My Chemical Romance: Welcome to the Black Parade Meaning
Song Released: 2006
Welcome to the Black Parade Lyrics
My father took me into the city
To see a marching band
He said "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...
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For me, this song is entirely political; there are three characters in the song: the main voice is that of a young man, who talks about his father (America) and his mother (Liberty). The emphasis of the song is centered on the fact that despite that his father is fading from the picture, be won't be forgotten, and Weary Widow Liberty will continue on without him. Nothing can conquer Liberty, and nothing can stop her from her stedfast march through time.
Just my take. -
I believe this song has significant Holocaust undertones. Gerald is blond and looks very much like a German, he is telling this man (a Jew) that he will not be who many of his people have become. He says that his father wanted him to be different, I believe this means he wanted him to not carry on the Anti-Semitic views of his people. And lastly, he is telling the man (a representation of the Jewish population) that it's okay, they will be remembered and they can let go after so many thousands of years of persecution and know that the world wont forget what happened to them.
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I think that the patient is remembering a time when his father took him to see a marching band, and asked him whether he'd be a 'good person?' and help people find faith (maybe religiously?). And the father tells him that some day he will die (the father) but when he does, he will be back to collect the patient when the patient dies. Now that the patient is dying, he is remembering this and wondering whether his father will return to take him on to the next life as he promised he would.
I think that the black parade is like what happens to you when you die, you become part of a marching band (maybe only a select few, or maybe everyone) that takes you round loads of things before taking you to the afterlife. Or maybe it's a like a thing you do for eternity.
The father says that he will "lead you in the summer to join the black parade". The summer could represent 'good life' or the fact that the patient will die in a good part of his life, or that could just be the time of year that the son will die!
I think that the song then skips onto the present, when the patient is dying, and it says that he feels 'she' (maybe the virgin mary or his dead mother) is watching him.
Sometimes I get the feeling
She's watching over me
And other times I feel like I should go
he's saying that 'she' has watched him go through life and is now watching him pass on. Maybe the 'she' is like his life guardian, and his father is the one who will take him on after he dies.
And through it all
The rise and fall
The bodies in the streets
And when you're gone we want you all to know
I think that the song then changes. the 'we' is him and the rest of the black parade. "through it all" is referring to everything that he and everyone else in the parade has ever done and will do (the rise and fall is the ups and downs, the goods and bad things that they've done, and the
bodies in the streets is all the destruction and harm that they've ever caused).
"And when you're gone want you all to know we'll carry on" - this is the black parade and the patient (even though he isn't dead yet, he is close enough that he can imagine himself as part of them) saying to the people left behind (still living) that whatever they do the black parade will always go on.
"A world that sends you reeling
From decimated dreams
Your misery and hate will kill us all"
this is representing all the bad things that humanity has done and all the things that people do.
"So paint it black
And take it back
Let's shout it loud and clear
Defiant to the end we hear the call"
this is saying that you've all done bad thing's, so lets all join the black parade (this verse is all metaphors for the stuff that marching bands - and the black parade - do).
"Do or die
You'll never make me
Because the world
Will never take my heart
Go and try
You'll never break me
We want it all
We want to play this part"
this is saying that whatever you do, the black parade will be there and it is impossible to stop it, and that if you do make a mess of your life and do bad things, then the black parade will be there for you to join.
I think that 'the black parade' is basically hell, and that it's where the sinners (possibly only some of the sinners, the worst or the most special for some reason) end up. THey all join the black parade.
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My first instinct watching this is that the video is about mind control and carrying on the legacy of the handlers plans even after they die - I really like the interpretations mentioned here, that it represents the passage to death. But if you look at the imagery, and are familiar with "mind control" imagery and what the agenda is of those who do this type of thing, it makes a lot more sense.
So first off 'the patient' is in a bed with nurses, watching a television of the singer. The fact that he seems to be kept their by the nurses, and that the curtain drops, may represent him being programmed into an alter state of mind / personality.
When he talks about his son wanting him to grow up and be the "savior of the broken, the beaten and the damned" he may be referring to his desire for his son to carry on the legacy and lead the lost souls towards the path the father has helped create.
Images of broken cities, nuclear fallout from the sky, everyone wearing gas masks, seems to represent what it really is that the father wants the son to perpetuate once he's gone. The son feels inadequate so he says "I'm just a man I'm not a hero, I'm just a boy who wants to sing this song" means he doesn't feel that he can do the greatness his father expected, but don't worry, the fact that he can sing this song and also get the message out means that the father's wishes (memories) will carry on.
