Northern Downpour

"Northern Downpour"
General information
Artist	Panic! at the Disco
B-side	"The Piano Knows Something I Don't Know" (alternate version)
Recorded	September 2007-February 2008
Released	November 14, 2008
Studio(s)	Abbey Road Studios (London, England, U.K.) Legacy Recording Studios (New York City, New York, U.S.) Studio at the Palms (Paradise, Nevada, U.S.)
Genre(s)	Alternative • alternative pop • alternative rock • folk • folk pop • folk rock • piano • pop rock • rock
Length	4:04 (See official versions)
Album	Pretty. Odd.
Label
Songwriter(s)	Ryan Ross • Spencer Smith • Brendon Urie • Jon Walker
Lyricist(s)	Ross • Walker
Producer(s)	Rob Mathes
Panic! at the Disco singles chronology
Previous	"That Green Gentleman (Things Have Changed)" (2008)
Current	"Northern Downpour" (2008)
Next	"Open Happiness" (2009)
Pretty. Odd. chronology
"I Have Friends in Holy Spaces"
"Northern Downpour"
"When the Day Met the Night"

“Northern Downpour” is a song by American rock band Panic! at the Disco. It is the seventh track on their second studio album, Pretty. Odd., and was released on November 14, 2008, through DCD2 and Fueled by Ramen.

Background

In an interview with Rolling Stone Magazine, Ryan Ross elaborated on the meaning of the song by saying:

"It was about touring and girlfriends and love and everything that’s been important to us in the past few years. 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."

In an interview, Ross spoke on the song's writing process:

"The melody is Jon’s, and I wrote the lyrics for it, but he wrote even the chorus melody. The sugarcane part. So yeah, Jon wrote some really great melodies on that, and I just wanted it to be as simple as possible as far as the arrangement, because I think the melody and the lyric are just really the focal point of the song. It’s got some of my favorite lines on it, like the um, the world’s a broken bone, melt your headaches call it home. Some of the stuff that I thought actually had something important to say. That’s one of our most grown-up songs, I guess."

In an interview with MTV, Ross said of the song:

"Jon wrote the melody for the verse and I loved it, Spence loved it also, and he kept wanting to change it so I wrote the lyrics really quickly so he couldn’t change it."

Live performances

On August 30, 2019, in Scottsdale, Arizona, Ross performed the song live for the first time since departing the band in July 2009.

Music videos

• Music video
• Beyond the video

Video	Credits
	Title	Northern Downpour (Official Music Video)
	Premiere	Oct 29 2009
	Length	4:11
	Location	Los Angeles, California, U.S.
	Filmed	2008
	Director	Behn Fannin
	Producer	Refused TV

Video	Credits
	Title	Panic! at the Disco: Northern Downpour (Beyond the Video)
	Premiere	May 2 2013
	Length	4:00

Official versions

	Version	Released on	Date	Length
	Album/Single	Pretty. Odd. • “Northern Downpour”	Nov 14 2008	3:15
	Alternate Version	N/A - Unreleased	N/A - Unreleased	~4:00
Acoustic/Live
	Live	...Live in Chicago	Dec 02 2008	4:54

Lyrics

[Verse 1]
If all our life is but a dream, fantastic posing greed
Then we should feed our jewelry to the sea
For diamonds do appear to be
Just like broken glass to me
And then she said she can't believe
Genius only comes along in storms of fabled foreign tongues
Tripping eyes and flooded lungs
Northern downpour sends its love

[Chorus]
Hey, moon, please forget to fall down
Hey, moon, don't you go down
Sugarcane in the easy morning
Weathervanes, my one and lonely

[Verse 2]
The ink is running toward the page, it's chasing off the days
Look back at boat feet and that winding knee
I missed your skin when you were east
You clicked your heels and wished for me
Through playful lips made of yarn, that fragile Capricorn
Unraveled words like moths upon old scarves
I know the world's a broken bone
But melt your headaches, call it home

[Chorus]
Hey, moon, please forget to fall down
Hey, moon, don't you go down
Sugarcane in the easy morning
Weathervanes, my one and lonely

[Post-Chorus]
Sugarcane in the easy morning
Weathervanes, my one and lonely
Sugarcane in the easy morning
Weathervanes, my one and lonely
Sugarcane in the easy morning (Hey, moon, hey, moon...)
Weathervanes, my one and lonely (Hey, moon, hey, moon...)
Sugarcane in the easy morning (Hey, moon, hey, moon...)
Weathervanes, my one and lonely (Hey, moon, hey, moon...)

[Bridge]
Sugarcane in the easy morning
(Hey, moon, please forget to fall down)
Weathervanes, my one and lonely
(Hey, moon, don't you go down)
Sugarcane in the easy morning
(You are at the top of my lungs)
Weathervanes, my one and lonely
(Drawn to the ones who never yawn)

[Outro]
(Sugarcane in the easy morning)
Hey, moon, please forget to fall down
(Weathervanes, my one and lonely)
Hey, moon, don't you go down
You are at the top of my lungs
Drawn to the ones who never yawn

Official audio

Northern Downpour-2

Credits

Lead Vocalist	Brendon Urie
Background Vocalists	Ryan Ross, Spencer Smith and Jon Walker
Engineered by	Claudius Mittendorfer at Studio at the Palms, Paradise, Nevada, U.S.
Mastered by	Scott Hull at Scott Hull Mastering, New York City, New York, U.S.
Mixed by	Peter Cobbin
Assistant Mixing Engineer	Richard Lancaster
Produced by	Rob Mathes
Written by	Ryan Ross, Spencer Smith, Brendon Urie and Jon Walker
Additional Guitar	Rob Mathes
Mandolin	Rob Mathes
Piano	Rob Mathes
Tenor Saxophone	Andy Snitzer
Viola	Peter Lale