Famous Last Words (My Chemical Romance song)

Infobox Single
Name = Famous Last Words
Artist = My Chemical Romance


from Album = The Black Parade
Released = January 22, 2007
Format = 7" vinyl
CD
Digital download
Recorded = 2006
Genre = Alternative rock
Disputed subgenres
Length = 4:59 (album version)
4:18 (alternate version)
Label = Reprise
Writer = My Chemical Romance
Producer = Rob Cavallo
Video director = Samuel Bayer
Last single = "Welcome to the Black Parade"
(2006)
This single = "Famous Last Words"
(2007)
Next single = "I Don't Love You"
(2007)
Misc = extra album cover 2
Upper caption = Additional covers
Type = Single


Lower caption = Alternate CD cover

"Famous Last Words" is the second single and thirteenth track from My Chemical Romance's third studio album, "The Black Parade". It was released on January 22, 2007. It is also the band's ninth overall single. The music video premiered on December 12, 2006 on MTV2 and on December 13, 2006 on the Much Music program, and on MuchOnDemand in Canada. The video was officially premiered in the United States on the January 11 episode of "Total Request Live", and debuted on the countdown the following Tuesday at #5, the band's highest "TRL" debut for a video. It went onto become their third #1 video on the countdown (following "Helena" and "The Ghost of You"). On March 26, 2007 the video retired at #5 on "TRL". On March 12, 2007, they performed this song on "The Tonight Show" with Jay Leno.

In the United Kingdom and other territories, the single was released as a two-part square shaped vinyl picture disc. Part one came in a gatefold stickered clear sleeve, with a space to 'slot' part two into.

Track listing

*All songs written by My Chemical Romance.Version 1 (promotional CD)Tracklist
title1 = Famous Last Words
note1 = album version
length1 = 4:59
title2 = Famous Last Words
note2 = alternate version
length2 = 4:18

Version 2 (CD and 7" vinyl)Tracklist
title1 = Famous Last Words
length1 = 4:18
title2 = My Way Home Is Through You
length2 = 2:58 [ [http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000LV6W28 "Famous Last Words" in the U.S. Amazon.com Store] ]

Version 3 (7" vinyl)Tracklist
title1 = Famous Last Words
length1 = 4:18
title2 = Kill All Your Friends
length2 = 4:31 [ [http://www.interpunk.com/item.cfm?Item=140730& "Famous Last Words" in the Interpunk.com Store] ]

Version 4 (CD)Tracklist
title1 = Famous Last Words
length1 = 4:18
title2= My Way Home Is Through You
length2 = 2:58
title3 = Kill All Your Friends
length3= 4:31 [ [http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B000LV6W28 "Famous Last Words" in the U.K. Amazon.co.uk Store] ]

Version 5 (digital download)Tracklist
title1 = Famous Last Words
note1 = live
length1 = 4:53
title2 = My Way Home Is Through You
length2 = 2:58
title3 = Kill All Your Friends
length3 = 4:31

Overview

The music videos for "Welcome to the Black Parade" and "Famous Last Words" were filmed back to back. Both were filmed in Downey, California. Originally, MCR dubbed the second video as a "secret" that they couldn't reveal yet. It was later announced that the "secret" second video from the new My Chemical Romance album "The Black Parade" would be "Famous Last Words", directed by Samuel Bayer, the same director that worked on "Welcome to the Black Parade". When the video was being filmed, the band still hadn't decided on the song title. This is the video that caused vocalist Gerard Way and drummer Bob Bryar to sustain severe injuries. Bryar received a 3rd degree burn to the leg which subsequently turned into a staph infection, and Way tore all of the ligaments in his foot when Frank Iero got spooked by the bursting flames and tackled Gerard when Gerard was kneeling on the floor. The aftermath of these injuries forced the band to cancel a handful of their 2006 dates.

The song was recently used for a commercial HBO's upcoming season.The song was featured in a downloadable track pack for the Xbox 360 version of "Guitar Hero II", along with "Teenagers" and "This Is How I Disappear".

