Headfirst Slide into Cooperstown on a Bad Bet

"Headfirst Slide into Cooperstown on a Bad Bet"
Single by Fall Out Boy
from the album Folie à Deux
Released	October 7, 2008 (promotional) June 15, 2009 (single)
Format	Digital download
Recorded	Los Angeles, CA
Genre	Alternative rock, pop punk
Length	3:54
Label	Island
Writer(s)	Pete Wentz, Patrick Stump
Producer(s)	Neal Avron
Fall Out Boy singles chronology
"America's Suitehearts" (2008) "Headfirst Slide into Cooperstown on a Bad Bet" (2009) "What a Catch, Donnie" (2009)

"Headfirst Slide into Cooperstown on a Bad Bet" is a song by the American rock band Fall Out Boy from their fourth studio album Folie à Deux (2008). It was initially released as a digital single as part of the buildup to the new album on iTunes on October 7, 2008. The song impacted United States modern rock radio on June 15, 2009.^[1]

The title of the song refers to former Major League Baseball player Pete Rose, known for sliding headfirst into bases. Rose agreed never to work in baseball again due to an accused betting scandal while managing the Cincinnati Reds and will likely be kept out of the Hall of Fame, located in Cooperstown, New York, because of it.^[2] The band originally intended to name-drop Rose in the song's title. They changed their minds because of concerns about the lawsuit brought against OutKast over their 1999 single "Rosa Parks" by the civil rights activist, who was name-dropped in the title.^[3] "Headfirst"'s original working title was "Does Your Husband Know?".^[4]

Chronologically, "What a Catch, Donnie" and "America's Suitehearts" were released to iTunes after "Headfirst Slide into Cooperstown on a Bad Bet". However, "Headfirst Slide..." was never serviced to radio as an official single, while the former two were later released as radio singles, albeit in vice versa order.

Composition

Vocalist/guitarist Patrick Stump once again composed the music, using musical style as a palette to support bassist Pete Wentz's lyrics. In an interview with MTV, Stump said of the song:

[It] struts in on a massive drum line and crunching, processed guitars, gets amplified by a four-piece horn section, then falls away to a simple, somber piano line. It's sexual one minute, heartbreaking the next — the perfect accompaniment for Wentz's tale of infidelity and deception. Swagger is a great way to describe it, because on the song, he's lyrically adopting a character that has swagger, so I wanted the music to have that swagger. The verse is so confident and funky and forward because the lyric is so full of itself. And then everything stops, and there's a piano breakdown, and it's very melancholy and sad and theatrical, and the lyric shifts to the doubt that's behind all that arrogance. And ultimately, I wanted the music — in conjunction with the lyric — to express that arrogance is usually a mask for terrible insecurity. -- vocalist/composer/guitarist Patrick Stump on the composition of "Headfirst Slide into Cooperstown on a Bad Bet."^[4]

Music video

The "Headfirst Slide into Cooperstown on a Bad Bet" video was released on August 28, 2009 simultaneously on director Shane Valdez's Vimeo account and by 'Decaydancerecords' and 'FriendsorEnemies' official YouTube accounts. It can be considered both an official music video for the song and a short film by Shane Valdez. The title of the music video was named "A Weekend at Pete Rose's", which refers to the former Major League Baseball player, Pete Rose. The concept of the video mirrors the 1989 dark comedy Weekend at Bernie's. A preview was on AbsolutePunk.net the week earlier.^[5]

The video opens with Brendon Urie and Spencer Smith of Panic! at the Disco jogging while discussing their favorite '80s movies (in reference to the music video itself). They head to the beach where they are expecting to meet with Pete Wentz. Spencer suggests that Brendon call Pete; however, Spencer soon spots him lying on the beach shore. To their surprise they find that he is dead. Brendon wishes to call for help, but Spencer suggests calling Jason Tate (the founder of AbsolutePunk) instead, in order to gain a million Twitter followers. The two drag Pete's lifeless body from the beach into Pete's SUV. They drive into town and walk around with the body. To make it seem like Pete is alive, Brendon and Spencer hold his arms to make him wave and tie his shoe laces to their own while they walk. They decide that Pete is "too much dead weight" and go to a carnival, after which they leave his body outside the fairgrounds. They take his hat and hoodie and thank him for his cell phone, money and "the memories" (a reference to an earlier Fall Out Boy single, "Thnks fr th Mmrs").

During the credits of the video, Brendon and Spencer can be heard humming the ending theme to Jurassic Park.

Chart performance

References