My Chemical Romance: Welcome to the Black Parade Meaning

Song Released: 2006

Welcome to the Black Parade Lyrics

When I was a young boy
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...

1. anonymous

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   Jan 27th 2007 !⃝

   Its clearly a guy dying and joining the black parade (dead people) if you watch the video, every body in the video has sunken black eyes (e.g. dead) in the beginning, he's on his death bed, he looks fine one minute, then shakes and fits holding the nurses hand, as he does, his eyes become sunken and black, showing he just died, and has entered the black parade!
   Max

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2. anonymous

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   Jan 25th 2007 !⃝

   Someone made a comment about the song being about 9/11 and the aftermath of the bombings. I agree this could be part of the interpretation especially if you look at the actual release date of September 11, 2006.
   He (the patient) did not want to be a hero after this and didn't want to go to war.
   The lady with the mask (mother war I think they call her) is an odd twist but the character is in another video as well....just odd....
3. anonymous

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   Jan 23rd 2007 !⃝

   well gee said that it's about a young guy dying and the fondest memory he has is of his father taking him to see a marching band so wen he dies he goes or is picked up by the black parade

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4. nihilistik

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   Jan 15th 2007 !⃝

   Well this is quite long and many may not like it but this is is it. The first imagery is implicitly a scenic cross reference to when the devil took jesus up on the mountain and promised to make him lord of all he surveyed.
   How the writer presents himself here is as a messionic figure. Though not necessarily a bad thing, he makes clear that he is not the type which will fit the cliche version of god as perfect. He is as imperfect as his followers are and this is what will make them worship him.
   
   in fact you know what that's the general theme of the song deuce further what you wish.
5. anonymous

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   Jan 15th 2007 !⃝

   When I was a young boy,
   My father took me into the city
   To see a marching band.
   
   Ok here I believe is pretty much self explanatory
   
   He said,
   "Son when you grow up, will you be the savior of the broken,
   The beaten and the damned?"
   He said
   "Will you defeat them, your demons, and all the non believers, the plans that they have made?"
   Because one day I leave you,
   A phantom to lead you in the summer,
   To join the black parade."
   
   This bit I believe is about his father dying becoming a phantom and in the summer somthing must be hard in the boys life it could be any time but I time in which the father beleives he needs to help hi out even tho he is dead the black parade spirits or ghosts in whihc help their loved one the people who believe in them
   
   will you help people beleive that thy ahve people helpin them
   will you defeat your enemies and fears and ignore the non beleivers in your life?
   
   Sometimes I get the feeling she's watching over me.
   And other times I feel like I should go. Through it all, the rise and fall, the bodies in the streets.
   When you're gone we want you all to know We'll Carry on,
   We'll Carry on
   Though your dead and gone believe me Your memory will carry on
   Carry on
   We'll carry on
   And in my heart I can't contain it
   The anthem won't explain it.
   
   he feels that someone doesn't want him to forget them she is watching over him he wants to remember her and she wants to be remembered but sometimes he believes that he can't believe in someone who isn't there
   after you die you still have a life you carry on in peoples memories the good times and the bad

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6. anonymous

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   Jan 14th 2007 !⃝

   This song is really about George W. Bush going into Iraq. When he talks about his father taking him to a parade in the city it was the memory when his father (the first george bush) went into desert storm. The black parade is the U.S. army of death going into Iraq and killing people. The "carry on" part is meaning that no matter what happens george w. bush is not going to quit and withdraw troops from iraq, he is going to carry on and kill the terrorists in iraq

   This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
7. anonymous

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   Jan 13th 2007 !⃝

   This song is sooo obvious!
   "when I was a young boy, my father took me into the city, to see a black person. He said son when you grow up would you kill, all the black people, the women and the kids. He said will you defeat them, the nigers, and all the none believers, of the KKK! because one day I'll leave you, a rifle, to go there in the summer, and kill the black parade!!" it's about me! I'm a racist

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8. popcrotch

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   Jan 12th 2007 !⃝

   I agree with the previous comments but there seems to be more to the song than just death. It is not only the memory of his father but also the sorrow of his fathers death(black parade) which may suggest the many forms of death but more importantly emphasizes it's unpredictability.
   
   I believe that part of the message is not only death but that of life as well. A kind of Carpe diem. Buddhism believes life is suffering... even though we have good intentions, they can be subdued by the miseries of the world (i.e. The loss of a loved one). But if you live a principled life, you are survived by the memories you leave behind.
   
