My Chemical Romance: I'm not Okay (I Promise) Meaning
Song Released: 2004
I'm not Okay (I Promise) Lyrics
I never want to let you down or have you go
It's better off this way
For all the dirty looks
The photographs your boyfriend took
Remember when you broke your foot
From jumping out the...
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This song is about high school and commiting suicide. I don't see how it could it deal with being gay, it doesn't matter if he is, but it says nothing like that in the song.
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This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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It just seems like a teen's emotions. I don't see how its gay. Why would it really matter if it was gay, anyway?
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Yet another possible meaning (I'd be more confident about saying this if it was on their third, upcoming album, and not Three Cheers)
The verses could also be an attack at the Hollywood fame game. "If you wanted honesty that's all you had to say" seems like the publis wanting to know the truth about everything (such as song menaings), when they would probably be better left alone. "Photographs your boyfriend took" made me think Paric Hilton sex tape scandal, "You said you read me like a book, but the pages are torn and frayed" reminds me of the fact that fans (this one included) feel like they know the band personally becasue of hwo their music speaks to them and what they read in the media, but all you is a garbled image of what the guys are actually like. "You don't know what it's to be a joke" The fans act like they know exactly what it's like to be publicly attacked and ridculed, but they really don't. "Look, another line without a hook" There is a large amount of pressure on these bands to sucessed, and one of the most common ways to do that is to get mainstream, which you need hooks for. That line is sort of a cry of frustration, like 'Damn, we still suck at this!' -
It is about them as teenagers and Gerard had a major crush on this girl named Barbara and he really liked her. She took sleazy pictures with her boyfriend. (he said it in an interview)
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I agree with a lot of what has been said, including the third one, and the one above mine, most especially. It makes total sense, for some it's about hight school, and for the band it has many meanings, and for the fans it must have thousands more meanings.
PS: to the one above me: you must've meant "girls aren't the only ones with boyfriends", the grammar check must've messed with your typing. Anyway, that is SO true and an excellent point! -
Do you think that perhaps the reason everyone thinks the song is about being in highschool could be because the video shows them in a highschool?
Maybe it is, and maybe it isn't. The song probably means a lot of different things to different people. People associate a song with what was going on in their lives when they heard it.
As for what it means to the band, who knows. Unless they tell you themselves there is really no way to know for sure. If you read it in an interview though, you should include a link to it online when you mention it.
Also, just something to think about. Girls are the only ones with boyfriends. Don't be so quick to assume. -
I agree with the statement about high school in general. Teenagers have so many situations where they say they are ok and they're fine but in reality they aren't ok. There definitely is a relationship but it's more about his feelings and any song can have a true meaning but its how u take it and interperate them. That's what makes a good song.
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It's simple, the songs about high school and how you have mixed emotions, you're ok, then you're not ok. Gerard puts it perfectly.
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The song is about him arguing with a past girlfriend, who has now moved on to another guy (WHY?? Silly girl).
When he says he's ok sounds like he's telling the girl that, but the louder and stronger feelings are "I'm not OK", thus the name of the song. You can tell it's an ex girlfriend, or a girl he used to date because he recalls memories which shows that they have history together.
Even thought he claims he's ok he's tinking inside as the lyrics say "For the last time... Take a good hard look", before going into the chorus of "I'm not OK". If Gerad wasn't ok and wanted the girl, he should've said so. If it was a nasty breakup and there was no chance in getting back together, but he still loves her then he would have wrote a song about it, which he did. That's what the song is about :) -
The first interpretation is right like the third said. I'm going to show the meaning of the lyrics he missed. First of all the he is a geek and the girl he liked was popular.
"You sing the words but you dont know what it means to be a joke and look annother line without a hook" The singer is talking to other bands about how they sing about being a nerd but they dont really understand how it feels.
"What will it take to show you that its not the life it seems?" he's telling her that everything in the world isnt always happy like she acts.
"You said you read me like a book, but the pages are all torn and frayed" the singer is saying that he is more complicated than she thinks. -
The first interpretation is 100% correct, the second one is a joke. Gerard was not a drug addict in highschool, his drug addiction as well as drinking problems started into his college years, and more so when his got involved with the band (when he attended a school which foucused mainly on art which is what his major was) but not in highschool. The song is in fact about the dificulties of being a teenager, yes highschool is the main focus of the song but being a teenager in general as for the "photgrapahs your boyfriend took" part it is about a girl but not one he was "in love" with per say he did have a crush on her and thought she was a "good girl" but then all these photographs that she had taken with her ex-boyfriend had floated around in school and online. It was more like a dissapointment if anything. This is all true all information is taken from interveiws as far back as last summer, so the description is coming directly from Gerard Way.. all I did was read about it and put it into simpler context.
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This song is about his drug addition in high school the only thing that involves a girl is the fact that he is trying to show a girl (who thinks she knows him) what he is really like "you said you read me like a book but the pages are all torn and frayed" but he continuses to argue with him self. "i'm okay, you really need to listen to me, cause I'm telling you the truth, I mean this I'm okay trust me. IM NOT OKAY"
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This song was writen about high school. When Gerard was in high school, he was in love with this girl and she took dirty pics with her boyfriend. It's just about how high school can be hard and other stuff like that.
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