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I Write Sins Not Tragedies

{{Short description|2006 single by Panic! at the Disco}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2022}}

{{Infobox song

| name = I Write Sins Not Tragedies

| cover = Panic! at the Disco - I Write Sins Not Tragedies.png

| alt =

| type = single

| artist = Panic! at the Disco

| album = A Fever You Can't Sweat Out

| released = {{start date|2006|01|16}}

| recorded =

| studio =

| venue =

| genre = {{flatlist|

  • Emo{{cite web|first=Glenn|last=Gamboa|url=http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/music/panic-at-the-disco-s-this-is-gospel-review-unstoppable-1.5986883|title=Panic! At the Disco's 'This Is Gospel' review: Unstoppable|date=September 2, 2013|access-date=June 1, 2022}}{{cite web |url= https://www.buzzfeed.com/candacelowry/songs-every-former-emo-kid-will-never-forget-crying-to|title=Songs Every Former Emo Kid Will Never Forget Crying To|publisher=BuzzFeed|last=Lowry|first=Candace|date=October 21, 2014|accessdate=February 20, 2022 }}
  • alternative rock{{cite web|first=Matt|last=Crane |url=https://www.altpress.com/features/entry/vinyl_theatre_cover_panic_at_the_discos_i_write_sins_not_tragedies_exclusiv|title=Vinyl Theatre cover Panic! At The Disco's "I Write Sins Not Tragedies" (exclusive)|publisher=Alternative press|date=September 25, 2015|access-date=December 24, 2017}}
  • pop-punk{{cite web|url=http://www.gigwise.com/reviews/84513/track-by-track-panic-at-the-disco---too-weird-to-live-too-rare-to-die|title=Track by track: Panic! At The Disco – Too Weird To Live, Too Rare To Die|author=Tamsyn Wilce|work=gigwise.com}}{{cite web|first=Maya|last=Phillips|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/27/arts/music/panic-at-the-disco-a-fever-you-cant-sweat-out.html|title=Panic! at the Disco's Flourishes Weren't Just Dramatic. They Were Theater.|work=The New York Times|date=September 27, 2020|access-date=June 1, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201001002043/https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/27/arts/music/panic-at-the-disco-a-fever-you-cant-sweat-out.html|archive-date=October 1, 2020|url-status=live}}
  • {{nowrap|baroque pop}}{{cite magazine|first=Elleah|last=Stanton|url=https://www.slideshare.net/mobile/elleahmedia/panic-at-the-disco-i-write-sins-not-tragedies-analysis/|title=Panic! at the disco I write sins not tragedies analysis|magazine=Entertainment Weekly|date=2016|access-date=May 11, 2016}}
  • pop rock}}

| length = 3:06

| label = {{flatlist|

}}

| composer = {{flatlist|

}}

| lyricist = Ryan Ross

| producer = Matt Squire

| prev_title = The Only Difference Between Martyrdom and Suicide Is Press Coverage

| prev_year = 2005

| next_title = But It's Better If You Do

| next_year = 2006

| misc = {{External music video|{{YouTube|vc6vs-l5dkc|"I Write Sins Not Tragedies"}}}}

}}

"I Write Sins Not Tragedies" is a song by American rock band Panic! at the Disco. It is the second single from their debut studio album, A Fever You Can't Sweat Out (2005), and was released in the United States as a digital download on November 16, 2005. The song is built upon a pizzicato cello motif that was played by session musician Heather Stebbins. It reached a peak of {{abbr|No.|Number}} 7 on the US Billboard Hot 100, the band's only top-40 hit until the release of "Hallelujah" in 2015, and only top-10 hit until "High Hopes" in 2018. While the song failed to reach the top 10 of the Modern Rock Tracks chart, peaking at No. 12, the song's success on the Hot 100 and Mainstream Top 40 (at No. 2) made the song one of the biggest modern rock hits of 2006, and it is still one of the band's most-played songs on alternative radio stations.{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=D0b70DQT1HkC&q=a+fever+can%27t+sweat+out+1.8+million&pg=RA9-PA37|title=Billboard|date=January 8, 2011|access-date=December 24, 2015}}

In the United Kingdom, the song was released on February 27, 2006, as a limited-edition single with a free sticker. Because the sticker was included with the CD single, the song was not eligible for the UK Singles Chart; Official Charts Company rules state that stickers are not allowed in single releases. Later, due to the popularity of the track and following further single releases of "Lying Is the Most Fun a Girl Can Have Without Taking Her Clothes Off" and "But It's Better If You Do" reaching the top 40, the single was re-released on October 30, 2006. Despite receiving significant radio airplay upon its re-release, the single reached only No. 25 on the UK Singles Chart.

