What does The End mean?

My Chemical Romance: The End Meaning

Album cover for The End album cover
Get "The End" on MP3: Get MP3 from iTunes

The End Lyrics

Now come one, come all to this tragic affair
Wipe off that makeup
What's in is despair
So throw on the black dress
Mix in with the lot
You might wake up and notice you're someone you're not

If you look in the mirror and don't like what...

  1. anonymous
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    Jan 31st 2008 !⃝

    I think this song is about realising that you have to change for your own good and accept that things aren't good. Telling people that the change is good and expecting that they'll be happy about it.
    Saying that it's the end of your old self and the start of your new self.
    whoa, I've just realised, this song really applies to me.

  2. outcast
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    Jan 22nd 2008 !⃝

    I think it's about them telling people to be themselves and top being someone they are not.

  3. DresdenDoll
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    Dec 2nd 2007 !⃝

    I agree with about half the people who've posted. It's more of the beginning for The Black Parade, and it follows the story of the patient's death.

    On an unrelated note, did anyone else notice how this song sounds almost EXACTLY like David Bowie's song 'Five Years'?

  4. anonymous
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    Nov 27th 2007 !⃝

    The whole CD is dedicated grandma that passed on. He loved her very much and its a story that goes on . Gerard himslef said that the Cd is a story and about the song I'm not sure what it's about you would have to ask the guy(s) who wrote the songs and the CD itself.

  5. peteinmypants
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    Nov 24th 2007 !⃝

    I'm back! miss me? I hope not. anyway...
    this song can be interpreted in two ways.
    1) it is about the patient dying.
    2) think back to a time like that of WWII. remember those ads drafting people into the war? this is what The End is. If you read the lyrics rather than hear them, it's a lot more clear.

    "come one, come all, to this tragic affair
    wipe off that makeup what's in is despair.
    so throw on the black dress mixed in with the lot
    you might wake up and notice you're someone you're not."
    this is saying to gather 'round basically. It's saying to look at yourselves. everyone is pretending to be someone they aren't. They are trying to fit in with the rest of the crowd, hiding behind lies (the makeup and the black dress.) he's telling people to realize this isn't who they are.

    "if you look in the mirror and don't like what you see,
    you might find out firsthand what it's like to be me
    so gather round piggies and kiss this goodbye
    I'd encourage your smiles
    I'll expect you won't cry!"
    this says that if they don't like being like everyone else, then they need to join the black parade and actually do something with their lives. The leader of the black parade was the same way and he's trying to convince others to take the road he took and join the black parade and that it will be a much better experience.

    "another contusion, my funeral jag
    here's my resignation, I'll serve it in drag.
    you've got front row seats to the penitence ball
    when I grow up I want to be nothing at all!"
    by joining the black parade, you're basically killing yourself, but in volunteering, it'll be much better than be taken by the black parade.

  6. anonymous
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    Oct 22nd 2007 !⃝

    Yup Mco is right. It is annoucing their change and saying you shouldn't be emo if that means cutting, or giving up hope and stuff. And that make up doesn't make the person. The are saying goodbye to being emo "Gather round piggies and kiss this goodbye..."

  7. twinkle_toes
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    Jul 14th 2007 !⃝

    Yeah, I don't think it's about the rest of the album, it's more about new mcr and who they r and if your a new fan, tell them wut they're all about, prepare every1 for the album really. It's almost like an interlude.

  8. anonymous
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    Jul 2nd 2007 !⃝

    It's about the end of the road for the patient but also the end of the old MCR and the beginning of the black parade.

  9. anonymous
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    Feb 12th 2007 !⃝

    Actually,GibsonGirl64, The End. Is the first song on the Cd. So sorry if I'm tough but DUH!!! Dont act lie you know everything.

  10. anonymous
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    Feb 12th 2007 !⃝

    i believe that the patient is dead and theyre at the funeral(come one come all to this tragic affair).(wipe off that makeup wats in is despair)is the begining of new mcr and how theyre not wearing makeup.then the rest of the song is bout the patients death and funeral.then dead is wen and how he died.cancer is how he died.the cd is based on a patients point of view.

    *~<33-XxEMOxXxCHICKxX-<33~*

  11. satanslilwhore_666
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    Jan 30th 2007 !⃝

    This song does go to the black parade, its the beginning of the black parade. he's saying its kind of like his invitation to his funeral, "another contusion my funeral jag, heres my resignation I'll serve it in drag." "you've got front row seats to this penitence ball, when i grow up i want to be nothing at all!"

  12. anonymous
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    Jan 29th 2007 !⃝

    i think that it means what MRO said because in all the magazines I've been reading with them like AP it said that they were post emo.

  13. mychem1212njm
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    Jan 26th 2007 !⃝

    mro1989 hit it right on the dot because in one of the more recent... december I think... Issues of blender magazine, they interviewed mcr and they said pretty much the same thing

  14. anonymous
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    Jan 1st 2007 !⃝

    The only reason I think mro is worng is bc they say thre still the same band all the time and it wud make sense to put the song with the rest of the album because its "the end" of the patients life

  15. anonymous
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    Dec 5th 2006 !⃝

    the song is about the death of the old genre they helped make so famous, emo. They are basically saying that emo to them is now dead, that they want to create a new image for themselves, to disassociate themselves from that genre.




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