Song Interpretation: Famous Last Words by My Chemical Romance

My Chemical Romance is a band that is known for some sublime music. Take Welcome to the Black Parade as an example. They have soany good songs-Helena, I'm Not Okay (I Promise), Disenchanted, Teenagers...the list goes on. But for me personally Famous Last Words is a song that doesn't get the credit it deserves.

Famous Last Words is one of the tracks off the album The Black Parade which is by far one of the best albums MCR has produced. It is a song that told me a story when I heard it. Let me convey that story to you tonight. 

I think the song is about an old man or a man who is world weary. He is however wise and quite intelligent. He just doesn't know what to do with his wisdom. Should he utilize it to make the lives of others better? Should he be selfish and guard it like a secret? 

The song's chorus is 

"I am not afraid to keep on living 

I am not afraid to walk this world alone"

He doesn't really fear being alone as is clear from the first two lines. But then this happens 

"Honey if you stay, I'll be forgiven

Nothing you can say can stop me going home"

Here is where the beauty of the song struck me. He gets a chance at salvation. A normal life with a meaningful someone-perhaps a family. What does he choose? Does he accept the offer or does he scorn it and go on living the way he has? Is it possible that he knows no other way to live and is therefore scared of human attachment?

I keep finding myself asking one question- is this man sane? I feel he is. I think his wisdom keeps him sane. I don't think the man is young. I think he has fought quite a few battles (metaphorical or literal) to be exactly where he is when the song starts. I don't think he wants to go back. 

So where is he? Is he in yet another hotel room, looking into a mirror at a face that he no longer recognizes? Is he running from his demons? Has he accepted his flaws? Is he ready to move ahead?

Unfortunately, I do not know the answers to these questions. I leave them open to interpretation because I would like to know what you guys make of the song. 

At the end of the song I found myself wondering about the choices people make in life. As Robert Frost said in his poem, he was faced with the choice of taking one road of two that diverged in front of him in a yellow wood. While this choice defined the rest of his life.

The message is the same in Famous Last Words. A man makes a choice. He lived with that choice. For him that choice defined his entire life. He looks back on it as Mr. Way and sings us a song about it.

The Bilge Master