Many US radio stations, in response to the language found in the song, wanted an edited version. The lyrics "The poor groom's bride is a whore" and "Haven't you people ever heard of closing a goddamn door?" were changed by replacing "whore" with a "shhh" sound and removing "god" in "goddamn". Some stations – generally modern rock stations – still play the original version. "I Write Sins Not Tragedies" was ranked No. 3 in Billboard{{'}}s Best 2000s Video poll,{{Cite magazine|title=The 10 Best '00s Music Videos: Poll Results|url=https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/468680/the-10-best-00s-music-videos-poll-results|access-date=August 5, 2021|magazine=Billboard|language=en}} and Variety ranked it as one of the best emo songs of all time in 2022.{{Cite web|date=October 18, 2022 |title=The 25 Best Emo Songs of All Time|url=https://variety.com/lists/best-emo-songs-my-chemical-romance-paramore/|access-date=October 18, 2022 |website=Variety}} The song was covered by Fall Out Boy, fellow Decaydance band, for their live album, Live in Phoenix. Fall Out Boy commonly uses the song's chorus as a lead-in to "This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race" in concert.{{cite web|url=https://secondhandsongs.com/performance/83064|title=I Write Sins Not Tragedies by Panic! At the Disco|publisher=secondhandsongs}}

Title

The title of the song, while not mentioned in the lyrics, refers to Douglas Coupland's novel Shampoo Planet, wherein the main character, Tyler Johnson, says: "I am writing a list of tragic character flaws on my dollar bills with a felt pen. I am thinking of the people in my universe and distilling for each of these people the one flaw in their character that will be their downfall – the flaw that will be their undoing. What I write are not sins; I write tragedies."{{cite web|url=http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=5867|title=I WRITE SINS NOT TRAGEDIES by PANIC! AT THE DISCO|work=Songfacts|access-date=July 5, 2016}}

Music video

Image:IWriteSinsNotTragediesVideo.png

"I Write Sins Not Tragedies" is Panic! at the Disco's first single to have a music video, and the video was published on July 18, 2006. ("The Only Difference Between Martyrdom and Suicide Is Press Coverage" was the first single, but no video was filmed.) The video for the song takes place at a strange, circus-themed wedding played by the Lucent Dossier Vaudeville Cirque.

The video starts as the bride, played by Jessica Preston Gatena, and groom, Daniel Isaac McGuffey, are about to be married. Her family dress and behave formally, but they are revealed later to have fallen asleep and have eyes painted on their eyelids. The groom's family are lower-class entertainers and carnival folk, who interrupt the wedding. The ringmaster, played by vocalist Brendon Urie, acts as narrator and disrupts the events. After an argument between the two families, the bride runs out and is followed by one of her guests. The ringmaster drags the groom outside by his tie, where his fiancée is kissing the guest who followed her out of the church. The groom straightens up, looking shocked, and Urie and the groom bow to the camera. The ringmaster is revealed to be the groom's alter ego.{{YouTube|ftkYdV42Sic|video documenting the making of the music video}}

The music video, filmed by director Shane Drake, won the award for Video of the Year during the 2006 MTV Video Music Awards. This marked the first occasion since the 1989 VMAs that the winner of Video of the Year did not win in any other categories. The video was also ranked No. 7 on VH1's list of the Top 100 Videos of 2006.{{Cite web|url=http://www.vh1.com/vspot/player.jhtml?id=1551722&launchedFrom=/artists/az/panic_at_the_disco/artist.jhtml|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071001130905/http://www.vh1.com/vspot/player.jhtml?id=1551722&launchedFrom=/artists/az/panic_at_the_disco/artist.jhtml|url-status=dead|archive-date=October 1, 2007|title=Watch the latest Music Video by Shakira from Oral Fixation, Vol. 2 | See Hips Don't Lie (featuring Wyclef Jean) Online|VH1.com}}

