Take This To Your Grave - Album Information

Album Information

In the Take This to Your Grave album period, Fall Out Boy was in its early independent days and played small local shows, before their later mainstream success.

After the initial album release, a limited edition 12" vinyl edition of Take This to Your Grave was released. It featured an alternate cover. In addition to the regular album tracks, it featured a new dance remix to the album song "Grand Theft Autumn/Where Is Your Boy". The vinyl was limited to one pressing of 500 copies of a green camouflage version, and one 500-copy pressing of a black vinyl version. Both versions also came with six giant trading cards. After that, it was re-released as an Enhanced CD on January 25, 2005 as Take This to Your Grave: Director's Cut, limited to 5000 units. The CD features an enhanced section with video of the band breaking down each song word-by-word and note-by-note, all the songs from the original album release and two new tracks: a cover of The Police's "Roxanne" and the dance remix of "Grand Theft Autumn/Where Is Your Boy" Grave was re-released on vinyl, a limited pressing of 2500 copies.

"Dead on Arrival", "Saturday", and "Homesick at Space Camp" were recorded as a demo session in two days, almost a year before going back into the studio to record seven other songs that would eventually make up the entire album. Those additional other seven songs were recorded in nine days with producer Sean O'Keefe. "Grand Theft Autumn/Where Is Your Boy" and "Grenade Jumper" were recorded in another demo session.

In the Take This to Your Grave: Director's Cut video, Fall Out Boy lead singer and guitarist Patrick Stump and bassist Pete Wentz discuss the partnership of the song writing for the album. Originally, Stump wrote the lyrics as well as the music, as witnessed in many places throughout the album. The songs "Dead on Arrival", "Grenade Jumper", and "Calm Before the Storm" were originally written by Patrick. "Saturday" was written by Patrick, but Pete realized the oddity of Patrick singing "Pat and I" and change the lyrics accordingly. Pete later went back and added his own lyrics to certain parts (e.g. changing the second verse of "Calm Before the Storm"). In interviews, Pete and Patrick have discussed how "The Pros and Cons of Breathing" was the first song written in the structure of how they write songs currently—Patrick writing the music and Pete writing all the lyrics. ""Tell That Mick He Just Made My List of Things to Do Today"" and "The Patron Saint of Liars and Fakes" are other examples of this song writing partnership, however, Patrick wrote the lyrics to the first verse and chorus of "The Patron Saint of Liars and Fakes", while Pete wrote lyrics to the second verse. More so, Patrick wrote the lyrics to the chorus of "Chicago is So Two Years Ago", while Pete wrote the verses.

The single "Grand Theft Autumn/Where Is Your Boy" was very close to not making the final cut for the album as frontman Patrick Stump was not a fan of the song at first. In the end the band decided to include it in the album, and later released it as the second single. It reached No. 84 on the defunct US Billboard Pop 100 in 2005. "Calm Before the Storm" was re-recorded for this album. An earlier version was featured on their debut release, Fall Out Boy's Evening Out with Your Girlfriend.