brendon is the moon and ryan is the sun and here is why
@where0worlds0collide ok yeah, i agree with a lot of the concepts you brought up in your analysis of the sun and the moon and while you didn’t ask for mine, i’ve been wanting to do one so here we are hehe
i can see where ppl come from given that ryan was always more grounded than brendon. but if we look at the lyrics (especially at how they interact with each other across songs) ryan being the sun and brendon the moon personality-wise, career-wise, and even in terms of public perception is the interpretation that makes the most sense to me.
let’s start with i have friends in holy spaces (which is a genius song and ryan is going to hell for how he treated it)
then at the end we hear a small snippet of northern downpour with the “hey moon” im reading that transition as the sun and the moon waving at each other across songs. brendon calls out and ryan answers back. it’s also the first song on the album where ryan gets an entire verse to himself, the first time the sun comes out and sings with brendon!!
northern downpour speaks for itself. “hey moon” is the clearest hint but it’s also worth remembering that the lyrics were written primarily by ryan (and jon) and that he himself implied parts of it were meant for brendon.
“there’s a line in the song that goes, ‘i know the world’s a broken bone, but melt your headaches, call it home.’ i told brendon to pay special attention to that line.” ryan ross to rolling stones, 2008
even if northern downpour wasn’t written for brendon, parts of it were clearly written to him. there is a reason why brendon cannot for the life of him play it live anymore
when the day met the night is my favorite part of this it’s so sad im 💔 but anyway. ryan confirmed that the sun in the song is male and we know he wrote it, and that the entire song is told from the sun’s perspective. if the sun is speaking in ryan’s own words, then brendon is taking the place of the moon.
the lyrics are very explicit when we look at it through the theory lens, ryan goes on about how miserable the sun was before the moon came, and how the moon wasn’t reluctant at all to reciprocate the feelings of the sun as long as he didn’t break his heart (im sobbing rn)
also, no biggie, but i think it’s funny how brendon keeps changing the pronouns to only male ones during the second verse in the live acoustic versions
and im so sure there was a few more of these, one that was only audio if im not mistaken, but i couldn’t find them anywhere :(
next is mad as rabbits. i actually hesitate to use this one because i think its meaning is much broader than just ryan and brendon but,
“there ain’t no sunshine in his song, we must reinvent love”
when they sang that live they used to scream it together, and it’s hard not to wonder if it resonated with them beyond what the song was originally about.
moving on to the post-split songs:
stall me was written during the first era where brendon was largely writing on his own
it’s hard not to read that through the lens of what had just happened. ryan wasn’t just another band member: he was the lyricist, constantly praised as the band’s mind and soul, and the one who decided brendon was going to be the lead singer. he indirectly placed bren on the pedestal of a new world, but once he was gone, brendon faced a lot of scrutiny for it. and im sure he missed ryan 😕 so curse everyone even the sun
then in the ballad of mona lisa, brendon sings:
i’ve always read that less as pride and more as reconciliation. more like saying: fight with me if you want to, just don’t disappear (and also chelsea lynn and her fuckass fake texts to ryan remind me of this even if it was way later)
we also have c’mon featuring fun. the entire song already feels absurdly ryden-coded, but this line especially
if ryan, his words and everything he represented lifted brendon back to where they once were, would he come back?
with impossible year it’s a bit more complicated because the overall meaning of the song is completely different and unrelated. but this specific part in the outro feels much more pointed
moving into ryan’s solo work the symbolism becomes even more obvious.
everyone but you by the young veins states brendon as the moon as well
the moon is related to dreams, and ryan longs for the night where he can sleep because it brings her (him) out
in where i belong he’s almost reproaching something to the other person, but also just letting them know he misses them too much
i do think the sun and moon symbolism occasionally switches depending on who is speaking, but here we’ve got ryan calling himself the sun again. he’s basically telling brendon that if he wants him back he’s the one who’s going to have to reach for it.
also, in lonely moonlight, the person he misses is called by the nickname ‘moonlight’ riiiighhttt
you ain’t slick at all mr. ross
more from the song, we got him acknowledging the fact that brendon is married and in love with someone that is not him (aka sarah)
finally jon’s sun and moon deserves an honorary mention just because i think it’s hilarious “i don’t need the sun or the moon to tell me what to do. considering they were both perfectionists with massive creative egos, that’s an incredibly funny lyric coming from the one guy caught in the middle.
(beyond the lyrics) i think the symbolism works outside the music too. astrologically, the sun represents identity, purpose, ego, and creation. it’s the center of the system, and everything revolves around it. who was the writer? who built panic!’s first identity? who shaped its sound and imagery? ryan.
the moon on the other hand represents emotion, memory, change and rebirth. it disappears and returns but it never truly leaves. that’s brendon. his career has been nothing but reinvention: lineup changes, stylistic changes, public shame from becoming a one-man band. the name of panic! survived because of him. i could even argue his legacy ultimately became larger than ryan’s, even if only in terms of commercial success.
and this is not so much about the moon/sun but i also think the myth of apollo and icarus mirrors them in an interesting way: apollo wanted icarus to have wings so he could fly to him and soar through his sky. but once icarus had wings, they were no longer enough. he wanted more. he flew too close to the sun and the very thing that lifted him ended up burning him.
as ryan said “i can sort of hide behind his voice.” and in return brendon gave life to ryan’s words. it was a transactional relationship in the truest sense. brendon seemed happy following wherever ryan wanted to go but eventually, he wanted his own words, spotlight and identity. that clash would cost everyone the band.
the sun shines enough to give the moon its light but it can also burn itself alive. the moon offers comfort to people who will never look directly at the sun again, but part of its light will always be borrowed. they will forever be a part of each other narrative.
and that was my take that im sure brings nothing new to the table but im always up for beating that dead horse over and over again. thank you.
