The Black Parade

What is The Black Parade?

The Black Parade is the band's third album and was released on October 23, 2006. It is considered a rock opera with heavy influences from Pink Floyd, Queen, and David Bowie. Since the albums release, four out of the fourteen songs on the track have been released as singles ("Welcome to the Black Parade", "Famous Last Words", "I Don't Love You", and "Teenagers"). The songs on the album follow the typical characteristics of the rock genre with long guitar solos and intense vocals and instrumentation.

Track Listing

• The End.
• Dead!
• This Is How I Disappear
• The Sharpest Lives
• Welcome To The Black Parade
• I Don't Love You
• House of Wolves
• Cancer
• Mama
• Sleep
• Teenagers
• Disenchanted
• Famous Last Words
• Blood (Hidden Track)

The Concept of The Black Parade...

This album is about a patient ("The Patient") who is suffering from cancer. The patient dies and the album brings listeners through the sequence of his death and what he is experiencing/has experienced. The beginning of the album starts with the patient's death, as apparent by the title's of the first two songs. The patient died before he was able to make any great achievements and the remainder of the songs take listeners through a journey of the patient reflecting on this fact and how he had lived his life. The overall themes of the album are the topic of death, as well as regret.

About the Songs...

1. The End.
   • As it can be assumed by the title, this first song on the album is the first out of two songs that begin the patient's story. In The End, the patient is dying. He talks about everyone gathering for this “tragic affair” which is his death. In this song we begin to understand that the patient may not have been totally happy with himself and how he lived his life. The guitars in the song have some longer and lower notes than other songs on this album, making it have an almost sad sound which sets the tone for the song, as well as the album. The interesting part of this song is that at the very beginning, all that plays is the beating of a heart monitor. The ending of the song immediately goes into the second song of the album, “Dead!”, which begins with no heartbeat and just a flat line.
2. Dead!
   • The second song on this album is a continuation of the previous song, "The End.". The song starts with the sound of a flat line on a heart monitor. This signifies that the patient has now passed away. This song is very fast paced right at the start when it is opened with a loud guitar solo. It remains fast paced with a really upbeat, major scale sound despite the dark lyrics dealing with the patient's death. The song switches between the patient and a doctor. The doctor says to the patient "Have you heard the news that you're dead? No one ever had much nice to say." This statement being made to the patient begins the start of him feeling regret of how he lived his life and treated the people around him. Towards the end of the song there is a guitar solo which leads listeners to believe that the song has ended. Gerard Way comes back in with his screaming vocals and finishes the song while exclaiming "dead!"
3. This Is How I Disappear
   • This song deals with a flashback of the patient’s life and the regrets that he has. The patient talks about how he will be living his life alone now that he is no longer with some unknown person whom he is singing about. It can be assumed that he is referring to a past lover. In the song, Gerard Way sings in a regretful tone “I’m not so with you anymore, I’m just a ghost, so I can’t hurt you anymore.” These lines show some sort of regret from the patient from when he was alive. Listeners are to assume that in his life he must have hurt someone that he wishes he didn’t and now that he is dead and gone, he no longer has the ability to hurt them. Towards the end of the song, Gerard Way’s vocals as well as the instrumentation are extremely aggressive and almost border on something that you would hear in a screamo song.
4. The Sharpest Lives
   • The fast tempo of the guitar right off the start sets up the tone of this song. The song deals with the abuse of drugs and alcohol in order to escape emotional pain that the patient may be dealing with. It could also be seen as actual physical pain due to his illness. The fast pace of the song makes it so that listeners feel as if everything going on is very rapid; much like the feeling one may get while under the influence of drugs or alcohol. There are multiple times in the song where the lyrics “Give me a shot to remember, and you can take all the pain away” are repeated. The fear of suffering is very evident in this song and relates to the overall theme of the album. The patient was afraid to suffer; emotionally and physically. This song serves as a reflection on the patient’s life and dealing with fear.
5. Welcome To The Black Parade
