Build God Then We'll Talk
Panic! At the Disco Lyrics

It's these substandard motels
The song starts by setting a scene of cheap and rundown motels located at the corner of 4th and Freemont Street.

On the corner of 4th and Freemont Street
The specific location of these substandard motels is emphasized.

Appealing, only because they're just that unappealing
Despite its low quality, the motels are still attracting people, probably because of the low price or nostalgia.

Any practiced Catholic would cross themselves upon entering
The impression given by the motels is so bad that even devoted Catholics would pray for protection upon entering.

The rooms have a hint of asbestos
The rooms contain asbestos, a harmful material that causes respiratory diseases.

And maybe just a dash of formaldehyde
Formaldehyde is commonly used in preserving dead bodies, suggesting that the rooms might have a history of having corpses.

And the habit of decomposing right before your very eyes
The rooms are also infamous for decaying, and the occupants might have been witnesses to this unfortunate phenomenon.

Along with the people inside
Both the rooms and the people living in them are decaying, emphasizing the overall bad condition of the place.

What a wonderful caricature of intimacy
The distorted and twisted reality of the motel occupants are described as a 'wonderful caricature of intimacy,' implying a sarcasm.

Inside, what a wonderful caricature of intimacy
The phrase is repeated to emphasize the theme of the song.

Tonight tenants range from a lawyer and a virgin
The song introduces some of the occupants of the motel, one of them is a lawyer and the other a virgin.

Accessorizing with a rosary tucked inside her lingerie
The virgin is wearing a rosary as an accessory, implying that she may not be as innocent as she appears to be.

She's getting a job at the firm come Monday
The virgin plans to start working at a firm the following Monday, maybe to improve her social status or start a new life.

The Mrs. will stay with the cheating attorney
The lawyer is a married man who is cheating on his wife with another tenant of the motel.

Moonlighting aside, she really needs his money
The tenant who is sleeping with the married lawyer is doing it for financial reasons.

And not to mention, the constable
The constable, a law enforcement officer, is also part of the story.

And his proposition, for that 'virgin'
The constable has an indecent proposal for the virgin tenant.

Yes, the one the lawyer met with on 'strictly business'
The constable is referring to the same virgin tenant that the lawyer also met before.

As he said to the Mrs.
The constable is talking to the lawyer's wife, who is also a tenant of the motel.

Well, only hours before, after he had left
The constable is revealing that the lawyer has also just recently left the location.

She was fixing her face in a compact
The wife was fixing her makeup in preparation for something important.

There was a terrible crash
A loud noise interrupted the wife while fixing her makeup.

Between her and the badge
The wife had a confrontation with the constable, who was probably trying to implement his indecent proposal.

She spilled her purse and her bag
The wife was flustered by the confrontation and accidentally spilled her belongings.

And held a 'purse' of a different kind
The wife had something unusual when she spilled her bag, implying that she may have a secret habit or addiction.

There are no raindrops on roses and girls in white dresses
The song contrasts the motels' reality to the romanticized version of happiness.

It's sleeping with roaches and taking best guesses
Instead of perfect love, the motel tenants are just sleeping with pests and are clueless about what the future holds for them.

At the shade of the sheets and before all the stains
The occupants have to guess the color of their sheets, and they have to be wary of the stains on them too.

And a few more of your least favorite things
The song ends by emphasizing that the motel occupants' experiences are far from the picture-perfect idea of happiness.