Damned If I Do Ya (Damned If I Don't)

"Damned If I Do Ya (Damned If I Don't)"
Single by All Time Low
from the album Nothing Personal
Released	June 16, 2009 (2009-06-16)
Format	Single
Recorded	2009
Genre	Pop punk
Length	3:11
Label	Hopeless
All Time Low singles chronology
"Weightless" (2009) "Damned If I Do Ya (Damned If I Don't)" (2009) "Lost in Stereo" (2010)

"Damned If I Do Ya (Damned If I Don't)" is a song by American pop punk band All Time Low and the second single taken from their third studio album, Nothing Personal (2009). It was released by Hopeless Records as a digital download on June 16, 2009. During its first week of availability, the song went as high as #21 on iTunes. Consequently, it became All Time Low's first US Billboard Hot 100 charting song, debuting at #67 and becoming their highest position on the chart to date.

Writing

The song was written by Butch Walker and vocalist Alex Gaskarth.^[1] They share a 50/50 writing credit for the track.

Lyrical meaning

In an exclusive acoustic session with Real Magic TV, Alex stated "It's about charades one may have with another individual, I'll leave the rest up to you"^{[citation needed]} Which could also mean that this could be a song with a similar meaning to Coffee Shop Soundtrack.

Tracklist

1. "Damned If I Do Ya (Damned If I Don't)" - 3:11

Music video

In the first week of July, three videos for the making of "Damned If I Do Ya (Damned If I Don't)" were posted on Buzznet. It shows lead singer Alex Gaskarth in a school bench with a teacher walking around him. It was shot with a green screen, which Rian Dawson (drummer for All Time Low) explained would mean that the editors would create the background during the production process.

The video was directed and animated by Matthew Stawski, who also directed All Time Low's video for "Weightless" and Fall Out Boy's "America's Suitehearts" video. The artwork for the video was done by Joshua Clay, who also did the artwork for Fall Out Boy's "America's Suitehearts" along with Serge Gay, Jr.

Some behind the scenes photos were posted on a Glamour Kills blog on September 8 stating that the music video will premiere the following week.

The video itself premiered on 11 September.

The video revolves mainly on lead singer Alex Gaskarth. It is set as Alex is on a talk show called "Damned If I Do Ya, Damned If I Don't". The video opens with Alex and the host, Nika "Nothing Personal" Jones as she talks about Alex's affair with his school teacher. Throughout the video it shows distractions Alex has with his classes and at his band practices. After the end of the bridge, "...but I never promised you," the song comes to a halt and Jack, Zack, Rian, Alex's parents, and the school teacher come out, and it starts a full out brawl. When the brawl starts, the chorus comes back in as everyone is beating each other up. There is an added verse of the end music so the fight can continue, once Alex defeats everyone, him and the school teacher kiss and the video ends with the audience clapping.

Chart

Chart (2009)	Peak position
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	67

References

1. ^ "Ascap Ace Search". ASCAP. 2010-04-16. http://www.ascap.com/ace/search.cfm?requesttimeout=300&mode=results&searchstr=343784936&search_in=i&search_type=exact&search_det=t,s,w,p,b,v&results_pp=10&start=1. Retrieved 2010-04-16.