Dead!

I've always been a huge MCR fan, and I just finished listening to "The Black Parade Is Dead!" Naturally, I finally started to wonder what the whole album was really about. I know all that crap about "The Patient" and his trip through death but I was hoping for something a little bit deeper.

When I listened to this song a few times and read the lyrics I think I've got this one figured out.

The beginning verse is The Black Parade's (as in the one that takes The Patient through death) introduction. It is speaking to The Patient before he dies (possibly while he is sedated during surgery, given the lyrics right before the guitar solo, which is a sweet-ass solo, by the way) and is letting him know that he might die and what will happen when he does. The line, "Did you get what you deserve?", refers to whether or not The Patient deserved to die, and the repetition of that line later in the verse refers to whether the Patient should wind up in heaven or hell.

The chorus is a conversation between The Black Parade and the Patient. Beginning with the first line and ending with "...liked you anyway.", The parade tells the patient that he will enjoy death because his life was so miserable. The Patient agrees with the line, "Oh take me from this hospital bed", and The Parade finishes the rest of the chorus by hinting that it would be great to be dead.

The second verse continues to tell the patient that his life was misearble ("...You never fell in love...") and continues to ask the same questions as the first vesre did.

The repetition of the chorus is the same as before, only this time the Patient finishes the verse (He speaks the line "Wouldn't it be great.....dead?". He also makes reference to a pistol, perhaps meaning that not only has he accepted death, but is welcoming it and perhaps hoping for it, perhaps even by suicide.

The part (third verse?) right before the guitar solo finally confirms that the Black Parade's reason for visiting is not to tell the Patient that he might die, but that he WILL, which explains why the Parade was trying to get him to accept death in the earlier parts of the song.

The final part of the song, the cathartic series of "La La La's and what not, is the part where the Patient is finally beginning to die. He has already accepted it and is now mocking the living ("If life ain't just a joke......laughing?") and expressing a sarcastic attitude towards his life. The "La La La's" perhaps serve as another form of insult, as the Patient enters death without a care in the world and sings a happy tune to himself in the form of La's.

The final scream of "DEAD!" at the end is the nail in the coffin. (pun very much intended) It indicates that there is no turning back, you're dead.