But It’s Better If You Do
Producer
But It’s Better If You Do Lyrics
Now I'm of consenting age
To be forgetting you in a cabaret
Somewhere downtown where a burlesque queen
May even ask my name
As she sheds her skin on stage
I'm seated and sweating to a dance song on the club's PA
The strip joint veteran sits two away
Smirking between dignified sips of his dignified
Peach and lime daiquiri...
[Chorus]
And isn't this exactly where you'd like me?
I'm exactly where you'd like me, you know
Praying for love in a lap dance
And paying in naivety?
Oh, isn't this exactly where you'd like me?
I'm exactly where you'd like me, you know
Praying for love in a lap dance
And paying in naivety?
[Verse 2]
Oh, but I'm afraid that I
Well, I may have faked it
And I wouldn't be caught dead
D-dead, d-dead, d-dead in this place
Well, I'm afraid that I
Well, that's right, well, I may have faked it
And I wouldn't be caught dead in this place
And isn't this exactly where you'd like me?
I'm exactly where you'd like me, you know
Praying for love in a lap dance
And paying in naivety?
Oh, isn't this exactly where you'd like me?
I'm exactly where you'd like me, you know
Praying for love in a lap dance
And paying in naivety?
[Bridge]
Well, I'm afraid that I
Well, I may have faked it
And I wouldn't be caught dead
D-dead, d-dead, d-dead in this place
Well, I'm afraid that I
Well, that's right, well, I may have faked it
And I wouldn't be caught dead in this place
[Chorus]
And isn't this exactly where you'd like me?
I'm exactly where you'd like me, you know
Praying for love in a lap dance
And paying in naivety?
Oh, isn't this exactly where you'd like me?
I'm exactly where you'd like me, you know
Praying for love in a lap dance
And paying in naivety?
Praying for love and paying in naivety
Praying for love and paying in naivety, oh
About
In this song, the narrator is at a strip club wishing that he didn’t have to be there because of loneliness.
The song is connected to the 7th track, “Lying is the Most Fun a Girl Can Have Without Taking Her Clothes Off”, in that Ryan Ross and his ex-girlfriend’s break-up inspired both. Sonically, it connects to the 10th track, “I Write Sins, Not Tragedies”, the final moments in this song have the opening rifts of “I Write Sins, not Tragedies,” which could be herd here.
In the video, a man goes to a strip club without the knowledge of his wife. He then discovers that his wife is actually a stripper.
The title of this song (as well as the title of the song “Lying is the Most Fun a Girl Can Have Without Taking Her Clothes Off”) comes from the words of Natalie Portman’s character in the movie “Closer”. She says:
“Lying is the most fun a girl can have without taking her clothes off. But it’s better if you do”
This song comes right after the intermission of the album. It is at this song that the sound of the album transitions from a lively electronic vibe into more of an old-fashioned cabaret feeling. The change is significant because the music from this point on is, in a literal sense, stripped down.
Q&A
Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning
Guitarist Ryan Ross told MTV News:
It’s a song about being in a strip club but not actually liking being in there. So I wanted it to be about the sort of complex inner-monologue. It’s not completely fiction, though. It’s based on a scenario when I was going through a breakup with a girl, and I was in one of these clubs but wishing I didn’t have to be. Because in reality, I don’t like strip clubs. I think they’re kind of ecch.
Although claiming to be opposed to the idea of strip clubs in general, Ross went on to describe how it would be a “surreal experience” to hear this song in a club.
When I wrote it, I never thought about it being played in strip clubs. But I guess it would be kind of a change from what they usually play in there. It would be a surreal experience, for sure. I think the tempo is too fast, though. So maybe someone would have to do a chopped-and-screwed version or something.
- 1.Introduction
- 5.Camisado
- 8.Intermission
- 9.But It’s Better If You Do
