My Chemical Romance: Famous Last Words Meaning
Song Released: 2007
Famous Last Words Lyrics
That I can't make you stay
But where's your heart
But where's your heart
But where's your
And I know
There's nothing I can say
To change that part
To change that part
To change
So many
Bright lights they cast a...
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For me, this song is about The Patient dying,and joining the black parade. "I am not afraid to keep on living"-as a member of the black parade. And Death encourages him to walk with The Black Parade-"Honey, if you stay you'll be forgiven". It's also him finally at peace with this recurring lover he seems to have fought with-most notably in Cancer, How I Dissapear, and The Sharpest Lives-"I know, that I can't make you stay, but where's your heart?". He's saying that he knows that he can't force her to be with him in his last hours, but if she ever really loved him, she would. He starts to get fustrated-"Is it hard understanding, I'm incomplete?"-and she agrees to stay with him, and they fall asleep together. He tells her he loves her-"Words I thought I'd never speak"-and when he wakes up, he is dead. His ghost watches the couple for a while-"I see you lying next to me...Asleep or dead?" and then goes to join The Black Parade.
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Well, Gerard said in an interview that this song was written just after he broke up with his girlfriend, and it's completely about her..
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On the surface, this song follows the album (The Black Parade) concept by concluding it for the patient, the basic message being that he accepts that if he dies, he will die, and if he lives, he will live. There is also an element of "Last Chance" here, where he "see(s) you lying next to me", representing him waking up, if briefly, to say his "Famous Last Words"
However, this song is significantly more related to MCR's anti-suicide message. Note the element of "Loss" at the beggining, when Gerard sings "I know I can make you stay, but where's your heart?". The "great expectations" (So many bright lights that cast a shadow) are seen as too much sometimes, as he is "incomplete". The desperate tone of the song adds to this, and considering the context in which the song was written (When the band were at a desperate point), this first part seems to be about giving up
Despite this, the song has generally optimistic lyrics. "I am not afraid to keep on living" links to "Welcome to the black Parade"'s "We'll carry on", and the song itself wraps up with "With words I thought I'd never speak", proving that however bad things get, they will, eventually, improve. What is important to note is the song (and also the album)'s circular structure, Going from hopeless to optimistic, and then repeating the first chorus. This a reminder that life follows a circular pattern, and that bad stuff will happen, and it will be balanced by good events
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This song, like all MCR songs, is ambiguous. Gerard loves to create songs that can be interpreted more than 1 way. Now I realise the album is based on a cancer patient and I also realise that the patient is the main storyline behind all of the songs but Gerard is an artist and I beleive this song can be interpreted as a relationship ending. "Now I know that I can't make you stay but wheres your heart????"- This line can be interpreted as Gerard pleading with his partner not to leave him. " Im in complete"- he feels alone without her. "A love that's so demanding I can't spk"- The relationship was a very emotionally draining. "Honey if you stay ill be forgiving" if she stays he will forgive her for all the torment of his feelings. "cuz I see you lying next to me with words I thought id never spk awake and unafraid...... asleep or dead" The reference to him lying there saying words he never thought he could, can be interpreted as him expressing a love so pure, so intense that it overwhelms him. He didn't think he could ever love someone the way he loved her. In terms of the 'awake and unafraid'- when he is with her he feels alive and believes she is is reason for his very existence.....without her he feels like life is worthless to the point where he feels "asleep or dead."
This was written by Blake. F -
I know this may not be the real meaning of the song, but this is my version.
In my mind the song is about a relationship. He can't make her stay, she has no heart, he has nothing to say about her cheating on him (there's nothing I can say to change that part)
There are so many bright times they've had together whith now makes the situation feel more miserable. But can he say that he feel so sad? Even though he isn't saying anything, can't everybody else see he's incomplete?
The life without her is demanding, all right, but the love is also demanding...
Then comes his famous last words. He is ready to trie to move on, but he tells her that if she wants to come back to him, he'll forgive himself for leaving her. But no matter what she says, he'll do this on his own grounds (home).
And then, can you see he's happy, his eyes are shining, because he has gone through the hard periods of regret and missing? No, because he is only faking (jet black hotel mirror) and he is weak from the loss of her. Love is demanding now, since he still loves her.
Then the famous last words again, and the bright lights (the happy times) that always has blinded him.
Then suddenly he is seeing her lying next to him, and he says those words he thought he'd never speak (awake and unafraid, asleep or dead). Then it is sung a numbe rof times, until the famous last words appear again. But this time they are true. They are also no longer the usual 'famous last word', but rather 'the famous words that came true at last'.
