"I Write Sins Not Tragedies" is a song by American rock band Panic! at the Disco. It is the lead single and first single overall 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 January 16, 2006. The song is built upon a pizzicato cello motif that was played by session musician Heather Stebbins. It reached a peak of No. 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.
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, and Variety ranked it as one of the best emo songs of all time in 2022. 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.
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Composition
Musically, the song has been described as pop-punk, emo, alternative rock, baroque pop, and pop rock. The song is in the key of A minor and runs at a tempo of 88 beats per minute, with Urie's vocals ranging from the key of C4 to A5.
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."
Music video
"I Write Sins Not Tragedies" is Panic! at the Disco's first single to have a music video, and the video was published on Fueled by Ramen's YouTube channel on July 18, 2006. 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.
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.
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. In August 2011, the video won Best VMA-Winning Video of All Time, in a worldwide poll on MTV's website.
Credits and personnel
Credits are adapted from the liner notes of A Fever You Can't Sweat Out and Apple Music.
Panic! at the Disco
Additional personnel