(Lyrics)
Let me start off this post by saying I believe this is probably the most underrated Taking Back Sunday song in existence! The sound and lyrics are both wonderful and it definitely deserves more attention. That being said, here's what I think about the lyrics.
While I have seen this debated by fans over and over before, there is no doubt in my mind that The Ballad of Sal Villanueva is about a boy who is upset because he has become attached to a girl who is his "friends with benefits", and he constantly is jealous as he thinks about her hooking up with other guys besides him. This song is supposed to be a letter he originally wrote to let the girl know what he thinks about her, but in the last line of the song it is revealed that it's actually just another that he will end up not sending.
Right from the start, the lyricist begins with saying that "it's not that I don't trust you, I just know what you've been up to", which is almost an oxymoron- he sounds as if he is lying to himself, tricking himself into seeing a false illusion of trust, when actually he knows the truth which should give him much reason not to trust this girl. She is sleeping with guys besides him, despite the fact that she may lie to him about this in order to keep their "friendship" strong. She is probably avoiding any real conversation with him in order to avoid having to tell him the truth- "this dial tone is agreeing with everything I've had in mind".
He goes on to angrily tell her that while she hooks up with this other guy, (or possibly THESE other guyS), he "won't say a thing", oh-so-graciously protecting his "friend"s reputation, because "you can't blame a girl for sticking to what she knows"- which is just him blatantly calling her a skank.
Next, the vocalist screams out sarcastic wishes for this girl's sexual adventures with the other, telling her that he "hope[s] he takes his time". The song takes a sad turn when the jealous boy admits he "hopes he keeps [her] eyes closed tight" because it upsets him to think of her seeing any boy make love to her besides himself. When he tells her he hopes what "when he leaves, you still smell him on your sheets cause I can, I can", he is saying that he wants her to realize that what she is doing is hurting her friend, and wants her to feel guilty about it, therefore hurting herself too.
The repeated lines saying "you're down for sellin' me out while I play dumb, it's cool cause I let you, thought I'd never catch you, you'd say 'we're only friends.' yeah, real good friends, I bet. I bet" depict the singer finally admitting to himself that he wants something more than to be just "friends with benefits" so that he has her all to himself. The whole time they had this type of relationship, it clearly meant more to the boy than it did to the girl, resulting in jealousy and sadness.
Finally, his anger returns once he tells the girl to "forget your legs around my hips. forget your hands pressed on my back. forget the letters that I kept. this is another I won't send. forget your lips, your eyes, your thighs. forget our one last kiss goodnight. forget me stakin' out your house. forget I've got you figured out." is the way that he wants to tell her that he is finished with her since she will not commit to him, although he clearly does not possess the strength to let her know. He wants to communicate his anger and pain to her, but he ends up whimping out again, and not sending the letter to her. He is well-aware of the pain that keeping it going is causing to himself, yet he is choosing to keep quiet rather than telling her because he does not want to lose what little connection he actually does have with her, even if it really is only physical.
(And about that pesky title that TBS fans just looove to argue about- Sal Villanueva is in fact a record producer as well as the very man who helped Long Island Records develop Taking Back Sunday, and this song was supposedly titled after him as a joke. Although I have no definite source to tell whether this is in fact true or false, it seems that most signs point to it being true, but I have seen it rumored many times that the reason it is never performed live because it is offensive to Villanueva, suggesting that it may actually be a true story about him.)
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