My Chemical Romance: I Never Told You What I Do For A Living Meaning
I Never Told You What I Do For A Living Lyrics
You can say a prayer if you need to
Or just get in line and I'll grieve you
Can I meet you alone?
Another night and I'll see you
Another night and I'll be you
Some other way to...
-
1TOP RATED
#1 top rated interpretation:This whole album is about the story of a man and his girlfriend both dying. He goes to hell, and she goes to heaven, so the guy makes a deal with the devil, to let him see her again if he kills 1000 evil souls. This specific song (the last song) is about him almost being done killing them hence the
"another night and I'll see you"
he knows he's almost done with the killings.
"another knife in my hands. A stain that never comes off the sheets. Clean me off. I'm so dirty babe. The kind of dirty where the water never cleans off the clothes"
this means that he is doing more killeing (another knife in my hands) and all this has made him dirty (not literally, but because of all the killing) and the stain refers to the lasting impression this has left on his life.
"I tried
i tried
and we'll all dance alone to the tune of your death
we'll love again, we'll laugh again
and it's better off this way"
this refers to him trying to kill all one thousand, and he dies too (not sure how, maybe the devil sends him back to hell??? Or he's murdered???) and he figures that he'll see her in a next life so he decides it's better off that he stops killing and lets destiny take control.
"and never again, and never again
they gave us two shots to the back of the head
and we're all dead now."
this could refer to him metaphorically saying that the devil ruined his plan and lied to him (giving two shots to the back of the head)and they're both dead now.
"and we'll love again, we'll laugh again
we'll cry again and we'll dance again
and it's better off this way
so much better off this way
i can't clean the blood off the sheets in my bed "
again explaining that he feels that they'll meet again in another life, and him saying it's better off this way...
Wow that was long, sorry people :) I'm a big fan though, and I came up with this from my own interpretation, as well as other's. I'm a big fan of this song. It's so deep and emotional... ~~~mcr fan -
2TOP RATED
#2 top rated interpretation:Okay, who ever wrote the lengthy article is 99.99% correct. The story does continue on from "I Brought You My Love, You Brought Me Your Bullets". And the man and woman are the pair who were gunned down in the desert in the song "Demolition Lovers". The two of them both died- the woman went to heaven while the man went to hell. The man made a deal with the devil to retrieve the souls of 1000 evil men. In "Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge," his lover is mourned over during the song, Helena (although originally the title did come from Gerard's late grandmother, Elena Lee Rush). After the funeral, the man begins the task of mass murder and along the way gets a group of students' souls who went on a shooting spree at their school for being bullied all the time (I'm Not Okay...). He retrieves the soul of a man in prison and talks vaguely about abuse and prison rape (You Know What They Do To Guys Like Us In Prison). He also gets feelings of regret, and thinks about giving up (Ghost Of You), but continues anyway.
Some people say that the transition from tracks 1-7 into tracks 8-13 switches the mood of the CD from light to dark. Towards the end the song lyrics' meanings deepen.
In the end the man supposedly succeeds and is reunited with his love. He then explains how they came to be together again. But the man of course is wanted for 1000 murders and the two of them are discovered by the police who shoot them while dancing - in the backs of their heads, naturally. It is better off this way; they can be together without the guilt, the worries, and being wanted criminals the rest of their lives.
[An alternate theory says the man kills 999 people, and a woman is his last victim before he can see his lover again. But he gets to know her before killing her and tells her all about why he is doing what he is doing while they dance. Since he could never live with himself anyway - let alone face his lover, its all better off this way.]
He tried. -
3TOP RATED
#3 top rated interpretation:This album tells a story about a man and a woman who died, and the man went to hell and the woman went to heaven, and the man makes a deal with the devil that if he brings him 1000 evil souls, he can be with the woman again. as the last song in the album, this song finishes their story. The man is feeling the guilt of killing so many people. That's why he talks about getting blood out of his sheets. So he decides to not kill anymore people, and to leave things the way they are. That's why he says "and it's better off this way". He says "I tried" because the song is about his failed attempt to save their love. That's how I see it, anyway.
