I'm Like a Lawyer with the Way I'm Always Trying to Get You off (Me & You)
Encyclopedia
"I'm Like a Lawyer with the Way I'm Always Trying to Get You Off (Me & You)", or for short "I'm Like a Lawyer... (Me & You)" is a song by American rock band Fall Out Boy
, and is the fourth and last single from their fourth studio album, Infinity on High
(2007). With music composed by Fall Out Boy vocalist and guitarist Patrick Stump
and lyrics penned by bassist Pete Wentz, the song was one of the two tracks produced by Babyface (who was referenced in the song), the other being single "Thnks fr th Mmrs
".
This song was played on VH1
's V-Spot acoustic sessions along with "Thnks fr th Mmrs
", "This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race
", and "Sugar, We're Goin Down
", all of which were successful singles. Wentz characterized Stump’s vocal performance on the song as "straight-up Motown," continuing to say "If there wasn't a rock band playing, it'd be straight R&B
, and he'd go on tour with just an upright bass and a drum and open up for R. Kelly
." Lyrically, the song has been described as "about as close to a love song as you'll get from this band, a rare moment of tenderness among songs about blog entries, guest lists, and therapy sessions.
In Australia, the single reached No. 28 on the Australian ARIA
singles chart, becoming the fourth consecutive top 30 single from the album in that region. In the US it was much less successful and only managed to reach No. 68 on the Billboard Hot 100
.
), all music composed by lead vocalist and guitarist Patrick Stump
(of Fall Out Boy
).
producer Babyface, initial reviews of the song and its breach into another genre were mixed. Corey Apar, a writer for Allmusic, was more malignant towards the song, calling it Maroon 5
-ish, with "a vocal hook uncomfortably close to Phil Collins
' cover of "A Groovy Kind of Love
". On the contrary, Rolling Stone
magazine lauded the song, and IGN
approved of the song, assuring long-time fans that they indeed had nothing to fear about the band permanently branching into R&B.
, bassist Pete Wentz told Chicagoan/Today Staffer Devin Johnson, that the band was to film the video for the song in Uganda
, and further noted, "...we're going to shoot it on 24p cameras and donate the money that we were going to use in the video for the film or the video to a project over there..." According to Billboard
, the band shot the video for the single after having performed their first show in South Africa
. The music video was directed by Alan Ferguson. A sneak peek of the video aired on TRL on September 12th, and the music video for "Me + You" can now be seen in its entirety on AOL.com. FUSE TV
premiered the video on September 14.
A clip of the video showed the band performing in a field in Uganda between shots of people doing their daily routines in Africa and a group of people watching the video band's previous music video for their song "Dance, Dance
".
The plot focuses on the lives of two children from Uganda, who fall in love and work hard to be able to go to school. But one day, their village is raided, and the young boy is taken. However, in a portion with no music, the boy escapes. As the boy returns home, the music starts playing again and the two reunite. The video ends with a message saying that there are still thousands of children soldiers who have not returned to their family, along with the URL to Invisible Children Inc.'s official website. In this video, apart from the scenes with the children, there are only a few shots of the band, far less than in prior videos.
Fall Out Boy
Fall Out Boy is an American rock band from Wilmette, Illinois, formed in 2001. The band consists of vocalist, guitarist and composer Patrick Stump, bassist and lyricist Pete Wentz, guitarist Joe Trohman, and drummer Andy Hurley. The band released five studio albums from 2003–2008...
, and is the fourth and last single from their fourth studio album, Infinity on High
Infinity on High
Infinity on High is the fourth studio album by American rock band Fall Out Boy, released on February 5, 2007 by Island Records as the follow-up to the band's commercially successful 2005 album From Under the Cork Tree. Pre-production began in the group's hometown of Chicago, where writing and...
(2007). With music composed by Fall Out Boy vocalist and guitarist Patrick Stump
Patrick Stump
Patrick Vaughn Stump is an American singer-songwriter, composer, record producer, and music critic. He is the composer, lead singer, and multi-instrumentalist of Fall Out Boy, an American rock band from Wilmette, Illinois, and is also a solo artist...
and lyrics penned by bassist Pete Wentz, the song was one of the two tracks produced by Babyface (who was referenced in the song), the other being single "Thnks fr th Mmrs
Thnks fr th Mmrs
"Thnks fr th Mmrs" is a song by American rock band Fall Out Boy, released March 27, 2007, as the second single from their fourth studio album, Infinity on High...
".
This song was played on VH1
VH1
VH1 or Vh1 is an American cable television network based in New York City. Launched on January 1, 1985 in the old space of Turner Broadcasting's short-lived Cable Music Channel, the original purpose of the channel was to build on the success of MTV by playing music videos, but targeting a slightly...
's V-Spot acoustic sessions along with "Thnks fr th Mmrs
Thnks fr th Mmrs
"Thnks fr th Mmrs" is a song by American rock band Fall Out Boy, released March 27, 2007, as the second single from their fourth studio album, Infinity on High...
", "This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race
This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race
"This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race" is a song by American rock band Fall Out Boy and the lead single from their commercially successful fourth studio album Infinity on High . The song was first played on September 30, 2006 at a Philadelphia radio station, 102.1, and leaked onto the internet...
", and "Sugar, We're Goin Down
Sugar, We're Goin Down
"Sugar, We're Goin Down" is a song by American rock band Fall Out Boy, and the lead single from their third album, From Under the Cork Tree . With the music composed by lead vocalist and guitarist Patrick Stump and all lyrics penned by bassist Pete Wentz, the single reached No...
", all of which were successful singles. Wentz characterized Stump’s vocal performance on the song as "straight-up Motown," continuing to say "If there wasn't a rock band playing, it'd be straight R&B
Rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...
