone promising to fix everything in exchange for another chance. the last two lines, however, i think are most interestingly read from a meta perspective, ie its the band saying 'no one wants to hear celebrities sing about peoples problems'

i think disloyal order points to one of the main problems i have with folie, which is that its way too ambitious. they wanted to do so much, musically and lyrically, gave themselves too little time to do it, did the whole citizens fob thing, they stuffed a lot onto every song, and i think the albums is worse off for it. dont misconstrue me, folie is a beautiful album that explores a lot of ideas in a genuinely thought provoking manner, and musically i think its extremely well put together. truly its an experience of sound. but i think the concepts dont work together in the way they could. lyrically i think its among the weakest fall out boy albums, because unlike ioh, which is specifically about fame, or mania, which is just about mental health, or futct, which is about a specific relationship and the feelings it evoked, this album is about everything, and it gets that across really well sometimes but just as often it gets that across really okay-ly.

like, in this song alone, which summarises the album, we have 3 very distinct themes– exploitation of vulnerable people, sex and relationships, and apathy being exploited for power. theyre definitely connected, but this one album feels like it shouldve been a triptych, or that one of these themes shouldve been dropped completely (i think number 2 wasnt that necessary). i love it, i really do, its genuinely amazing and its a masterpiece and is so worthy of being anyones favorite. this is just my purely technical (as in based in technique and execution) criticism.

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