-
i know it's most likely about the story about the man and women going to hell and such, but i connected this song with prostitution. (probably a jump to because i used to do that shit- not fun.)
Stay out of the light (when you work it is best to stay out of lines of the cops or "light")
Or the photographs that I gave you
(nudes sent to get customers)
You can say a prayer if you need to
(repenting for sins)
Or just get in line and I'll grieve you
(it is very heavy on a person, and typically changes them drastically. grieving who they once were)
Can I meet you, alone?
( meeting alone to do work)
Another night and I'll see you
Another night and I'll be you
(a.i. scheduled meet up)
Some other way to continue
To hide my face
(hiding from the dirty that comes with, hiding that this is what they do, hiding from cops.)
Another knife in my hands
( makes you want to kill yourself, hense the knife.O
A stain that never comes off the sheets
Clean me off
I'm so dirty, babe
(again, you feel dirty when you do sex work)
The kind of dirty where the water never cleans off the clothes
(no matter how hard you clean you're still "dirty")
I keep a book of the names and those
("cliet" book.)
Only go so far
'Til you bury them
So deep and down we go
(burying emotions, "down we go" is a meantal break down)
Touched by angels, though
I fall out of grace
( doing something sinful)
I did it all so maybe
I'd live this every day
( prostituting everyday, reliving the memories always)
Another knife in my hands
A stain that never comes off the sheets
Clean me off
I'm so dirty, babe
( already gave interpretation)
It ain't the money and it sure as hell ain't just for the fame
It's for the bodies I claim and those
( some people do it because it makes them feel in control)
Only go so far
'Til you bury them
So deep and down we go
(went over this before)
Down
And down we go
And down we go
And down we go
(went over this)
And we all fall down
(mental breakdown 2.0)
I tried
I tried
(tried to keep on going/ tried to find a different job, ect)
And we'll all dance alone
To the tune of your death
( refecting on others that know the prostitute, glad they no longer have to deal with the stress after dropping the person; the prositute is "dead" to them)
We'll love again
We'll laugh again
( drains you and leaves you in the "pit" of depression)
And it's better off this way
( noone around to deal with the prostitue, it's "better off" to not worry anyone)
And never again
And never again
(telling themselves they'll never do it again to get through)
They gave us two shots to the back of the head
And we're all dead now
( pimps and such will and /can/ kill you)
Well never again
And never again
( already went over this)
They gave us two shots to the back of the head
And we're all dead now
(went over this)
Well I tried
One more night
One more night
( prostitute is getting paniced and hystarical)
We will
Laugh out
Cry out
Laugh out loud
( hysteria/referencing to others)
I tried
Well, I tried
Well, I tried
'Cause I tried
But I lied
I lied
( lieing to others that they tried to quit)
I tried
I tried
I tried, well
( see othersw)
And we'll love again
We'll laugh again
We'll cry again
And we'll dance again
And it's better off this way
So much better off this way
I can't clean the blood off the sheets in my bed
( already went over
And never again
And never again
They gave us two shots to the back of the head
And we're all dead now
( went over) -
Little late, yeah? Too bad. This is a song that follows the album: the guy's gotta bring the devil the souls of a thousand evil men to be united with the woman he loves. He's [obviously] killed 999 of them and is REALLY guilty (stains on the sheets... knife in my hands...etc.) and he realizes that the last evil man he has to kill is himself.
-
Here's what I think it's about:
I think it ties in with a man making a deal with Satan that if he kills 1,000 men, Satan will bring his wife back to him.
So, the man sets out, makes killing his living and kills hundreds of men. He finishes and the devil upholds his part of the bargain, but has tricked the man.
The man is so grief-stricken with all the men he's killed, that he kills his wife and then kills himself."And it's better off this way, so much better off this way. I can't clean the blood off the sheets in my bed"
He figures that maybe they'll be better off dead and together, getting what they both deserve, than living in his blood-stained world.
Satan knew this was going to happen, and takes the two lovers for himself.