   • The title track and one of the most important songs on the album. This song is about the patient's transition from life to death. The “black parade” symbolizes death in this case. It also represents a fond memory that the patient had with his father, which was seeing a parade and a marching band. The song starts with only a piano playing one note at a time. Faintly in the background as the song progresses, it actually sounds as if the listener is at a parade due to the marching band type instrumentation. It is soft and almost eerie as Gerard Way’s vocals come into the song. He begins by singing slowly and softly and then more instrumentation begins to enter. The first few lines of the song are like a reminiscing story between the patient and his father. In this memory, the father tells him “'Son, when you grow up, would you be the savior of the broken, the beaten and the damned?' He said 'Will you defeat them, your demons, and all the non-believers, the plans that they have made?'” These lyrics go along with the theme of the album that deals with living to your full potential while you’re alive. The drums begin to play in the background as the piano continues with the same few notes that began the song. There is a lot of build up until the song burst into a long period of only instruments. Way then comes back into the song with aggressive vocals, repeating the same verses of lyrics except in a much louder and aggressive tone. The song then gets much louder and rapid paced. Rock elements are very evident in this song with the guitar/drum solos and Gerard’s intense vocals. Throughout the song the line “we’ll carry on” is repeated. This goes along with the overall theme of death and afterlife and remembering someone/the way they lived once they are no longer alive. The rock opera elements are most apparent in this song from the music video in which My Chemical Romance performs theatrically and filled with emotion.
   • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRKJiM9Njr8 (A link to the "Welcome to the Black Parade" music video)
6. I Don't Love You
   • This song has a different sound to it than the other songs that precede it on this album. It is slower than the usual songs by My Chemical Romance and is a sad sounding, minor scale song compared to the other typically loud and more upbeat songs. In this song, the patient is talking to his loved ones whom he is leaving as he dies.
7. House of Wolves
   • This song deals with the patient wondering whether he will end up in Heaven or in Hell. The song makes multiple references to religion including prayers and sinning as well as the devil and an angel. Like these topics, the song does a lot of comparing. Gerard Way sings "tell me I'm an angel, take this to my grave" and then immediately after sings "tell me I'm a bad man, kick me like a stray." These lyrics get repeated throughout the remainder of the song. This shows that the patient doesn't really know where he will end up in his afterlife.
8. Cancer
   • The eighth song on the album, "Cancer" is perhaps the most intense song on the album. My Chemical Romance's goal was to make this the "darkest song ever." The song begins with a short piano introduction until Gerard Way comes into the song with a solemn voice. The piano remains playing in the background. It isn't until about one minute into the song until the other instruments (drums and guitar) appear. Way's vocals have a sad tone matched with a slow pace. The majority of the song has relatively soft dynamics compared to the other songs on the album while also considering the fact that Way typically has extremely intense vocals. As the song approaches its end, the instrumentation fluctuates a little bit and gets some what louder and faster. In addition, Way seems as if he's shouting and sounds desperate. The desperation in Way's voice in this song allows listeners to emotionally feel for the patient. This song is probably the most direct while dealing with the theme of this concept album. It portrays the misery that the patient is enduring while dying of cancer. Throughout the song, lyrics such as the opening line; "turn away", as well as "I'm awful just to see" show that the patient is ashamed of what he looks like due to the disease. The combination of the minor scale elements and Gerard Way's emotional voice easily make this the darkest song on the album, however, it is also very relatable for anyone who has suffered or has known someone who has suffered from the disease.
9. Mama
   • Mama is a unique song because it alternates the narrative multiple times. The song begins with explosions before a guitar begins playing. The explosions being heard in the beginning of the song are because the song is about a soldier who dies in war. Like "House of Wolves", this song deals with the topic of Hell. The lyrics "mama we all go to Hell" are repeated numerous times. The story of the lyrics tell listeners that after being killed in war, a soldier is speaking to his mother and telling her that everyone (including himself) dies. There are different ways that this song, as well as every song on this album, could be interpreted. Dealing with the fact that this is a concept album, one interpretation of the connection of this song is that like the solider, the patient is dying. "Mama" relates to the concept as a whole because it deals with death and the people that one leaves behind when they die. In this case, the soldier is leaving his mother. Another connection can be seen by taking this song as a vision of regret from the patient. Lyrics such as "I should've been a better son" show a sign of regret. The album deals with the patients regrets and reflections of the life he lived and in this song, the soldier is regretting his decisions as well as the relationship that he had with his mother.
10. Sleep