   With all of the shallow music being released today, the lyrics of this song offer a profound complexity that I feel deserves to be acknowledged.
9. anonymous

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   Jan 11th 2007 !⃝

   The song reminds of the smiling skeletons during Dios de los Muertos. Day of the dead. They're all smiling because they're laughing at the living; everything that was such a big screaming deal is like who cares to them. It's liberation in total.
   I'd join the black parade if I could, and be the misfit army for what matters.
   "Defiant to the end, we hear the call: to carry on"
   Something about that gives everything a luster.
10. anonymous

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    Jan 9th 2007 !⃝

    perhaps the singer is relating his own life. maybe it's not about the war in iraq, but isn't the singer about the right age for his dad to have gone and fought in desert storm? truthfully, as good of a performer as I've witnessed this singer to be, when he's singing the opening lyrics in the video, it's obvious this song strikes a nerve in him. you can see the tears welling up. most guys (even emo ones) aren't usually very good at that. either way, great song, and a beautifully performed video. and I agree, definitely a queen influence through it.

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11. anonymous

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    Jan 9th 2007 !⃝

    yah I have seen the music video. a very kewl song, I agree with everyone about a guy and black parade is a term for death

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12. anonymous

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    Jan 8th 2007 !⃝

    My interpretation is when the lead singer was a boy his father(the man in the hospital) took him to see a parade and said to him "one day ill leave you a phantom to lead you in the summer..." by that he means when he dies his spirit will still be leading him.
    
    Then the father dies and is wandering around and he finds the black parade and he joins them.
13. anonymous

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    Jan 6th 2007 !⃝

    "When I was a young boy,
    My father took me into the city
    To see a marching band.
    He said,
    "Son when you grow up, will you be the saviour of the broken,
    The beaten and the damned?"
    He said
    "Will you defeat them, your demons, and all the non believers, the plans that they have made?"
    Because one day I'll leave you
    A phantom to lead you in the summer,
    To join the black parade."
    
    What intrigues me is the fact that on one hand the father is asking him to be a hero:
    be the "saviour", defeat your "demons" -vices and logical contradictions, that's to say, misunderstandings of reality which make us do stupidities- and all the "non believers" (quite intriguing in the way it is said... leaves me with several doubts and even fears).
    
    And on the other he is saying that he will give him help to understand how to pass away (the ghost thing).
    
    This part is quite contradictory with common logic schemes. But, if we think that they may be seeing death as something good, then all may make some sense.
    
    The problem with this hypothesis is that he also mentions "summer". Summer is generally understood as a good thing, and so they would be portraying the black parade as something fantastic, something that continues to the summer.
    
    Then the ghost is experience and advice. But the problem is, once more, is it that death is fantastic? Or is it that they break our schemes once more and so say that death is what logically follows life (which is "summer", wonderful)? Is it that we are condemned to be eternally happy at the beginning and then stop being so?
    
    "Sometimes I get the feeling she's watching over me.
    And other times I feel like I should go. Through it all, the rise and fall, the bodies in the streets.
    When you're gone we want you all to know We'll Carry on,
    We'll Carry on
    Though your dead and gone believe me Your memory will carry on
    Carry on
    We'll carry on
    And in my heart I can't contain it
    The anthem won't explain it."
    
    Who is she? The widow (and so the singer's mother)? His girlfriend?
    
    The problem is that she sounds more like a supernatural being rather than a common one. Is it that she's the Virgin Mary?
    
    "I feel like I should go", well, killing himself, that does not need that much of an interpretation.
    
    The problem is the present contradiction: If life's summer, why does he need that care from that feminine figure, and even better, why is it that there are bodies in the street (and all this not taking his suicidal tendencies into account)?
    
    Life is hard but at the same time summer? If we now take the video into account, we see that life is painful. "Starved to death in a land of plenty" together with the "bodies in the streets" make us think that calling life "summer" is rather a sarcasm. Life is not summer, we/they all act as if it were, but life is painful. Why? Because of us. We make life painful.
    
    However, even though we are the ones who make it painful, we cannot change it (and so the suicidal part would make sense).
    
    That would make "them" the guilty ones rather than "we" (and what distinguishes both groups is this superior knowledge of life).
    
    The problem is that he also tells dad not to worry, as his "memory" will "carry on". This makes us re-think the "black parade" symbol. It may not be death/afterlife, but rather a metaphorical death/end of existance.
    
    The problem is, once more, why is ending existance (which is the only way in which suicidal tendencies could be some way justified, as we stop existing, we stop feeling pain) that good?
    