But that's just my mind, it's really written about a patient and so on. -
I believe this is a song earlier in the Patient's life, about either a Girlfriend or wife. It is a 2-way conversation about his wife/gf leaving him
Now I know
That I can't make you stay (here the patient is saying that he knows whatever he says, she won't stay)
But where's your heart (Here the female is asking him if he even has a heart)
But where's your heart
But where's your
And I know (The patient says that nothing he can say will change the past.)
There's nothing I can say
To change that part
To change that part
To change
So many
Bright lights they cast a shadow (All the fun times and all the bad)
But can I speak (She keeps trying to interrupt him)
Well, is it hard understanding
I'm incomplete
A life that's so demanding (She demands too much from him)
I get so weak (He gets tired)
A love that's so demanding (Again, she bosses him around)
I can't speak (She never lets him speak his mind)
I am not afraid to keep on living (This time, the girl says she's not afraid to live without him)
I am not afraid to walk this world alone (She's not afraid to be single)
Honey, if you stay I'll be forgiven (The patient says he'll feel forgiven if she stays)
Nothing you can say can stop me going home (The girl says there's nothing that can stop her from going away)
Can you see?
My eyes are shining bright
'Cause I'm out here on the other side
Of a jet black hotel mirror
And I'm so weak
Is it hard understanding
I'm incomplete
A love that's so demanding
I get weak (This last paragraph I guess he's suffering)
I am not afraid to keep on living
I am not afraid to walk this world alone
Honey, if you stay I'll be forgiven
Nothing you can say can stop me going home (Same thing as above)
I am not afraid to keep on living
I am not afraid to walk this world alone
Honey, if you stay I'll be forgiven
Nothing you can say can stop me going home
These bright lights have always blinded me
These bright lights have always blinded me
I said (The beautiful have always betrayed him, like in The Sharpest Lives)
I see you lying next to me
With words I thought I'd never speak
Awake and unafraid
Asleep or dead (He blacks out, and wakes up next to the girl)
'Cause I see you lying next to me
With words I thought I'd never speak
Awake and unafraid
Asleep or dead
I am not afraid to keep on living
I am not afraid to walk this world alone
Honey, if you stay I'll be forgiven
Nothing you can say can stop me going home
I am not afraid to keep on living
I am not afraid to walk this world alone
Honey, if you stay I'll be forgiven
Nothing you can say can stop me going home
I am not afraid to keep on living
I am not afraid to walk this world alone
Honey, if you stay I'll be forgiven
Nothing you can say can stop me going home (Here either they argue again, or he remembers the fight. -
Honestly, I don't care what the song means, all I know is that it's a great song, my favorite actually. And that it has something to do with dying and possibly Mikey
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Famous last words was written about when mikey was on his lowest of lows. he isnt a manic depressent, he sufffers from bipolar disorder which is where the person suffers from manic moodswings, yes a lot of the timess they are depressed and this is why thhis song was wrote. ray and gerrad wrote to help mikey come back to the band after he temporily left because of his bipolar, its about overcoming your fight for life, i love this song its helped me through a lot, and im glad it was wrote because if not it would perhaps mean mikey wasnt in the band and it wouldnt of helped me.
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"I see you lying next to me
with words I thought I'd never speak
awake and unafraid
asleep or dead."
I think that Gerard Way wrote this song for his girlfriend/wife/mother of his baby about how he never though he'd say "I love you" to anyone and that he was awake and unafraid to say it and whether he was asleep or dead he never thought he'd say it. -
The song is about going crazy. Gerard said it himself.
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I think based on the Patient idea that the overall ending is ambiguous, the ending phrase "awake and unfraid, asleep or dead" the contrast between these wording couplets, awake and asleep implies a victory over the cancer that he has been battling against, the fact that he can sleep and be awoken are living trait. Then the juxapostiion against this is the unfraid and dead couplet, which could imply that in his final moments he came to terms with his evitable death, and stood against it unfraid. However in the phrase stated before this "cause i see you lying next to me, with words i thought i'd never speak" suggests someone caring is with him - the fact that they are "lying" next to him is quite a personal move. Then he speaks the words to this person, presumably about himself, saying that he is both these things.
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I think based on the Patient idea that the overall ending is ambiguous, the ending phrase "awake and unafraid, asleep or dead" the contrast between these wording couplets, awake and unafraid implies a victory over the cancer that has
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Ok, this song has meant so much to me over many years and you can hear it differently depending on where you( the listener) are in your own life.
Sure, maybe it was something quite personal to MCR,or not, at the time of writing, but as the listener, that isn't the point; you hear it with your own ears and own perspective.