    • The song "Sleep" begins with a voice recording of Gerard Way which listeners continue to hear sporadically throughout the song. He did this because while recording this album, the band stayed in a haunted hotel which in turn, gave Gerard Way night terrors. He decided to include his recordings that described his night terrors in this song. The patient is doing a lot of reflecting during "Sleep." While other songs have seemed to be about his regrets, this song is the opposite. The patient doesn't want to apologize for anything. The lack of regret is apparent in lyrics such as "How could you cry for me? Cause I don't feel bad about it" and "Cause there ain't no way that I'm sorry for what I did." Gerard Way repeats the lyrics "just sleep" for the entire song. When these lyrics are being sung, it has a different sound than the other lyrics. It almost is like he is peacefully singing "just sleep" as if he was actually singing somebody to sleep. The last part of this song is Gerard Way yelling this lyric multiple times. After repeatedly shouting "just sleep" there is one line that says "wake up." He then replies to this demand by saying "And I can't...I can't ever wake up" which signifies the patient who has died and now cannot wake up.
11. Teenagers
    • Due to the different and some what strange topic of this song, it has sometimes been taken as a joke. The song was written by Gerard Way after being intimidated by being surrounded by teenagers on a subway. The booming instrumentation and Gerard Way's yelling voice really capture the intensity of this song. The band does not hold back with their lyrics, some of which are "teenagers scare the living shit out of me, they could care less as long as someone'll bleed" and "they're gonna rip up your heads, your aspirations to shreds." The song deals with the view point that teenagers invoke fear in people and are violent and uncontrollable. While it can be easily seen how almost all of the songs on this album relate to a dying patient and his reflection of his life; this one is very different. It is hard to see an overall connection between "Teenagers" and the concept of The Black Parade. Although not a full connection, one of the lyrics of this song states "...the drugs never work." This can be interpreted to be about the drugs that the patient had received in the hospital that didn't save his life.
12. Disenchanted
    • The song starts off very slow. It is only Gerard Way's vocals at first as well as a guitar. The guitar sounds peaceful and much different than it has in the rest of the songs. The beginning leads listeners to believe that this song may remain slow and soft. More instrumentation such as more strings and drums pick up and the song immediately begins to get louder and faster paced. Gerard Way's vocals hold the melody of this homophonic song. Lyrically, the song is about the patient questioning his life and the mark he will leave when he is gone. The beginning of the song serves as the patient reminiscing on the good times that he had in his youth where he "laughed so hard it would sting." In the lyrics that come shortly after; "Now will it matter after I'm gone? Because you never learned a goddamn thing" he is questioning how those around him will be effected when he is gone. He feels as if he hasn't made a lasting impact on people and that because of this, nobody will really care that he is no longer alive. He refers to his life as a "sad song with nothing to say about a life-long wait for a hospital stay." To him, he is nothing but someone who has been forced to stay in a hospital room for his whole life due to his illness. He has nothing that he has accomplished or can be proud of. This song has a minor scale.
    • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8quiZ2dti0Y (Lyric video for Disenchanted)
13. Famous Last Words
    • This song serves as a triumphant and conquering song/end to this rather dark album. The song starts off with a simple but quick two note strum of a guitar along with Gerard Way's vocals. We hear the same pattern of notes from the guitar throughout the remainder of the song. The vocals are extremely loud and pretty rapid and while the song is very intense, the song is set in a major scale. As apparent by the repetition of the lyrics "I am not afraid to keep on living, I am not afraid to walk this world alone" the song deals with the patient's realization that even though he may be dying, what is left of his life should still be lived to its fullest potential. He isn't going to just roll over and die, he is going to fight and work to persevere. This song can also be interpreted as the patient coming to terms with his demise and accepting it but not feeling sorry for his situation. The lyrics "Can you see, my eyes are shining bright, because I'm out here on the other side" lead listeners to believe that the patient, although he has passed away, is okay with this fact. As mentioned prior, he has accepted what has happened to him and is not afraid. Watching the music video captures the essence of My Chemical Romance and how they dramatize their music.
    • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bbTtPL1jRs (A link to the "Famous Last Words" music video)
14. Blood
    • "Blood" is a hidden track on this album. There are no vocals or instrumentation until a minute and a half into the roughly three minute long song. The vocals on this track have a very creepy sound, as if they are trying to sound demonic. The piano is the most evident instrument in this piece. Towards the end of the song, the background instrumentation sounds like old Italian music.