Dying In LA

Album: Pray For the Wicked (2018)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • In 2015 Brendon Urie wrote The Death of a Bachelor track "LA Devotee," which is a love letter to the City of Angels. The Panic! At The Disco frontman flips the coin on this solemn piano ballad, which concludes Pray For the Wicked. "Dying In LA" paints the picture of someone who arrives in the California city excited by its glamour and opportunities only to be broken when success eludes them.

    Nights at the chateau, trapped in your sunset bungalow
    You couldn't escape it, yeah
    Drink of paradise, they told you "Put your blood on ice"
    You're not gonna make it


    Urie wrote the song with his friend, Los Angeles singer-songwriter Morgan Kibby, who showed up with the lyrics. "It was that thing when you're not one of the top 3 artists on your label, nobody give a f--- so at times it feels like you could be dying in LA and nobody would care, but who gives a s---?" the Panic! At The Disco mainman explained to The Independent. "It doesn't matter, everything relies on you. So that's a little sombre note to the end of the album which I love, because the rest of the album is so high energy, and it's good to have that juxtaposition."

    "LA is the best and also the worst f---ing place in the world," he added. "It has given me the most opportunities I've ever had, and has amazing networks and people to hang out with, and great weather, but also the worst people: selfish, out to get you, f--- you over, don't give a s--t, don't-have-any-real emotions people. It's a very seductive town, you get here with hopes and dreams, see the stars on the boulevard... But I don't want to rely on a town. I want to bring something to the table that actually matters."
  • The song concludes with the sound of birds chirping, which were recorded outside Urie's home studio.

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Little Big Town

Little Big TownSongwriter Interviews

"When seeds that you sow grow by the wicked moon/Be sure your sins will find you out/Your past will hunt you down and turn to tell on you."

Millie Jackson

Millie JacksonSongwriter Interviews

Outrageously gifted and just plain outrageous, Millie is an R&B and Rap innovator.

Don Dokken

Don DokkenSongwriter Interviews

Dokken frontman Don Dokken explains what broke up the band at the height of their success in the late '80s, and talks about the botched surgery that paralyzed his right arm.

Martyn Ware of Heaven 17

Martyn Ware of Heaven 17Songwriter Interviews

Martyn talks about producing Tina Turner, some Heaven 17 hits, and his work with the British Electric Foundation.

Sending Out An SOS - Distress Signals In Songs

Sending Out An SOS - Distress Signals In SongsSong Writing

Songs where something goes horribly wrong (literally or metaphorically), and help is needed right away.

John Lee Hooker

John Lee HookerSongwriter Interviews

Into the vaults for Bruce Pollock's 1984 conversation with the esteemed bluesman. Hooker talks about transforming a Tony Bennett classic and why you don't have to be sad and lonely to write the blues.