    Of course, that would justify the "summer" - "black parade" passage. Life is summer, and the logical end of summer is eternal sleep. The problem is that summer has then got a double meaning: life is essentially fantastic while we all (more precisely, "they")make it a painful place experience.
    
    Logically, this leaves the supernatural feminine figure lacking an explanation.
    
    "And we will send you reeling from decimated dreams
    Your misery and hate will kill us all
    So paint it black and take it back
    Lets shout it loud and clear
    Do you fight it to the end
    We hear the call to
    To carry on
    We'll carry on
    Though your dead and gone believe me Your memory will carry on
    We'll carry on
    And though you're broken and defeated You're weary widow marches on"
    
    Well, this part quite proves my "they" are ruining our only opportunity to dream, to be happy.
    
    An interesting doubt: why is dying wrong here ("your misery and hate will kill us all") while it was right before?
    
    "And on we carry through the fears
    Ooh oh ohhhh
    Disappointed faces of your peers Ooh oh ohhhh
    Take a look at me cause
    I could not care at all Do or die
    You'll never make me
    Cause the world, will never take my heart
    You can try, you'll never break me"
    
    He will stay strong against "them" ("the world") and their wishes to oppress him as well.
    
    "Will never take my heart", so heartless is what they want us all to be.
    
    "Want it all,
    I'm gonna play this part
    Wont explain or say I'm sorry
    I'm not ashamed,
    I'm gonna show my scar
    You're the chair, for all the broken Listen here, because it's only..
    I'm just a man,
    I'm not a hero
    Just a boy, who's meant to sing this song
    Just a man,
    I'm not a hero
    I -- don't -- care"
    
    On one hand, "you are the chair for all the broken" (you = his father?), and so they can stop running (fighting) against life, so they can feel relief once and for all, and on the other, he is telling his father that he cannot be the hero, the saviour he wanted him to be.
    
    Meanwhile, even though he said all what he said, he says he's apathetic ("I don't care").
    
    "Carry on
    We'll carry on
    Though your dead and gone believe me Your memory will carry on
    We'll carry on
    And though you're broken and defeated Your weary widow marches on
    We'll carry on
    We'll carry on
    We'll carry on
    We'll carry
    We'll carry on"
    
    Well, this confirms what I say. "Though you are dead and gone" makes us think of death as unexistance and of the black parade as a synonim of it.
    
    His father is therefore logically "broken and defeated" because he did not manage to change things when he could.
    
    Well, that supernatural figure appears to be the widow -who keeps on with her husband's struggle-, but the way in which she's mentioned here is not the way in which he was before, and so I feel a lack of coherence between the first female figure and the widow.
    
    About the father being part of the armed forces, I am somewhat for but my intuition puts me fully against it.
    
    As hard as it may seem after all this huge analysis, this song still makes me feel somewhat great (while I am currently suffering my lack of faith, and so I am trying to grip to sure existance, to this life, I have as much as I can).
14. anonymous

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    Jan 5th 2007 !⃝

    Honestly I love hearing peoples' interpretations of songs because they are just that. Anyone who has ever written a song knows that not every single line has some deep, dark meaning. I think at the heart of this one is a simple message that life can start out great when you are young, naive, and untainted, and little things (like parades with dad) can be the most memorable moments. And then you grow up, people leave, sometimes you disappoint yourself and others, and you realize that life is hard and dark and sucks. But in the end there's the optimism that things will get better, and you learn to appreciate those perfect moments. And yes, death will come get you whether you're ready or not- though there really is no "end." That parade will just keep marching on whether you're here or not (hence the snare fading off at the end), so live it up while you can.
15. anonymous

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    Jan 3rd 2007 !⃝

    A song can be interpreted however you wish. That is the glory of music. Not one single person, with the exception of BASHING was wrong to say there thoughts. My personal thoughts on this song contain the following:
    
    When I heard this song I thought of god.(being religious)
    For me I am called to ministry. I will be helping the youth when I get older from making mistakes like letting the world corrode over them which could cost them their life. So the lyrics spoke to me and told me that I was right in my previous thoughts and to continue.
    
    Also the line "Sometimes I get the feeling she's watching over me and other times I feel like I should go" relates to me personally because the girl I adore kept me in check in keeps me from losing my faith in my dreams. I have struggled with being emotionally bare. (you might call this emo). She took that away.
    
    It is your call as to what you want this song to mean to you. That's why this site is here! =)

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