My Chemical Romance - Drowning Lessons

One of my favourite songs from My Chemical Romance.

This record released in 2002 but I was a big fan of MCR in grade 8, so around 2011-2012. Around that time, MCR was releasing their fifth record and they were announcing their breakup in 2013. I did know of MCR in their prime: their Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge and The Black Parade days. I do remember them and their music videos but also I was a literal small child then; so mind you I was listening to Hannah Montana and Selena Gomez in the 2000s.

So after my EDM phase, I was getting into these emo, metal, and alternative bands whether the music was recently released or decades old. And MCR was one of those bands that were really special to me. I listened to them religiously and they helped developed my taste in music and shaped who I am. I'll love this band forever and I know they're active again so there is a chance for me to see them live finally.

My Chemical Romance is a very poetic, theatrical band; and you see this in their lyrics, the vocals, their image, and the music itself. This song is no exception.

There are so many interpretations of what this song means. It revolves around a story of a man and his lover. The man kills his lover, who is I'm assuming is going to marry another man. There's a lot of wedding imagery. But I read that someone thought that this song is about a married couple and how the man killed his wife whom he loves. But I'm sure it's about an affair because of this passage:

We can wash down this engagement ring
With poison and kerosene
We'll laugh as we die
And we'll celebrate the end of things
With cheap champagne

So, the lover is going to wed to another man, but they still want to be together. Perhaps they were plotting to run away together or commit suicide together in a Romeo and Juliet way because of their difficult situation. But he ends up killing her (intentionally, by accident?) and he tries to cover it up. And it's a painful situation for the man because he no longer can be with his lover yet he has to deal with the consquences of his actions as he wishes her away at the end.