Listening to "MCR Welcomes You to the Black Parade"
I was listening to this the other day on my mp3 player and maybe it was the combination of using earphones and being in bed at the time, but it came across as weirdly personal and intimate. As if I was listening to the boys chatting among themselves. Or as if I had Gerard's voice (and Frank's, and Mikey's, and Ray's) in my head. *g* And listening to it again today, on speakers this time, it's still completely awesome, if no longer quite as personal. *g*
- I love the way they're so upfront about specific influences on particular songs. It doesn't at all mean that their music is derivative, because they take elements from other people's stuff and combine them with their own vision to make something new and different and entirely theirs. I was charmed to know that Dead!was partly inspired by ELO's Mr Blue Sky, a song which I've loved ever since Elton bounced about to it in his socks in the Doctor Who episode Love and Monsters.
- Frank actually refers to Gerard as "Gee"! More than once! That makes me all flaily and fangirly. And it makes me laugh that Frank is all "Gee and Toro" while a few seconds later Gerard says "me and Ray". And I'm sure Gerard calls Frank "Frankie" at some point. I love that they're canonically Gee and Frankie to each other - it's nice to know that's not just fannish invention!
- The Sharpest Lives was basically written by Gerard in a fit of solo inspiration. It's always felt like a Gerard song to me, even before I knew this about it - some of the lyrics, the whole first verse before the first "I've really been on a bender and it shows" are almost painfully personal. Oh Gerard. Clean and sober four years and counting, and obviously HAPPY, with two incredibly successful careers, a wife he refers to as his perfect match, and now a baby on the way (Wayby!!). It makes me happy just to contemplate it all.
- Ray's superstitiousness about Welcome to the Black Parade originally being called "The Five of Us are Dying" and his not wanting to get on a plane to go to the UK immediately after they'd been working on that particular track.
- Frank on Cancer: "It's hard for me to even really listen to it without getting emotional," and you can hear him almost getting choked up just talking about it. And then I think of him staying on the stage while Gerard sang Cancer at the end of the Hoboken show, all scrunched up on the floor next to the amplifier, and I get all choked up. ♥♥Frank♥♥
- Gerard on Mama: "When we finally got a chance to look at Mama again, we were in New York, and we dug her up, kinda." The last part in a suitably macabre tone. Graverobbers!MCR and zombie!Mama. Hee.
- They start talking about Teenagers: Gerard says "Teenagers" in a an announce-y voice and Frank goes "Hmm" in a dark and meaningful way, and then they laugh. And you can hear Frank giggling softly in the background for a little bit after that. Apparently he initially thought this song was a joke when Gerard and Ray started developing an early version of it. And then Frank gets all serious about what an important song it is, and he gets all earnest and totally non-giggly. And adorable. ♥♥♥
- I love the story about Mikey's unflagging enthusiasm for Disenchanted. Frank's falsetto imitation of Mikey saying, "Oh, we gotta play Disenchanted" and his own reaction - a really exasperated "Aww, man, NO!!!" and laughter - is really funny. Seriously, you can HEAR the exclamation marks. The song's not actually one of my favourites, but I ♥ MikeyWay and his not giving up in the face of considerable opposition.
- Famous Last Words is Brian Schechter's favourite song of theirs.
- Gerard saying that the best thing about this album is that they got to say a lot of things within the songs that previously they had only been able to say to fans during live performances. On Famous Last Words: "I think it's really very much about saying 'I can do this alone' sometimes. I can get through this, I just have to be strong and I'll get through this. I can make it. I wanna live." ♥♥Gerard♥♥
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- I love the way they're so upfront about specific influences on particular songs. It doesn't at all mean that their music is derivative, because they take elements from other people's stuff and combine them with their own vision to make something new and different and entirely theirs. I was charmed to know that Dead!was partly inspired by ELO's Mr Blue Sky, a song which I've loved ever since Elton bounced about to it in his socks in the Doctor Who episode Love and Monsters.
- Frank actually refers to Gerard as "Gee"! More than once! That makes me all flaily and fangirly. And it makes me laugh that Frank is all "Gee and Toro" while a few seconds later Gerard says "me and Ray". And I'm sure Gerard calls Frank "Frankie" at some point. I love that they're canonically Gee and Frankie to each other - it's nice to know that's not just fannish invention!
- The Sharpest Lives was basically written by Gerard in a fit of solo inspiration. It's always felt like a Gerard song to me, even before I knew this about it - some of the lyrics, the whole first verse before the first "I've really been on a bender and it shows" are almost painfully personal. Oh Gerard. Clean and sober four years and counting, and obviously HAPPY, with two incredibly successful careers, a wife he refers to as his perfect match, and now a baby on the way (Wayby!!). It makes me happy just to contemplate it all.
- Ray's superstitiousness about Welcome to the Black Parade originally being called "The Five of Us are Dying" and his not wanting to get on a plane to go to the UK immediately after they'd been working on that particular track.
- Frank on Cancer: "It's hard for me to even really listen to it without getting emotional," and you can hear him almost getting choked up just talking about it. And then I think of him staying on the stage while Gerard sang Cancer at the end of the Hoboken show, all scrunched up on the floor next to the amplifier, and I get all choked up. ♥♥Frank♥♥
- Gerard on Mama: "When we finally got a chance to look at Mama again, we were in New York, and we dug her up, kinda." The last part in a suitably macabre tone. Graverobbers!MCR and zombie!Mama. Hee.
- They start talking about Teenagers: Gerard says "Teenagers" in a an announce-y voice and Frank goes "Hmm" in a dark and meaningful way, and then they laugh. And you can hear Frank giggling softly in the background for a little bit after that. Apparently he initially thought this song was a joke when Gerard and Ray started developing an early version of it. And then Frank gets all serious about what an important song it is, and he gets all earnest and totally non-giggly. And adorable. ♥♥♥
- I love the story about Mikey's unflagging enthusiasm for Disenchanted. Frank's falsetto imitation of Mikey saying, "Oh, we gotta play Disenchanted" and his own reaction - a really exasperated "Aww, man, NO!!!" and laughter - is really funny. Seriously, you can HEAR the exclamation marks. The song's not actually one of my favourites, but I ♥ MikeyWay and his not giving up in the face of considerable opposition.
- Famous Last Words is Brian Schechter's favourite song of theirs.
- Gerard saying that the best thing about this album is that they got to say a lot of things within the songs that previously they had only been able to say to fans during live performances. On Famous Last Words: "I think it's really very much about saying 'I can do this alone' sometimes. I can get through this, I just have to be strong and I'll get through this. I can make it. I wanna live." ♥♥Gerard♥♥
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