Annotations for Boy Division

Lyric: Watch the animals and all the tragedies
Annotation:
The news (and the media in general) tends to report on things that draw the most attention, usually tragedies or things considered controversial.

Lyric: La-la-la-la
Annotation:
here is the mental breakdown part, the dive into insanity. “La la la la” could be ignoring whatever he called out to in the previous line, or it could be further showing how much his brain has started to decay from the drugs and self-destructive behaviors.

Lyric: Wherever you are, wherever you are
 Whoever you are, whoever you are
Annotation:
This part of the song, leading up to the breakdown, is calling out to “anyone” or “anything” out there, which could be taken literally as in people/monsters/animals, etc. or it could be taken as a spiritual thing, possibly calling out to a spiritual being, perhaps god, to help him

Lyric: On your television
Annotation:
As a famous/well known person there would definitely be television newspaper or magazine segments about his relapses and struggles.

Lyric: I buy my enemies rope to hang me and the knives to gang me
Annotation:
As a lot of this song alludes to drug abuse, this line could allude to Gerard buying the very things that destroy him.

Lyric: He’s not dead, he only looks that way
Annotation:
This might be a nod to Famous Last Words line: “Awake and unafraid, asleep or dead?”

Lyric: Say a prayer for California
Annotation:
The later My Chem album  Danger Days: the True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys was written after  Conventional Weapons was scrapped, but carried many past themes and melodies with it. Danger Days was set in post-apocalyptic California, where the only sense of hope were found in the colorful vigilantes known as the Killjoys. This song features quite a bit of satire, and this line is no exception. In the later album, it’s too late for prayers, as the damage to California has already been dealt.

Lyric: Would you drink the wine while watching television?
Annotation:
This is a continuation of the above line. Way is asking whether or not the subject of this song would sit back and watch him struggle, or would they take a stand to help him. He wants to know if he can trust their loyalty or not.

Lyric: Until my capillaries burst of boredom
 I’ll be waiting
Annotation:
To take the interpretation of cocaine, this line links to both blood vessels in the nose bursting from frequent cocaine use but also the sense of depressive boredom in normal life that leads users to their addiction.

Lyric: If all my enemies threw a party, would you light the candles?
Annotation:
Could be asking many things, for example, it could be the author asking the person if they would be a double agent, or it could be a reference to the saying keep your friends close but your enemies closer.

Lyric: Sing a song for California
Annotation:
Reference to song We Don’t Need Another Song About California (see first chorus annotation) Also California is on the San Andreas fault line and in time the state will be completely altered by the plate movement. (Los Angeles will supposedly be at the same latitude to San Francisco over the next few centuries.) This means that lots of destruction is going to occur with large impactful earthquakes, costing the state a lot of money in the process. The theme of change also could reflect the changes My Chemical Romance as gone through as a band in terms of their image and music.

Lyric: I’m stalking these metro malls and airport halls
 And all these schoolgirls
Annotation:
The common activities in the  jet-set life of the kind of rock star satirised in this song: shopping, touring/flying and singing to stadiums full of teenage girls.

Lyric: The lines you’re putting down
 (Well) It better be white, (Well) it better be cut
 (Well) It better be just my size
Annotation:
This song is written, possibly semi-autobiographical, about a rock star (or his hangers on) in California.  Gerard has sung about drug use in previous songs, and  his past drug abuse is well known, and this line is quite clearly about cocaine – lines being put down, white, cut (probably cut into lines, not cut with something) and  long. On a separate note, this verse is interesting in how it mirrors the first verse – but instead of tailored, black funeral clothes for his corpse, he wants clean, white cocaine inside his body (ironically, the thing that could put the character in this song into said coffin).

Lyric: ’Cause we got the bomb, we got the bomb, let’s go
 We got the bomb, we got the bomb, let’s go
 We got the bomb, we got the bomb, let’s go
 We got the bomb, we got the bomb, let’s go
Annotation:
Directly quoting a line from  Vampire Money from  Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys, reinforcing the concept that this song is a career retrospective. Here, it’s said with madness and malice. He’s threatening to blow up his whole career. My Chemical Romance broke up soon after this album,  Conventional Weapons was released.

Lyric: Out nowhere, take me out there
 Far away and save me from my
 Self-destruction, hopeless for ya
Annotation:
Gerard wants to leap out and do something exciting for once and to be taken “out there”; he wants to be taken far away from everything he knows, so he can be saved from this horrible state he’s in where he’s destroying himself. “You” is a sharp, hard-hitting address of the listener and his fans. It’s almost a cry for help, seeing as he needs help escaping his “self-destruction.” This could be a reference to Gerard’s  relapse into alcoholism that was a factor in the band’s decision to break up.

Lyric: Sell your arteries and buy my casket gown
 (Well) It better be black, (Well) it better be tight
 (Well) It better be just my size
Annotation:
After providing his opposers with means of harming him, Gerard asks those on his side to help prepare him for his death. He slyly alludes to the band’s 2004 song  “Bury Me In Black” to describe his wishes for his funeral. While Gerard is discussing a casket gown, the outfit a corpse is buried in, he is also describing a stereotypical “emo” outfit.  My Chemical Romance is often called an emo band, so it sounds as though Gerard is mocking the way the media perceives the group. The song is rather satirical, so this is pretty likely. It wouldn’t be a stretch for him to be poking fun at stereotypes — the band has  spoken out about being deemed emo before, revealing that they despise the label.

Lyric: Sing a song for California
Annotation:
This is a rather ironic line, considering that MCR has also written a song called  “We Don’t Need Another Song About California.” This line elaborates on the satire present in the first and second verses by contradicting the band’s claim in  “We Don’t Need…”

Lyric: I’m not dead, I only dress that way
Annotation:
An example of My Chemical Romance poking fun at themselves.

Lyric: I’m not asking, you’re not telling
Annotation:
A clear reference to the  repealed U.S policy against LGBTQ persons in the military.