, and he'd go on tour with just an upright bass and a drum and open up for R. Kelly
R. Kelly
Robert Sylvester Kelly , better known by his stage name R. Kelly, is an American singer-songwriter and record producer. A native of Chicago, Kelly began performing during the late 1980s and debuted in 1992 with the group Public Announcement. In 1993, Kelly went solo with the album 12 Play...
." Lyrically, the song has been described as "about as close to a love song as you'll get from this band, a rare moment of tenderness among songs about blog entries, guest lists, and therapy sessions.
In Australia, the single reached No. 28 on the Australian ARIA
ARIA Charts
The ARIA charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA commenced compiling its own charts in-house from the week ending 26 June...
singles chart, becoming the fourth consecutive top 30 single from the album in that region. In the US it was much less successful and only managed to reach No. 68 on the Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
.
Track listing
All lyrics written by bassist Pete Wentz (of Fall Out BoyFall Out Boy
Fall Out Boy is an American rock band from Wilmette, Illinois, formed in 2001. The band consists of vocalist, guitarist and composer Patrick Stump, bassist and lyricist Pete Wentz, guitarist Joe Trohman, and drummer Andy Hurley. The band released five studio albums from 2003–2008...
), all music composed by lead vocalist and guitarist Patrick Stump
Patrick Stump
Patrick Vaughn Stump is an American singer-songwriter, composer, record producer, and music critic. He is the composer, lead singer, and multi-instrumentalist of Fall Out Boy, an American rock band from Wilmette, Illinois, and is also a solo artist...
(of Fall Out Boy
Fall Out Boy
Fall Out Boy is an American rock band from Wilmette, Illinois, formed in 2001. The band consists of vocalist, guitarist and composer Patrick Stump, bassist and lyricist Pete Wentz, guitarist Joe Trohman, and drummer Andy Hurley. The band released five studio albums from 2003–2008...
).
- "I'm Like a Lawyer with the Way I'm Always Trying to Get You Off (Me & You)" - 3:35
- "This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race" (Live from Hammersmith Palais) - 3:24
Critical reception
As the band collaborated with longtime R&BContemporary R&B
Contemporary R&B is a music genre that combines elements of hip hop, soul, R&B and funk.Although the abbreviation “R&B” originates from traditional rhythm and blues music, today the term R&B is most often used to describe a style of African American music originating after the demise of disco in...
producer Babyface, initial reviews of the song and its breach into another genre were mixed. Corey Apar, a writer for Allmusic, was more malignant towards the song, calling it Maroon 5
Maroon 5
Maroon 5 is an American pop rock band from Los Angeles, California. While they were in high school, lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Adam Levine, keyboardist Jesse Carmichael, bass guitarist Mickey Madden, and drummer Ryan Dusick formed a garage band called Kara's Flowers and released one album...
-ish, with "a vocal hook uncomfortably close to Phil Collins
Phil Collins
Philip David Charles "Phil" Collins, LVO is an English singer-songwriter, drummer, pianist and actor best known as a drummer and vocalist for British progressive rock group Genesis and as a solo artist....
' cover of "A Groovy Kind of Love
A Groovy Kind of Love
"A Groovy Kind of Love" is a pop song written by Toni Wine and Carol Bayer for the Screen Gems music publishing company. It is heavily based on the Rondo movement of Sonatina in G major, op. 36 no. 5 by Muzio Clementi...
". On the contrary, Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
magazine lauded the song, and IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
approved of the song, assuring long-time fans that they indeed had nothing to fear about the band permanently branching into R&B.
Music video
In an interview with MSNBCMSNBC
MSNBC is a cable news channel based in the United States available in the US, Germany , South Africa, the Middle East and Canada...
, bassist Pete Wentz told Chicagoan/Today Staffer Devin Johnson, that the band was to film the video for the song in Uganda
Uganda
Uganda , officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. Uganda is also known as the "Pearl of Africa". It is bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by South Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by...
, and further noted, "...we're going to shoot it on 24p cameras and donate the money that we were going to use in the video for the film or the video to a project over there..." According to Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
, the band shot the video for the single after having performed their first show in South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
. The music video was directed by Alan Ferguson. A sneak peek of the video aired on TRL on September 12th, and the music video for "Me + You" can now be seen in its entirety on AOL.com. FUSE TV
Fuse TV
Fuse is an American national television network dedicated exclusively to music. It features original series and specials, exclusive interviews, live concerts and video blocks....
premiered the video on September 14.
A clip of the video showed the band performing in a field in Uganda between shots of people doing their daily routines in Africa and a group of people watching the video band's previous music video for their song "Dance, Dance
Dance, Dance
"Dance, Dance" is a song by American rock band Fall Out Boy and the second single from their third studio album, From Under the Cork Tree. Released in late 2005, in the United States it reached No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100 in January 2006, becoming the band's second consecutive top 10 hit single....
".
The plot focuses on the lives of two children from Uganda, who fall in love and work hard to be able to go to school. But one day, their village is raided, and the young boy is taken. However, in a portion with no music, the boy escapes. As the boy returns home, the music starts playing again and the two reunite. The video ends with a message saying that there are still thousands of children soldiers who have not returned to their family, along with the URL to Invisible Children Inc.'s official website. In this video, apart from the scenes with the children, there are only a few shots of the band, far less than in prior videos.
Charts
| Chart (2007) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian Singles Chart | 28 |
| New Zealand Singles Chart | 33 |
| UK Singles Chart UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ... |
91 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Billboard Hot 100 The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday... |
68 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot Videoclip Tracks | 14 |
| U.S. Billboard Pop 100 Pop 100 The Pop 100 was a songs chart that debuted in February 2005 and was released weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States until its discontinuation in 2009... |
31 |
| U.S. Billboard Top 40 Mainstream | 26 |