Annotations for Cemetery Drive

Lyric: Made it so hard
Annotation:
Ever since the events of demolition lovers everything has been so hard

Lyric: Back home, off the run
Annotation:
This line implies that the protagonist ran away from home earlier in verse one. This is especially likely as the narrator mentioned search lights in that same verse. Given the album’s plot, it wouldn’t be strange to assume he ran away to fulfill his end of the bargain.

Lyric: So I won’t stop dying, won’t stop lying
Annotation:
The main character begins telling himself that he is destined to die and that his hope of saving his lover is misdirected.  He thinks he is lying to himself if he believes he will be able to save her. If you listen closely, you can hear Gerard singing, Are you there at all? Do you care at all? Are you there at all?

Lyric: [Verse 1]
Annotation:
The narrator portrays a complex fantasy in which the main character of the album  Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge is stuck in.  The protagonist is delusional – Likely from withdrawal – to the point of experiencing hallucinations that his lover is still alive, even as she is being buried. Another theory behind these hallucinations is  Ephedrine.  On the track  “Give ‘Em Hell Kid” from earlier on the album, the protagonist remarks on taking this in order to cope with the murderous lifestyle he has adapted in order to resurrect his lover.  Among numerous other side effects, hallucinations are common.

Lyric: Where the searchlights find us drinking by the mausoleum door
Annotation:
This line most clearly depicts the protagonist’s refusal to accept the death of his lover.  After the ceremony, he wishes he could be drinking with her. He even stays at the mausoleum long enough to warrant someone searching for him.

Lyric: I miss you, I miss you, so far
Annotation:
His lover was taken by death, and he misses her dearly. To reunite with her, he must collect the souls of a thousand evil men. The narrator interestingly uses “…so far” rather than something like “so bad,” or “so much.”  This could be a comparison to distance, as he is at a loss for ways to clearly represent his sorrow.

Lyric: And the collision of your kiss that made it so hard
Annotation:
The lover’s kiss haunts the narrator, and he will always remember it. The way that their lips touched once warmed his heart, but now just causes it to ache. The situation is very hard for him, because she’s dead and he can’t kiss her ever again.

Lyric: And crash the cemetery gates
Annotation:
Cemetery gates are notoriously known for being relatively loud, as a cemetery is usually empty and eerily peaceful.  That said, the diction invokes the feeling of a sudden, spastic entry.  This is likely alluding to the loved one’s unforeseen demise.

Lyric: If you want, I’ll keep on crying
Annotation:
This could be interpreted in two separate ways: The protagonist directs his attention over to The Devil who is using him as a tool to deliver him souls.  He ponders his fate, wondering if he will one day meet the demands for his lover. The protagonist questions if she wanted him to feel destroyed from her death.

Lyric: Singing songs that make you slit your wrists
 It isn’t that much fun staring down a loaded gun
Annotation:
The protagonist is referring to methods of suicide and self-harm, suggesting that the person he is singing about killed themselves—as  seen earlier in the song. This could be a direct reference to the negative reception of MCR’s songs and  the stigma that has followed their career, with  reporters going so far as to call them a ‘suicide cult band.’ Gerard Way revealed in  an interview that he was held at gunpoint at age fifteen, relating to the end of the line. If you listen very closely during this part, you can hear Gerard repeatedly  saying, Don’t do it, don’t do it, don’t Don’t do it, don’t do it, don’t

Lyric: And they found you on the bathroom floor
Annotation:
While the cause of death is undetermined, we can assume it was by suicide as seen in  later lines. It’s possible the girl was drunk before she killed herself, as the  previous line states.

Lyric: Way down, mark the grave
Annotation:
The protagonist of our tragic story is quickly approaching the end of the funeral procession.  This line could be referring to the burial of the body, or just a filler used to emphasize the event of the ceremony. The line “Way down” could also be referring to the individual being, quite literally, ‘weighed down’ by the loss of his lover. During  a show in 2006, frontman Gerard Way yells, “Get up!” between these lines which furthers the ideas of the previous two. He could be talking to the dead lover, speaking  as the protagonist as he wishes for her to return from where she is buried. He could also ​have been talking  to the protagonist, telling him to get his life back together.

Lyric: In the dress your husband hates
Annotation:
The narrator’s lover wore this dress as she was being buried, further elaborating on the song’s theme of death. Since the narrator was undoubtedly infatuated with his partner, he was likely not to hate any clothing she wore, unless it was the clothing she were to be buried in.

Lyric: Did you get what you deserve?
Annotation:
This line induces an element of  ambiguity, as the listener knows nothing about the individual except that they died.  They could have gone to heaven or hell, but we will never know whether they deserved it or not. This exact sentence is also featured in the  Dead! lyrics from  The Black Parade (2006). In both cases what he/she deserve(d) was death.

Lyric: This night, walk the dead
 In a solitary style
Annotation:
The character is essentially hallucinating.  He imagines his lover wandering the cemetery alone with him, even though she is dead. The hallucination-like fantasy is undoubtedly a result of  Love Addiction Withdrawal.  This commonly overlooked stage of a breakup is known to be just as devastating as drug addiction.  Knowing the individual has gone through this event so suddenly, it is safe to assume he is mentally weak, and is likely to go through psychotic, mental trauma. A similar line is to be found in David Bowie’s  Where Are We Now?, where he sings “On Nürnberger Strasse A man lost in time, Near KaDeWe Just walking the dead”