I don't know, that just makes the most sense to me. -
I think it goes something like this, the man is almost done with his work. However, he has killed tons of people, and all the work he did has made him a little sick of himself. But even after all this, he gets up to his final duel, and he and his girlfriend get sent to hell together. Possibly the cops killed them, I think it is supposed to be unknown who killed them. As they die, they know somehow in another life they'll be togther one more night. But they'll have to wait to meet again.
-
I think it's demolition lovers all over again, as soon as the couple is reunited, they get into a big fight, and this time they die together. But this time they both die, and they will be together forever.
-
i think it's about this one guy who is an assassin but he falls in love with the target he's been hired to kill. i think he lives with the girl he has to kill and every time she falls asleep he tries to stab her to death. (another knife in my hand)but he can't do it for some reason. one day he does manage to try and kill her, and then he tells her all these terrible things because he went a little mental. (and we'll dance along to the tune of your death)but when he corners her the part of him that still loves her takes over (i tried, one more night one more night, one more to laugh out) and he doesn't do it. in the end he lies to the girl about what he was trying to do to her, (and i tried but i lied) and he retires as an assassin. his boss found out what happened so he hires another assassin to kill both of them when they're together. (they gave us two shots to the back of the head)
-
I think this song can be interpreted in many ways, but this is the way I see it:
A man dies, and is sent to hell. The devil makes a deal and says he can be brought to life again if he kills 1000 people, as the man wants to be with his girlfriend.
So, I think this is a sum up of the story of the album, and the man has been brought back to life, and has told his girlfriend about his encounter with the devil, and isn't sure about being with him anymore, but when he is found as the murderer of the many people, she helps him run away, but they end up shooting them both "...they gave us two shots to the back of the head". -
I feel like this song could also be about prostitution. The blood on the sheets and the prostitute could be getting herself through the nights by telling herself that it won't happen again. Some things would be a bit stretched (like the knife thing) but even that could be used as a metaphor. The burying thing could be talking about the persons emotions, she (or he) could be trying not to completely numb themselves to live because she/he knows that one day it will be over and they didn't want to be permanently scarred. P.S. Whoever came up with the theory that Bullets and Revenge connected in terms of story line is really awesome. I never thought of that.
-
Well it's pretty sure that the song is about the album story of man and a woman that were killed and suparatted after the death, but I don't think that the girl goes to heaven. In my opinion the Devil just uses her to make the man to bring him 1000 souls of sinners.
The man is telling one of the victums to pray for his life (You can say a prayer if you need to), or to get clean,(get in line) but this will be a loss for the man, cuz he will lose one soul to give.
"Another night and I'll see you" - This is the last song, so it's the end of the story so here he's saying that he's almost done with the murders and very soon he'll meet the girl again.
"Some other way to continue, to hide my face" - this is the part where he says that even if he makes it, it'll be very hard for both of them to survive(maybe there is police after them, or peope who want to get revenge)
"Another knife in my hands" - this is how he says that he's about to kill the next person, and never get throught with it(a stain that never comes of the sheets) and he's begging to be cleaned.
"The kind of dirty where the water never cleans off the clothes" - here he just describes his guilt.
"I keep a book of the names and those,only go so far,'til you bury them" - seems like he is hidding the dead bodies somewhere and didn't bury them yet, so he will need the girl to help him
"So deep and down we go" - here in the part "so deep and down" he is talking at the same time abouth burying the corpses and him and the girl going to hell.
"Touched by angels though, I fall out of grace" - by saying 'angels' I think he's actualy talking about Satan, as a fallen angel, because he met him after the death, but didn't get mercy from him.
"I did it all so maybe, I'd live this everyday" - this is about him continuing doing everything that he has done to this moment 'till the end of his life, which means to keep on killing, no matter that he doesn't want to, just because he haves to protect himself and the girl.
"It ain't the money and it sure as hell ain't just for the fame, it's for the bodies I claim and lose" - he is saying that none of what he's doing is about becoming famous or earning money, but just killing evil men to get his love back.
"And down we go, and we all fall down" - this is about getting closer to the death and hell as well
*And we'll all dance along to the tune of your death* - im not sure about this, but I think it may be about something like the lovers dancing to the song of their funeral and celebrating about finnaly gettin' together.