Charts

"Famous Last Words" debuted at #68 on the UK Singles Chart on downloads alone on January 14, 2007. It was physically released as a single on January 22. It climbed to #38 in its second week, still on downloads. "Famous Last Words" is My Chemical Romance's second Top 10 hit in the UK, so far reaching #8, but the song has already reached #1 on the UK Physical chart. On January 24, 2007, the video for "Famous Last Words" reached the #1 spot on "TRL" after a seven day climb to the top from their debut at #5. [ [http://www.popfusion.net/records/recaparchive/2007_01.html TRL Archive - January 2007] , Popfusion.net.] In early February, the song debuted on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 at number 93 before reaching its peak at number 88." [Katie Hasty, [http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003540636 "Beyonce Stays Ahead Of Fall Out Boy Atop Hot 100"] , Billboard.com, February 1, 2007.]

Music video

The [http://youtube.com/watch?v=8bbTtPL1jRs music video] shows the Black Parade float that My Chemical Romance were performing on in "Welcome to the Black Parade" burning, while looking like it has been through a substantial amount of wear and tear. The rest of the background is scattered with burning props from the video of "Welcome to the Black Parade", and fire is seen all around. All of the followers of The Black Parade have abandoned the band, and the band seems to be in a desperate state. Gerard Way looks particularly rough, and he appears to look like he is dying or is very ill because of the make up he is wearing, especially around his eyes. This make-up is similar to that worn by "The Patient" in the "Welcome to the Black Parade" video, albeit without the hospital gown. He also adopts a wide eyed, insane-looking facial expression. In some parts of the video, he can be seen wearing a skull-designed mask. The band's 'condition' gets worse as the song goes on until the band revert to thrashing around in the dirt while performing. Although this video was a fairly basic concept compared to past videos, it is regarded by fans as by far the darkest video the band has created. In an interview for the music video, Gerard Way says that it was written at "the darkest period in this band's career."A shortened edit of the song is used in the video with one bridge and two chorus repeats removed. The instrumentals at the end of the song are continued in the video with a sustained guitar chord accompanying the last few vocal lines, whereas, in the album version, they were faded out by engineer Chris Lord-Alge until only lead singer Gerard Way's voice can be heard. At the end of the video, the float from the "Welcome to the Black Parade" is seen burning.

The video premiered in the United States on "Total Request Live" on January 11, 2007. On January 24, 2007, the video reached the #1 spot on "TRL", and spent nine days at the top of the countdown, before becoming the band's first video to retire on the countdown, on March 26, 2007. The U.S. version of the video is mostly the same as the version first seen in the UK, the only difference being that it completely cuts out Bryar's incident with the heat at the end of the video. This version has started to air on British television, or at least on the music channel Scuzz TV, and Kerrang! TV. The video has also been viewed more than 43 million times on YouTube. As of January 19th, it is the fouth most-viewed clip in the "music" section (behind such videos as "Girlfriend", by Avril Lavigne and the band's video for "Teenagers"), and the 7th most-viewed clip on the entire site.

Meaning

In an interview with "The New York Times", singer Gerard Way was quoted as saying, "At first I thought [the patient died] , but the more I think about it, the more I think he's not dead. Maybe this is all in his head. Maybe he can fight. Now I think he has a choice to live."Fact|date=February 2007 The song's meaning is generally open to interpretation, as said before, because its lyrics never really tell one way or the other whether the patient dies. Ray Toro (the guitarist) said this is his favorite song on the album because it leaves you with a little hope.

When My Chemical Romance fans protested against 'unfair portayal of the band and genre' by The Daily Mail in 2008, they quoted the lyrics 'I'm not afraid to keep on living, I'm not afraid to walk this world alone!' as an argument. Their reasons for this were: 'It shows they (My Chemical Romance) do not glamorise death, but try to keep you going through tough times'. Gerard Way has often agreed with this interpretation when asked about the topic.

References

External links

* [http://www.imnotokay.net/my-chemical-romance/lyrics/famous-last-words/ "Famous Last Words" lyrics]
* [http://www.drinkingsouls.co.uk/ My Chemical Romance Fansite]