Annotations for I Never Told You What I Do for a Living

Lyric: Some other way to continue to hide my face
Annotation:
One way to escape criminal charges is by faking an identity. This is done by obtaining false identification documents and using them to present a different name, age, and other personal information. This can allow them to evade capture and charges from law enforcement, as they are now operating under a different name and identity. While this may be an effective tactic for avoiding criminal charges, it is also illegal and can carry serious consequences if caught. The central character of the album could use the personas of the people he kills to avoid capture. He can use their identities to gain access to resources, money and other means of support that he wouldn’t normally have access to. He uses this tactic to stay one step ahead of the police, as he can easily change his identity to any of his many victims. He is able to blend in and evade detection, as no one suspects he is the same person they’ve seen in a different identity. This allows him to stay on the run and continue his criminal activities without being caught.

Lyric: And we’ll love again, we’ll laugh again
 We’ll cry again, and we’ll dance again
Annotation:
Even though he knows he will never be reunited with his lover, he desperately makes empty promises   to her that they will be reunited.

Lyric: Stay out of the light or the photograph that I gave you
 You can say a prayer if you need to or just get in line and I’ll grieve you
 Can I meet you alone?
Annotation:
This line could be talking about vampires (from their  previous album, because vampires must stay out of the sunlight and they don’t show up in photographs. Alternatively, these verses are from the speaker to his lover. He wants her to be safe and hidden before resurrecting her, as he talks about prayers. Getting “in line” to grieve her is referring to how a funeral procession is frequently in churches, where people wait in lines to say goodbye to the dead.

Lyric: Another night and I’ll be you
Annotation:
This song is very heavily inspired by the story of  “Macbeth” by William A. Shakespeare. In the context of the story, Macbeth invites his cousin, King Duncan, to stay the night at his manor. During this night he is murdered by Macbeth and Macbeth’s wife. Very quickly, Macbeth makes his way across Scotland to be crowned the next king. One night he sees his precious cousin, and the next he has taken his place as king of Scotland.

Lyric: And never again and never again,
Annotation:
This line probably is a reference to  Honey, This Mirror…, from their previous album,  Bullets.

Lyric: Touched by angels, though
 I fall out of grace
 I did it all, so maybe
 I’d live this every day
Annotation:
The narrator suggests that he wasn’t born a terrible person, and used to be a good person with morals and a strong conscience. However, his good nature faded when he sinned in a “fall from grace.” The idiom closely resembles the Christian term,  “fall of man,” which references Adam and Eve’s expulsion from the Garden of Eden.  The term indicates a loss of respect or status, and describes an initially innocent person entering a state of guilty disobedience to God. At first, the narrator killed in order to see his lover again, but over time, that took a toll on his sanity and altered his motive. He did it all to be with his dead lover again, but didn’t realize how he would have to live with himself afterwards.

Lyric: I tried, one more night, one more night
 Well, I’m laughing out, crying out, laugh out loud
Annotation:
Gerard’s screaming of “I tried” is a phenomenally powerful line as it is sad and desperate, screaming how he has tried so hard to be reunited with his lover but failed. He’s pleading for just one more night to complete his mission, or perhaps one more night to be with his lover before his soul is taken by the devil to hell. The realization of this and that all he’s done has been in vain seems to have finally driven him mad: he’s both laughing and crying out loud at these realizations.

Lyric: And never again, and never again,
Annotation:
There is an element of ambiguity embedded into this line. The protagonist could be referring to the killings he’s responsible for, and the regret that comes with those mistakes. He could also be referring to the time he spent with his lover, and how it will never take place again. He may even be referring to never walking the earth again, which pairs nicely with the following lines. The listener can’t know for sure what the protagonist means by this particular statement, so the interpretation is left open to creativity.

Lyric: We’ll love again, we’ll laugh again and it’s better off this way
Annotation:
He’s talking to his lover. He’s saying that they’ll see each other again and love each other, despite him killing all those people. It’s better off for them to be re united, even if he has to trade his innocence for it.