Many times I have felt to be at the beginning of death (spiritual and emotional) but have felt the resolution that I was going to carry on with my scars despite how bad I wanted to die. It's like looking up from death's bed and saying to yourself and others that no matter what has transpired I have no choice but to carry on. Truly this song marks an ending but also a beginning as well. I will be 90 years old and this song will still be on my list of most influential and meaningful songs of all times. It is like the hoped for revelation given to the those at the time of death---the looking back and saying to oneself that I can make it but if taken in context of the album and that this it is essentialy the last track, you also can feel a sense of complete resignation--he is saying he is sorry but he has to go now for whatever may greet him-you know, he is ready to take his place with the Black Parade. "Nothing you can say can stop me going home"--we can't stop death, no platitudes or revelations or anything can stop the reaper when it is time===I don't know but this is my favorite bloody song about death of all times and has to be played at my funeral even if I die at 92 and this has completely lost all cultural-relevance. I am torn--I feel too young and too old for this song or artist to make any difference to me, but they do. I have felt this and do contiually--it is like the struggle of the flesh and the spirit and MCR just makes it fucking beautiful. -
Now I know
That I can't make you stay
But where's your heart
But where's your heart
But where's your
mmk we all know mcr or Gerard rather always puts a theatrical touch in all the albums. This is why their my favorite band. This section is stating that this character that he's bringing out is a murderer. He killed someone he loved very much ( I know I can't make you stay) meaning he can't keep her alive( but wheres your heart) literally lol.
And I know
There's nothing I can say
To change that part
To change that part
To change
there's nothing he can do to change or take back this humongous sin
So many
Bright lights they cast a shadow
But can I speak
Well, is it hard understanding
I'm incomplete
A life that's so demanding
I get so weak
A love that's so demanding
I can't speak
in this verse he's talking to god ( so many bright lights that cast a shadow) the bible states the devil is in the shadow of the light. (Is it hard understanding I'm incomplete) Meaning there's something wrong with him that made him commit the mother of all sins also ( I get so weak) meaning he couldn't control the anger and the pressure. (A love that's so demanding) The guidelines from the bible are too hard to live by with all the things ( a life that's so demanding) in this world that drive people to sin, kill lie ect.
I am not afraid to keep on living
I am not afraid to walk this world alone
Honey, if you stay I'll be forgiven
Nothing you can say can stop me going home
If she lives he'll be forgiven, and if she doesn't regret is not going to stop him from living his life fully.
Can you see?
My eyes are shining bright
'Cause I'm out here on the other side
Of a jet black hotel mirror
And I'm so weak
Is it hard understanding
I'm incomplete
A love that's so demanding
I get weak
( I'm out here on thee other side of a jet black hotel mirror) in the bible it says that the devil is a dark reflection of god. meaning he is the dark refection because of the crime he's committed
I am not afraid to keep on living
I am not afraid to walk this world alone
Honey, if you stay I'll be forgiven
Nothing you can say can stop me going home
I am not afraid to keep on living
I am not afraid to walk this world alone
Honey, if you stay I'll be forgiven
Nothing you can say can stop me going home
These bright lights have always blinded me
These bright lights have always blinded me
I said
I see you lying next to me
With words I thought I'd never speak
Awake and unafraid
Asleep or dead
'Cause I see you lying next to me
With words I thought I'd never speak
Awake and unafraid
Asleep or dead
'Cause I see you lying next to me
With words I thought I'd never speak
Awake and unafraid
Asleep or dead
'Cause I see you lying next to me
With words I thought I'd never speak
Awake and unafraid
Asleep or dead
( I see you lying next to me ) her dead body
(with words I thought I'd never speak) saying sorry , goodbye, ect.( awake and unafraid asleep or dead) he never thought he'd see someone dying/ dead at his hands, not even in a dream or and certainly not awake, or when he dies because the regret of killing her is going to eat away at his subconscious so when he dies he'll see this girl dead or dying for eternity
I am not afraid to keep on living
I am not afraid to walk this world alone
Honey, if you stay I'll be forgiven
Nothing you can say can stop me going home
I am not afraid to keep on living
I am not afraid to walk this world alone
Honey, if you stay I'll be forgiven
Nothing you can say can stop me going home
I am not afraid to keep on living
I am not afraid to walk this world alone
Honey, if you stay I'll be forgiven
Nothing you can say can stop me going home -
Gerard says this song is about redemption from the devil. I think the character he's playing in the song killed someone he loved and is asking god for forgiveness," I see you lying next me with words I thought id never speak yhay yhady yha. I'm out here on the other side of a jet black hotel mirror( they say the devil is the dark reflection of god) " a love that's so demanding, I can speak/ I get weak" meaning the love of god is very and too demanding with all the pressures life throws at us, its hard not to sin. I can go on and with this but you get my point. That's all I wanted because you guys are idiots
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