If you want to read more on mind control imagery in music videos (they are in almost all mainstream videos now) visit http://vigilantcitizen.com/?p=3571 and read through the articles... Very interesting even if you don't agree.
In conclusion I feel that this video could have both meanings - when the song was written it represented the passage to death by the patient, and the imagery was used to introduce a different agenda. -
This song, as any peace of art is about the world as it is seen trough the soul of the artist.
All this explanations about 'the patient' and stuff are rubbish!
Tell me why the author wrote this song???
Who is the 'patient'? Who died of cancer? who is 'broken and defeated' and why??? Who is she who is 'watching me'? Who is the 'widow'...
If you don't have a clue then just shut up! -
There is an dying man in the hospital, and he is remembering the most treasured memory of when he was a young boy, and his father took him to see a marching band. He believes that when you die, death will come to any form you want it to, and for him, it was a black parade. In this song, the man is talking to his son, telling him to be the “savior of the broken, the beaten and the damned.” As to say misunderstandings of reality, telling him how to “carry on”. By saying summer, it means that the black parade is not something to be feared, but to be embraced.
He says “she’s watching over me” somehow portraying that “God” is female, and saying “I feel like I should go”, is his suicidal tendencies. When referring to “bodies in the street” he’s referring to how we don’t really care about other people’s lives; how we’re so ignorant that there could be lots of people suffering, and we wouldn’t even care, or want to know. He’s telling “them” not to worry, because his memory will carry on.
Later, he is telling his father how he is not the “savior”, but rather just a man. Saying “I don’t care” alludes to him knowing he wasn’t the hero in the first place and never really wanted to be. “When you are dead and gone” is simply saying that the black parade will carry us to the end, whatever it may be. “Will never take my heart” told us how heartless “they” really want us to be. “They” being the government, trying to keep us from achieving our dreams. -
I think it says the a father will eventually die, and the son will have to carry-on without him. Now the black parade could mean, his life, his death...It all depends on the listener. I personally think that it means his life. Life is like a parade, no matter what we have to keep going and going. Parades start in one place and then end in one place. Just like life. We start out at birth and we end in death. Then he says "We'll carry on"..That's pretty self explanatory (spell check) He will carry on. His father will always be in his memory.
~Hope I Helped (:
<3 -
It's about a man who died of cancer when he was young, before that his father took him to see a parade so black parade is his way of seeing his death
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Well, i believe it is about the death of his father. In the beggining, he is remembering his father telling him to "defeat your demons" that being his negative thoughts in his head, if ever his mental state goes bad eg suicidal, fight it and dont give up. The father knew he was dying and this is why he was telling his son these things, because he knew his death would be hard on him because theyre so close. The corous is very obvious, he is speakin to his late father, his "memory will carry" on "although your dead and gone", he listens to his fathers voice in his head when times get tuff and he'll carry on- he wont give up. You all interpret it as suicidal, but its very anti-suicidal, saying carry on, you can fight your demons, "though you'll try youll never break me".
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I think it also has something to do with a graduation, because the starting tune starts with the graduation tune with incomplete notes.
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Out of all the odds: Believe it or not. This song is about the college graduation of the person in this song.
Notice that at the beginning of the song, the tune is a variation of the Graduation March is made.
Check the other lyrics. It will support my argument
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I think this song is definitely about the patient, but I also look at it like someones father dying
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I believe this song is about drugs and balls
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Okay, so it has TWO different meanings. At the beginning, the Patient is reliving memories from when he was a kid and was at a parade with his dad. Except this is a parade with dead people, as this was how he wanted to go. After he dies, you see Gerard and the band on the float in the parade. As it says "sometimes I get the feeling she's watching over me" it doesn't literally mean a person. He is talking about death. (like people call mother nature or a boat a "she") So death is watching over him "until he hears the call" and then he will join the parade 'cause HIS dad brought him to one, too. Also, the 9/11 theory kicks in with that because the parade could be the dead people from that and the Patient knew someone that died in 9/11 so he drempt up the parade. Even then, Gerard was sobering up and stuff. So maybe defeating demons would be fighting off addiction, and then saving the broken, beaten, and damned (•_•) is trying to help all the other addicts out there and save them from joining the black parade. please comment on this and help point out stuff. This is JUST AN INTERPRETATION and not REAL info. -eyes picky people-
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