Lyric: It’s for the bodies I claim and those
Annotation:
This line sounds like a slightly psychopathic motive. He kills people to claim their lives. He almost likes the feeling of bringing their souls to hell and claiming their bodies. He originally starting killing to see his lover again, but now there almost seems to be a deeper meaning to killing. He almost lusts after it now, it’s the only thing he has left to live for.

Lyric: I tried, well, I tried, well, I tried
 ’Cause I tried, but I lied, I lied
 I tried, I tried, I tried, well...
Annotation:
He should have never made a deal with the Devil, for now he will never be with his one true love, like he had promised.

Lyric: And we’ll all dance along to the tune of your death
Annotation:
Rather than being upset about all the deaths he’s caused, the speaker will simply see each murder as a step closer to his lover. He’ll turn something awful into his own personal victory.

Lyric: And down we go
 And down we go
 And down we go
 And we all fall down
Annotation:
In the end, the Devil winds up tricking the speaker — the last evil soul the protagonist must kill is himself. Because of his actions he is going to Hell, along with the souls of his victims.

Lyric: I keep a book of the names and those
Annotation:
The names in the book don’t mean anything until their souls are deep down in hell with the devil. To the protagonist, they’re useless if they’re living, but if he kills them he can get closer to being reunited with his lover.

Lyric: Another knife in my hands, a stain that never comes off the sheets
Annotation:
This line is possibly a reference to the Shakespeare tragedy  Macbeth and the famous line “Out damned spot!” Uttered by Lady Macbeth in Act 5, Scene 1 as she enters into her madness, the line has become somewhat synonymous with referring to guilt that cannot simply be washed away from one’s hands. Like the stain that never comes off Lady Macbeth’s hands, the stain of murder will never come off of these sheets. For any attempted repentance, the guilt will never leave him.

Lyric: Clean me off, I’m so dirty, babe
Annotation:
Gerard is saying how he wants his lover (perhaps dead) to clean off his sins because he is so, “dirty” from killing people. This line is both literal and figurative. It is literally about bloodstains (because of the murder) and figuratively about the sin staining his soul.

Lyric: And it’s better off this way, so much better off this way
 I can’t clean the blood off the sheets in my bed!
Annotation:
He does realize that he’s become a monster in trying to bring his lover back. He doesn’t deserve to be with her, and she doesn’t deserve to see what he’s become. So while it’s dreadful to think that she will forever be in heaven while he is forever in hell, he knows this is how it should be. A callback to the lyric “a stain that never comes off the sheets” that was sung numerous times earlier in the song. Not only has he remembered the line, but he also can’t “clean off” the memories and guilt of killing so many people.

Lyric: They gave us two shots
 To the back of the head and we’re all dead now
Annotation:
The album’s story is that a man dies and is separated from his lover. He makes a deal with the Devil that requires him to kill 1000 evil men and women in order to be reunited with her. In the end, the last evil man who is killed is the man himself. After all, why would he trust the Devil in the first place? As a result, he is separated from his lover once again. Whether they eventually end up together in Hell or never see each other again is open to interpretation.

Lyric: It ain’t the money and it sure as hell ain’t just for the fame
Annotation:
He’s killing these people for a deeper purpose that doesn’t involve money or fame — he simply wants to be reunited with his wife. In addition, frontman  Gerard Way founded band to make a difference in people’s lives; he didn’t just do it for the fame and money. After witnessing the infamous 9/11 terror attacks, he decided he wanted to change the world, and wrote the song  “Skylines And Turnstiles.” In the original demo for the track, this lyric was actually “ain’t for the money, baby, baby, I do it for the fame.”

Lyric: Another night and I’ll see you
Annotation:
He is so close to seeing his lover. This song is talking about the finale of the albums story: A man loses his lover and makes a deal with the devil that requires him to kill 1000 evil men and women in order to get her back.

Lyric: Clean me off, I’m so dirty, babe
 The kind of dirty where the water never cleans off the clothes
Annotation:
The protagonist’s lover is metaphorically his stain remover.  Only his lover can ease his conscience from how many people he sent to hell. Although this is certainly a unique and poetic way to describe the power of love, the concept has been covered in a handful of hit songs over the years.  A simple example of this is  Tove Lo’s Habits (Stay High).