The video was shot in December 2005. According to vocalist Brendon Urie, he and guitarist Ryan Ross suffered from the flu while filming the video clip.{{cite web | title=Panic! at the Disco - Interview 2006| url=http://onelouderradiouk.homestead.com/Interview_Panic_at_the_disco.html/| access-date=December 17, 2006}} In August 2011, the video won Best VMA-Winning Video of All Time, in a worldwide poll on MTV's website.{{cite web|url=http://newsroom.mtv.com/2011/08/24/poll-best-vma-winning-video-of-the-year-of-all-time/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110925152542/http://newsroom.mtv.com/2011/08/24/poll-best-vma-winning-video-of-the-year-of-all-time/|url-status=dead|archive-date=September 25, 2011|title=Poll: Best VMA-Winning Video Of The Year Of All Time|date=August 24, 2011|author=John Mitchell|work=MTV|access-date=February 12, 2012}}

Track listing

UK 7-inch poster bag {{small|(February 2006)}}

  • A. "I Write Sins Not Tragedies"

UK CD single {{small|(February 2006)}}

  1. "I Write Sins Not Tragedies"
  2. "Nails for Breakfast, Tacks for Snacks" {{small|(demo version)}}

WMI CD single {{small|(May 2006)}}

  1. "I Write Sins Not Tragedies" – 3:10
  2. "Nails for Breakfast, Tacks for Snacks" {{small|(demo version)}} – 3:57
  3. "The Only Difference Between Martyrdom and Suicide Is Press Coverage" {{small|(Tommie Sunshine Brooklyn Fire Remix)}} – 5:04

UK CD single {{small|(October 2006)}}

  1. "I Write Sins Not Tragedies"
  2. "Karma Police" {{small|(Live in Denver)}}

UK 7-inch gatefold sleeve {{small|(October 2006)}}

UK 7-inch picture disc {{small|(October 2006)}}

  • A. "I Write Sins Not Tragedies"
  • B. "I Write Sins Not Tragedies" {{small|(Live in Denver)}}

Enhanced CD single {{small|(October 2006)}}

  1. "I Write Sins Not Tragedies"
  2. "Nails for Breakfast, Tacks for Snacks" {{small|(demo version)}}
  3. "The Only Difference Between Martyrdom and Suicide Is Press Coverage" {{small|(Tommie Sunshine Brooklyn Fire Remix)}}
  4. "I Write Sins Not Tragedies" {{small|(video)}}

Charts

{{col-begin}}

{{col-2}}

=Weekly charts=

class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
Chart (2006)

! Peak
position

{{single chart|Australia|12|artist=Panic! at the Disco|song=I Write Sins Not Tragedies|rowheader=true}}
{{single chart|Flanders Tip|12|artist=Panic! at the Disco|song=I Write Sins Not Tragedies|rowheader=true}}
{{single chart|Billboardcanadaac|39|artist=Panic at the Disco 2|rowheader=true|access-date=August 12, 2019}}
{{single chart|Billboardcanadachrtop40|8|artist=Panic at the Disco 2|rowheader=true|access-date=August 12, 2019}}
{{single chart|Billboardcanadahotac|36|artist=Panic at the Disco 2|rowheader=true|access-date=August 12, 2019}}
{{single chart|Germany|66|artist=Panic! at the Disco|song=I Write Sins Not Tragedies|songid=197819|rowheader=true|access-date=January 20, 2020}}
{{single chart|Ireland3|50|artist=Panic! at the Disco|rowheader=true|access-date=January 20, 2020}}
scope="row"| Mexico Ingles Airplay (Billboard){{Cite magazine|url=https://www.billboard.com/biz/charts/2009-05-09/mexico-ingles|title=Mexico Ingles Airplay|date=May 9, 2009|access-date=August 12, 2019|magazine=Billboard|url-access=subscription }}

| 38

{{single chart|Dutch40|29|artist=Panic! at the Disco|song=I Write Sins Not Tragedies|rowheader=true}}
{{single chart|Dutch100|45|artist=Panic! at the Disco|song=I Write Sins Not Tragedies|rowheader=true|access-date=September 14, 2015}}
{{single chart|New Zealand|5|artist=Panic! at the Disco|song=I Write Sins Not Tragedies|rowheader=true}}
{{single chart|Scotland|23|rowheader=true|date=20061111|access-date=September 14, 2015}}
{{single chart|UK|25|rowheader=true|date=20061111|access-date=September 14, 2015}}
{{single chart|Billboardhot100|7|artist=Panic at the Disco 2|rowheader=true|access-date=March 20, 2016}}
{{single chart|Billboardadultpopsongs|16|artist=Panic at the Disco 2|rowheader=true|access-date=September 14, 2015}}
{{single chart|Billboardalternativesongs|12|artist=Panic at the Disco 2|rowheader=true|access-date=September 14, 2015}}
{{single chart|Billboardpopsongs|2|artist=Panic at the Disco 2|rowheader=true|access-date=March 20, 2016}}

