Fall Out Boy have been together longer now since reforming in 2013, than they were after initially forming in 2001 and breaking up sort of acrimoniously eight years later. I can’t say any of the albums released in this second stint have had quite the lasting effect for me as those, I guess, “iconic” ones they did in the first. Mainly I’m referring to that trilogy (you could call it that) of 2005’s From Under the Cork Tree, 2007’s Infinity on High and 2008’s Folie à Deux. It’s the latter of the three where today’s track can be found. Fall Out Boy aren’t the band who are considered to have classics in the canon of pop-punk, alternative rock, whatever you want to name the genre. But if they were to, Folie… would be my nomination. Out of those three “best” albums, it’s definitely the one that holds up. Still strong after almost 16 years.

And I can sort of remember listening through the record for that first time. I think I would have been 14, Folie… would have been out for a few months at the time Popped the disc into the computer, got quite hyped after the celebratory opener which abruptly but effectively transitioned into ‘I Don’t Care’, the “comeback” single that everyone knew by that point. ‘She’s My Winona’ begins right after that, flowing with the same tempo and starting on the pickup of what would be the next measure of ‘I Don’t Care’. So there, something was established. This was an album filled with transitions where songs would start while the previous one was still ending, or the beginning of track would actually begin in the one that preceded it etc. And I was a sucker for those kinds of things even then. ‘She’s My Winona’ carries on the pumping, upbeat energy of the album’s opening moments, filled to the brim with vocal adlibs where there would maybe usually be empty spaces in the music. Patrick Stump really wanted to let you know that he had some singing chops on this album.

On the Genius page for the track, Pete Wentz actually added in personal annotations behind his thinking for a number of its lyrics. So if you want to get the verified, solidified meanings behind those, go right ahead and check it out. My work here’s done pretty much. But if you want to get my take, I’ve come to think of ‘Winona’ as Wentz’s general take on life, at the time of writing, and also something of a mission statement. He explains it in his annotations, so there’s not much reason to get into much depth here. The reason He he gives as to why the song is named the way it is can be found on there too. The explanation kind of opened my eyes a little while also leaving me a bit confused. ‘Winona’ can be anything you want it to be, and to him ‘Winona’ is reality, but he’s his own Winona. That’s what he said. I want to say I understand. Must be a lyricist thing. Their minds work in ways that I’ll never get.