"And we'll love again, we'll laugh again, we'll cry again, and we'll dance again, and it's better off this way" - he is describing his view of the future, all the good and bad moments that they'll have, and saying how much better will it be.
"One more night, well I'm laughing, crying, laughing out loud" - this is about the little time left, till he gets her back, and all the feeling that he well have while killing one more person - happyness (laughing) because he is one step closer, and feeling guilt and sadness (crying) cause he took one more life
"I tried" - here he's sayng that he has done everywhing that he could do protect save her and have a lifetime nut he didn't made it.
"And never again" - here he realizes that everything that he expected from the life and his hopes of living again has been in vain.
"They gave us two shots to the back of the head and we're all dead now" - and here is the end. Now everythings over, and the two of them (the girl and the boy) are dead.(it doesn't who, but someone has killed em) He says "we're all dead now" here he's meaning that this time, diffrent from the first one, they are truely dead and they will rest in peace, cause they finaly are together. -
I agree with the people who say you have to read the whole album, because it tells a story(like most mcr songs and whole albums do)
I think its about him making a deal with the devil after death so that he can be with his lover. The devil says he has to kill 1000 people(so they will go to hell) But the devil fails to tell him that after killing so many people he would of course have to go back to hell. So, he does his job pretty well only to regret it on his last kill "he tried" but failed because all in all the devil gave him an impossible task. I think he realizes that it's just better to stop killing. When he says "I lied" I think he promised his lover that they would be together again in some other life but realizes that won't ever happen.
Hope you found this helpful!;) -
Mkay, well I wasn't really LOOKING into it. my first impression of it was that it was a song for the fans...? kinda like they wouldn't sell out like a lot of bands do because of the fame. after reading the other responses on this song I see that I'm DEAD WRONG. but here's what I thought at first:
"stay out of the light"
they don't wanna lose themselves as PEOPLE, and let everything go to thier head
"..hide my face"
they'd prefer to not be mainstream music.
"it ain't the money & it sure as hell ain't just for the fame"
if MCR makes 2 dollars or 2 million, they don't give a shit. all they're trying to do is, I guess, save lives, because they've all said in countless interviews, that they wanna prevent suicide & help their fans reach out. I feel like this line also means they don't care about how many people have heard of my chem, just that the people that HAVE heard of them are touched.
"it's for the bodies I claim"
all the music & hard work & whatnot that they put out is for the people that matter a lot to them: the fans
idk about the rest though. Hahaha.
REMEMBER!: this was my FIRST impression of the song. after reading the other interpretations I KNOW THIS IS WRONG! it was just a THOUGHT and another way to look at it.
ALSO I'm only 14, so I'm obviously no philosopher, and I'm new to the mcrmy. :P -
This song is about a serial killer and how, after killing all these people, he is discovered and eventually put to death.
Another knife in my hands
A stain that never comes off the sheets
Clean me off
I'm so dirty, babe
The kind of dirty where the water never cleans off the clothes
I keep a book of the names and those
Those lyrics mean, essentially, that he has killed and it will forever be on his conscience.
Down
And down we go
And down we go
And down we go
And we all fall down
This can mean that he's fallen from grace, that he is no longer the best serial killer out there because he was caught.
I tried
I tried
And we'll all dance along to the tune of your death
We'll love again
We'll laugh again
And it's better off this way
The first part probably means that he tried to stay hidden, but the cops found him anyway. The second part is probably him thinking about what death will be like. Once he's dead, he reasons, he won't have all the kills on his conscience.
Well never again
And never again
They gave us two shots to the back of the head
And we're all dead now
This part is pretty obvious. It means that he was killed execution-style, two shots to the back of the head. -
I think this guy is a ghost or demon or something, and has to keep killing and posessing bodies to stay here on earth.
that would explain the whole "Another night and i'll be you" which stumped me at first, and also the "I did it all so maybe I'd live this everyday"
the bodies only last so long so he has to kill a new one: "Only go so far 'Til you bury them So deep and down we go" maybe the girl is a mortician or something?
