How cruel is the golden rule
When the lives we lived are only golden plated?
And I knew that the lights of the city were too heavy for me
And though I carry karats for everyone to see

And I saw God cry in the reflection of my enemies
And all the lovers with no time for me
And all of the mothers raise their babies
To stay away from me

Tongues on the sockets of electric dreams
Where the sewage of youth drowned the spark of my teens
And I knew that the lights of the city were too heavy for me
And though I carry karats for everyone to see

And I saw God cry in the reflection of my enemies
And all the lovers with no time for me
And all of the mothers raise their babies
To stay away from me
And pray they don't grow up to be



Lyrics submitted by wendyclear-atticus

Track duration: 02:32

"Golden" as written by Peter Wentz, Patrick Stump, Joseph Trohman, Andrew Hurley, Wesley Eisold

Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

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Golden song meanings
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126 Comments

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  • 0
    General Comment:it is carats, not carrots. like gold. >.<
    i love this song so much. <3
    Flag sophieee2345on April 25, 2011   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:This is so powerful. And I loves it so much.
    Flag CelestiusNexuson August 30, 2010   Link
  • +1
    General Comment:First of all, it’s not carrots because that would make no sense. It’s karats, like in gold. You have so many gold karats in an earring or a ring.

    I think it’s basically about how ‘cruel’ the golden rule is, because no one really takes into consideration if you’re actually following it. Like you could ‘do unto others as you would wish for them to do unto you’ all you want yet it’d only make you ‘golden plated’. Everything just becomes too heavy. I think the chorus is just talking about how no one accepts him because of all of this.
    I think the second verse is how time is ruining all of the hopes and dreams he had when he was younger. It kind of applies because they’re talking about disappointments and how the ‘golden rule’ has been misused and destroyed.

    I’m guessing there might be an even deeper meaning, but this is what I think of when I listen to this song.

    Probably one of my favorite songs by them.
    Flag iWrittenon July 03, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:i thought it was "can't read karats"? its definitely not carrots though...
    Flag carxcrashxhearton January 15, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:i think its someone who is trying to fit in

    but there being ripped on

    the golden rule is (to me) in a world like this knowone can 'be' golden ......
    the lyrics are soo deep all the lovers with no time for me


    its about being alone and well having a hard life i guess
    Flag TiffanyBlewson December 27, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:"How cruel is the golden rule, when the lives we lived are only golden plated"
    The Golden Rule states that one has the right to justice, and has the right to ensure justice for others. Therefore, they're saying that justice is cruel and wrongful. As for the second part, their lives were golden plated because they must have been terrible beforehand, which gives them the need to 'golden plate' them.

    "And I knew that the lights of the city were too heavy for me"
    Even though he knew fame would destroy him, he still went for it.

    "Though I carried karats for everyone to see"
    And he also knew it would destroy him, no matter how much talent he had to give or show.

    "And I saw God cry in the reflection of my enemies"
    I see this a little differently than most. I don't think it means God was crying at the reflection of his enemies, rather, he saw God as the reflection, crying. In other words, every one of his enemies (the people that are fame-induced) is a shame in the eyes of God.

    "And all the lovers with no time for me"
    By lovers, I'm guessing he means potential lovers, who had better things to do than to hook up with a fame-driven musician. (Let it be known, however, that I don't see FOB as fame-driven :P)

    "And all of the mothers raise their babies to stay away from me"
    I don't think this means literal babies, but more like the poeple around them. Since they don't like to associate with people like that, they don't want anyone else to either.

    "Tongues on the sockets of electric dreams"
    In other words, dangerous fantasies. If you think about those dreams too much, they could harm you.

    "When the sewage of youth drowned the spark of my teens"
    It's talking about the electric dreams again. He must've had an overly bad/good experience as a child, which saved him from having/following his 'electric dreams'.
    Flag ManOnTheBalconyon December 13, 2009   Link
  • 0
    My Interpretation:I think that the song is about pretending to be a great, nice, wonderful person, but cracking under the weight of the truth - being a liar, a fake, rotten inside.

    And the line "and I saw God cry in the reflection of my enemies" meaning that looking at all enemies he(whomever's point of view this is meant to be, I'm assuming Pete's) saw God among them, crying.

    But that's just my opinion. *shrug*
    Flag nekoyumeon November 04, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:The "I carry carrots" bit should be "I carry karats" as in the gold karats (16 karat gold or whatever).

    :)
    Flag xXxCAITLYNxXxon October 25, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I love this song ... i like how its a lot different than the other songs on the cd .. ...fall out boy is the amazing !
    Flag musicgal2020on September 09, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:this is really the only song on IOH i truly like. i feel the album as a whole was more industry standard than im used to seeing from FOB which was really dissapointing to me; given i've avidly followed the band since '01.
    as much as i love this song; "and i saw god cry in the reflection of my enemies" <3 i feel the album was the most dissapointed i've ever been in FOB (as previously stated loved, worshipped, and paid high attention to the band since '01) just given it didn't carry the same tone that EOWYG, TTTYG, FUTC, and now FAD do.
    but i guess we are judging the song (WHICH I LOVE) here not the album so i'll shut up.
    Flag musicalmasterpiecex3on July 19, 2009   Link

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