Annotations for Kill All Your Friends

Lyric: I ain’t feeling the love
Annotation:
This lyric possibly implies that The Patient isn’t feeling love towards the friends that he murdered, who are now being buried. Since a coronation is a gathering of people to ceremoniously place someone into power, the “coronation,” or the funeral, is “crowning” the death of the person at the funeral to be the main focus of the event. The Patient just doesn’t care, doesn’t feel the love that the other guests are feeling towards the person in the coffin. He views their deaths only as a step closer towards seeing his love interest again after each murder he commits. In many songs, specifically “Sleep,” it’s shown that The Patient doesn’t necessarily regret his past actions: “‘Cause there’s no way that I’m sorry for what I did.”

Lyric: And if this is a coronation
Annotation:
A coronation is the act of placement or bestowal of a crown upon a monarch’s head. The term generally also refers not only to the physical crowning but to the whole ceremony wherein the act of crowning occurs, along with the presentation of other items of regalia, marking the formal investiture of a monarch with regal power.

Lyric: You’ll never take me alive, you’ll never take me alive
 Do what it takes to survive, ’cause I’m still here
 You’ll never get me alive, you’ll never take me alive
 Do what it takes to survive, and I’m still here
 You’ll never take me alive, you’ll never get me alive
 Do what it takes to survive, and I’m still here
 You’ll never get me (Get me!) You’ll never take me (Take me!)
 You’ll never get me alive!
Annotation:
Here, the narrator is likely speaking to two parties: the police and the woman he desperately wants to see. “You’ll never take me alive” is directed at the cops. Since he  is killing his friends, they’re probably on his tail trying to arrest him. However, he won’t let them take him unless he’s dead, since he’ll fight back to the best of his ability. “Do what it takes to survive” is directed at the woman, warning her not to do anything that can endanger her life, because he plans on seeing her again and won’t be satisfied if he doesn’t.  MCR had a run-in with authorities in their music video for  “Desolation Row.”

Lyric: Ba-ba-ba, ba-ba-ba
Annotation:
This chant is used to add a cynical and menacing feel to the chorus. It could also be seen as them mocking their friends for believing that they were innocent/that they liked them because they were not expecting them to wish to kill them.

Lyric: ’Cause we are all a bunch of animals
 That never paid attention in school
 So tell me all about your problems
Annotation:
The writer and the group he is associating himself with are compared to as animals because they’re rowdy and cannot sit in one spot. They weren’t (and still aren’t) the most attentive nor witty. Though, they’re not in a position to make any changes towards the fact. With this being said, the writer informs to whomever the song was being directed to, that they should tell him their issues, for he knows that there couldn’t be any issue worse than his.

Lyric: I was killing before killing was cool
Annotation:
People are so desperate these days to get there first and be original. This is taking the mick of that growing trend, and hipsters in general.  “You’re so cool” is a reference to the 1993 film,  True Romance, in which a Bonnie-and-Clyde style couple murder and steal together in the name of their love.

Lyric: Sometimes you scrape and sink so low
 I’m shocked at what you’re capable of
Annotation:
Some people can do bad things, even though they look like good people. This person has sunk incredibly low and has done something unexpected and shocking. These lines may be addressed to the narrator, who is murdering those close to him in an attempt to see a girl he is infatuated with, which is definitely a  low thing to do. This section seems to get a response via a lyric from  “Emily,” another  Black Parade reject. Sometimes you do things you gotta do to survive

Lyric: And we are all about to sell it
 ‘Cause it’s tragic with a capital ’T’
Annotation:
Tragedy sells. People love conflict. How do you think Shakespeare became so famous? In Classical writings, abstract nouns like ‘truth’ or ‘hope’ were often personified. These would be identified by capitalizing the noun. Saying that it is ‘Tragic’ rather than ‘tragic’ could be saying that these events are  more than usual; they are the personification of Tragedy. Alternatively, The Patient’s past is tragic. His life relationships were tragic, but now all his friends are dead, and so is he.

Lyric: ’Cause we are all a bunch of liars
 Tell me, baby, who do you wanna be?
Annotation:
People put on different faces for different people at different times; we decide how we want to be perceived based on our desires and needs. It’s such an accepted fact of life, many take advantage of it (sell it) without a shred of remorse. My Chemical Romance’s songs have often dealt with the idea of putting on a different face for society. (“So put on the black dress / mix in with the lot.” from  The End) This treats social reinvention with a more optimistic tone- if you must lie in public, who can craft yourself into whoever you want to be, and make that new personality as profitable as possible.

Lyric: And you’re walking away and I will die in this place
Annotation:
They only get together for the funeral, and once it’s done they go their separate ways. Alternatively, The Patient is stuck. After his funeral, everyone is able to get up and leave—but him. This line changed in the final verse. This could be referring to how The Patient now knows his time his up. All his friends have died, and he saw it coming. But him knowing about his death doesn’t mean he’s any more comfortable with it.

Lyric: It’s been eight bitter years since I’ve been seeing your face
Annotation:
This line changes as the song goes on, going from “eight bitter years” to “nine bitter years,” then ending at “ten fucking years.” He continues killing their friends year by year just so he can see her at their funerals.

Lyric: And we all get together when we bury our friends
Annotation:
He’s formulating a plan to see her again. Since people get together to mourn deaths, he would run into her at some point or another. It becomes obvious that he could see her at their funerals, so he decides to do what the title implies and kill all his friends.

Lyric: ’Cause we all wanna party when the funeral ends
Annotation:
Most funerals end in a wake or reception where people get together and remember the dead, which could be the literal meaning of this line. We only honor the dead for a little while — as soon as “the funeral ends” we forget about them and go back to our normal happy lives as if nothing had happened. He’s probably despising the people who do so because they don’t think death or the people who have died are important enough to remember. Heck, MCR themselves are guilty of this — the music video for their song  “Helena” ends in a dance sequence.

Lyric: And you can sleep in a coffin
 But the past ain’t through with you
Annotation:
Not even death can erase your past sin. Even when she dies her demons from the past will haunt her in the afterlife. More than that, if she does to go hell or purgatory, she will spend eternity paying for the things she did. On a more metaphorical level, even if she isn’t actually dead, if you act as if the past is dead and buried it will still come back to bite you.

Lyric: Well, you can hide a lot about yourself
 But honey, what’re you gonna do?
Annotation:
Many people choose to hide who they truly are in fear that others will judge them, or to deceive others into thinking they’re someone they aren’t. The girl the narrator is speaking to has done this, although her motives aren’t clear. Based on the second half of the verse, it can be inferred that she’s not proud of who she is, likely grouping her with those who don’t want others to see their true colors. Despite her efforts to suppress her true identity, she can’t erase her past — it’ll follow her around for the rest of her life.