I think the girl is next,and when the girl goes he'll go too to be with her (both dead): And we'll all dance alongto the tune of your death We'll love again We'll laugh again And it's better off this way"
but something goes wrong and they both die.
haha, idk -
Okay, who ever wrote the lengthy article is 99.99% correct. The story does continue on from "I Brought You My Love, You Brought Me Your Bullets". And the man and woman are the pair who were gunned down in the desert in the song "Demolition Lovers". The two of them both died- the woman went to heaven while the man went to hell. The man made a deal with the devil to retrieve the souls of 1000 evil men. In "Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge," his lover is mourned over during the song, Helena (although originally the title did come from Gerard's late grandmother, Elena Lee Rush). After the funeral, the man begins the task of mass murder and along the way gets a group of students' souls who went on a shooting spree at their school for being bullied all the time (I'm Not Okay...). He retrieves the soul of a man in prison and talks vaguely about abuse and prison rape (You Know What They Do To Guys Like Us In Prison). He also gets feelings of regret, and thinks about giving up (Ghost Of You), but continues anyway.
Some people say that the transition from tracks 1-7 into tracks 8-13 switches the mood of the CD from light to dark. Towards the end the song lyrics' meanings deepen.
In the end the man supposedly succeeds and is reunited with his love. He then explains how they came to be together again. But the man of course is wanted for 1000 murders and the two of them are discovered by the police who shoot them while dancing - in the backs of their heads, naturally. It is better off this way; they can be together without the guilt, the worries, and being wanted criminals the rest of their lives.
[An alternate theory says the man kills 999 people, and a woman is his last victim before he can see his lover again. But he gets to know her before killing her and tells her all about why he is doing what he is doing while they dance. Since he could never live with himself anyway - let alone face his lover, its all better off this way.]
He tried.
^^The guy who wrote this is spot on, apart from the "other interpretation", which is the one he put in brackets at the end... The woman he is dancing with would be his 1000th victim, and so before he kills her, he wants to get to know her a bit more, and while they are dancing in the street, he tells her the whole story, about why he is doing this, and then before he gets to kill her, the police arrive (as he is wanted for 999 murders remember), and "they gave us two shots to the back of the head"... as someone said earlier, notice how its NOT "to the back of OUR heads"... This shows that two shots were fired, into the back of her head.... This meant that he had inadvertently taken the 1000 souls that he needed, and so the devil then took his life away so he could reunite with his lover, in heaven... Therefore they're "all dead now", and "its better off this way, so much better off this way", because although he died, his task is now complete, so he is now free to meet up with his lover...
Ok, I understand most of your interpretation, (BUT!)
If you here this lyric one more time, you will now understand.
"They gave us two shots in the back of the head"
Do you hear the (US!) when the lyrics said "they gave US!"
Which means the police shot them both In back of the head. On shot for the man and one shot for the women. They both died together when they where dancing and they where both killed by the police and now they are dead. The women Is in Heaven again and the man Is In Hell again because the women didn't do anything evil or bad in her life, she just loved the man. although she was a criminal because she did rob banks, but I think she deserved to go to Heaven more than the mad did. The man killed people, including shooting his evil victims, stabbing them, etc... He also made a deal with the devil and that is not a good choice. So he will never ever go to Heaven with her. Hes mostly bad. The devil tricked him, they are now never reunited again, he's better off without her now. There both dead.
Sad ending...
he tried to be with her with his 1000 evil souls thing.
He did kill 1000 evil souls, she is not a EVIL soul!
She can not be included in his 1000 evil soul deal. He completed it when he killed his last victim (don't know who)
He was dead when he was killing his evil soul victims, he came back from the dead to be with her when he completed his task. His ghost was killing the victims, because remember the lovers died together in a gunfight in the desert (near a western restaurant). They where both separated from death when they died in the gunfight, they went to hell and heaven.
I hope every gets what I'm saying! -
I think the song is talking about a man who charms lovely ladies, but murders them, for a living. Then, the song is just the murderer talking to his latest how should I say: 'client'. It often talks about 'your blood' meaning he is talking to someone.
I love the song, especially the dakr, murderous meaning.
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