{{col-2}}

=Year-end charts=

class="wikitable plainrowheaders sortable" style="text-align:center"
Chart (2006)

! Position

scope="row"|Australia (ARIA){{cite web|url=https://www.aria.com.au/charts/2006/singles-chart|title=ARIA Top 100 Singles for 2006|publisher=ARIA|access-date=September 14, 2015}}

|50

scope="row"|US Billboard Hot 100{{cite magazine|url=http://www.billboard.com/charts/year-end/2006/hot-100-songs|title=Hot 100 Songs: Year End 2006|magazine=Billboard|access-date=September 14, 2015}}

|20

{{col-end}}

Certifications

{{Certification Table Top}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=Canada|artist=Panic! at the Disco|title=I Write Sins Not Tragedies|type=single|award=Platinum|number=4|relyear=2006|certyear=2022|access-date=November 10, 2022}}

{{Certification Table Entry|type=single|region=Denmark|artist=Panic! at the Disco|title=I Write Sins Not Tragedies|award=Gold|certyear=2007|certmonth=1|relyear=2006|certref={{cite web|url=http://www.ifpi.dk/?q=content/guld-og-platin-novemberdecemberjanuar|title=Guld Og Platin November/December/Januar|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110724110837/http://www.ifpi.dk/?q=content/guld-og-platin-novemberdecemberjanuar|archive-date=July 24, 2011}}}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=New Zealand|artist=Panic! at the Disco|title=I Write Sins Not Tragedies|type=single|award=Platinum|number=2|relyear=2018|certyear=2022|source=radioscope|access-date=January 30, 2025}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=United Kingdom|relyear=2006|certyear=2023|title=I Write Sins Not Tragedies|artist=Panic at the Disco|type=single|award=Platinum|number=2|id=13006-1931-1|access-date=October 6, 2023}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=United States|relyear=2006|certyear=2023|title=I Write Sins Not Tragedies|artist=Panic! at the Disco|type=single|award=Platinum|number=8|refname="riaa"}}

{{Certification Table Separator|title=Ringtone}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=United States|relyear=2005|certyear=2006|title=I Write Sins Not Tragedies|artist=Panic! at the Disco|type=single|award=Gold|digital=true|access-date=August 12, 2013|refname=USRingtone}}

{{Certification Table Bottom|streaming=true}}

Release history

class="wikitable plainrowheaders"

!scope="col"|Region

!scope="col"|Date

!scope="col"|Format(s)

!scope="col"|Label(s)

!scope="col"|{{abbr|Ref.|Reference}}

scope="row"|United States

|January 16, 2006

|Digital download

|rowspan="4"|{{hlist|Fueled by Ramen|Decaydance}}

|

scope="row"|United Kingdom

|February 27, 2006

|{{hlist|7-inch vinyl|CD}}

|{{cite web|url=http://www.untitledrockmag.com/i-write-sins-not-tragedies/|title=I Write Sins Not Tragedies|last=Marshall|first=Lindsay|publisher=Lindsay's Untitled Rock Mag|date=March 3, 2016|access-date=November 10, 2021}}

scope="row"|Australia

|May 22, 2006

|CD

|{{cite web|url=http://www.aria.com.au/issue846.pdf|title=The ARIA Report: New Releases Singles – Week Commencing 22nd May 2006|publisher=ARIA|page=28|date=May 22, 2006|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://webarchive.nla.gov.au/awa/20060519140000/http://pandora.nla.gov.au/pan/23790/20060520-0000/issue846.pdf|archive-date=May 19, 2006|access-date=November 10, 2021}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}

scope="row"|United Kingdom (re-release)

|October 30, 2006

|{{hlist|7-inch vinyl|CD}}

|{{cite magazine|title=The Schedule: Singles|magazine=Music Week|page=17|date=October 28, 2006}}

References

{{Reflist}}

{{Panic at the Disco}}

{{MTV Video Music Award for Video of the Year}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:2005 songs

Category:2006 singles

Category:Fueled by Ramen singles

Category:MTV Video of the Year Award

Category:Music videos directed by Shane Drake

Category:Panic! at the Disco songs

Category:Songs about infidelity

Category:Songs about marriage

Category:Songs written by Brendon Urie

Category:Songs written by Ryan Ross

Category:Songs written by Spencer Smith (musician)