Annotations for Mama

Lyric: Liza Minelli
Annotation:
Actually spelt: Liza Minnelli

Lyric: [Breakdown: Gerard Way]
Annotation:
In this part of the song, there is an air siren playing in the background, which may refer to a desperate time of the war, because the air siren informs about air attack, which is usually devastating

Lyric: But there’s shit that I’ve done with this fuck of a gun
 You would cry out your eyes all along
Annotation:
When the narrator “But there’s shit that I’ve done with this fuck of a gun” he is talking about the violence he has committed with the gun he was given during the war. He has injured and killed people with it. His mother also seems to be partially disgusted by the fact that her son served in the war, so if he told her about everything he had done with the gun coming from his own mouth, his mother would think much worse of him and cry her eyes out.

Lyric: It’s really quite pleasant except for the smell
Annotation:
In many religions the hell is known for having lakes of fire and brimstone (which smells pretty bad due to the sulfuric acid). Revelation 21:8: “But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.”

Lyric: We’ll let the fires just bathe us, yeah
Annotation:
The protagonist decides to make the best of the matter. He’s sinned enough that he  doesn’t believe anyone is going to be saved. Hell isn’t so bad anymore, and if he’s going, he may as well have a good time. Alternatively, the protagonist and other soldiers in the war have given up. They’re ready to die, and don’t want to keep fighting anymore. This can be seen in the verse,  ‘Mama, we’re meant for the flies.’ They’re all going to die anyway, why not make it sooner? A similar idea can be seen in  “Gun,” in the lines, Well, if I’m old enough to die for your mistakes Then let’s go Can I bleed enough to fill up what the engine takes? We don’t know

Lyric: And when we go, don’t blame us, yeah
Annotation:
PROPOSED SUGGESTION: If we go to hell, don’t blame us. We’re just following orders.“ The narrator has abandoned a sense of objective morality-it’s much easier to just do what you are told and not think about it. You can’t maintain a moral compass at war.

Lyric: That’s right
Annotation:
The narrator affirms his mothers accusations against him.This could mean either two things:- 1)He tries using sarcasm to deflect criticism from himself,and try to lessen the burden of his guilt. 2)He truly believes he is damned to spent an eternity in hell suffering for his actions. The tone in which Way delivers the words seem to imply anger,as his mother(or Mother War) is simply reaffirming what he already knows.He’s prepared himself for repentance, either in this life or the one after.

Lyric: We’ll never let you go
Annotation:
Perhaps the rest of the chorus is coming from the mom. Saying, she won’t let her son go, but knows when he’s gone he’s really gone. He’s dead.

Lyric: And when you go, don’t return to me, my love
Annotation:
Some mothers are so afraid That when their child goes to war they will not return that they beg the child to go, Thus “ I’ll never let you go,” Some mothers build up a wall of protection saying, my child is already dead.  so that if faced with the news that the child dies they will feel less mental pain.  so the words if you go don’t return to me my love effectively means  if you die at War don’t come back as a ghost

Lyric: Oh well, now, Mama, we’re all gonna die
 Mama, we’re all gonna die
 Stop asking me questions, I’d hate to see you cry
 Mama, we’re all gonna die
Annotation:
“Mama” is a song about a soldier at war. I think this is self-explanatory, but let me go further. This soldier at war is, obviously, not in a good position. He’s seemingly crazed from the way he speaks, but like all soldiers, his morale is most likely very low due to the conditions he’s living in. War is a horrible, horrible thing, and soldiers in World War I and II alike spent most of their time in dirty, usually wet areas. They spent a lot of time fighting, and the anxiety soldiers must feel while at war is no doubt unbearable. So, as you can imagine, the soldier, who is writing a letter to his mother, is expressing his insanity and anxiety. “We’re all gonna die” is a term you hear often when someone is panicked over a dangerous situation. To put it simply, the soldier is experiencing panic over the fact that, most of the time, soldiers die in war. Not a lot of soldiers survive. And judging on the fact that this album is based in hell… He didn’t either.

Lyric: [Outro: Gerard Way]
Annotation:
(CHECK TO CONFIRM THIS) This is the part where things really get crazy – Gerard and Mikey brought in their parents to sing. In addition, Frank’s mom sings.

Lyric: You made us oh so famous
Annotation:
PROPOSED SUGGESTION: I think this is referring to the newspapers and military propaganda that make being a soldier seem glorious and a necessary civic duty – especially in the WWII era. He’s being sarcastic, hence the “oh, so,” suggesting that he and the other soldiers can’t see the fame and glory beyond the hell they’re seeing in front of them.

Lyric: Mama, we’re all full of lies
Annotation:
This line reflects the speaker’s view on humankind: he believes that no one is entirely authentic or honest about who they really are. A similar idea is mentioned in  “Kill All Your Friends,” a track that was cut from  The Black Parade: Because we are all a bunch of liars Tell me, baby, who do you wanna be?

Lyric: Mama, we all go to Hell
 Mama, we all go to Hell
Annotation:
‘Mama’ is actually Mother War (you may have seen her – she made an appearance in the Welcome to the Black Parade music video). This song consists entirely of thoughts of a fighter communicating to Mother War (who is actually a figment of his imagination) and doubting everything he’s been taught.

Lyric: Mama, we’re meant for the flies
Annotation:
“We” are useless and are so low that we were made for the flies, who eat scraps. Flies also are known to feast off of dead carcass. The speaker is telling their mother that either way, we were born to rot and die.

Lyric: And right now, they’re building a coffin your size
Annotation:
You’re going to die anyway; there’s no point in trying to pretend you won’t. You could die at any point and a coffin is waiting to house anyone–even loved ones.

Lyric: If you could coddle the infection, they can amputate at once
Annotation:
This is saying that if you gather all his problems together they can be solved all at once. Amputation is a form of medication by cutting off limbs that can no longer be cured

Lyric: ”And if you would call me a sweetheart
 I’d maybe then sing you a song”
Annotation:
This part is performed by singer and actress  Liza Minnelli, so it can be inferred that Mother War is singing. Mother War is one of the characters of  The Black Parade, and her distant sons joined the war. This section is written from Mother War’s perspective. She never admits to herself how much she cares about and loves her sons until they go off to battle. She is speaking from a nostalgic viewpoint and regrets not showing her children her love. She says that if they forgave her for hiding how much she cares, then they can be happy together. Liza’s melodic voice sounds like one heard in a lullaby, furthering the idea that she wants to be viewed as a motherly figure.

Lyric: So raise your glass high, for tomorrow, we die
 And return from the ashes you call
Annotation:
These last few lines may hold multiple meanings – on one hand, as the soldiers prepare to fight, they toast to their deaths, lamenting their loss, but nevertheless exclaiming their bravery, prepared to die for their country. On the other hand, they may  be raising their glasses because they are glad to die and end their suffering as soldiers. Their toast may also be meant to celebrate the lives of those who they are marching off to die for. Finally, the soldiers may just be getting drunk in order to deal with the imminent death that is closing in on them. The song ends with the quiet sobs of mothers suffering in solidarity over the loss of their sons, a nod to the fact that war affects more than just those on the battlefield.

Lyric: We’re damned after all
 Through fortune and flame, we fall
 And if you can stay, then I’ll show you the way
 To return from the ashes you call
Annotation:
Here, the narrator begins to accept their cruel fate and does so gracefully. Since they are damned, they might as well fight their hardest and make the little time they have left worth it.

Lyric: We all carry on (We all carry on)
 When our brothers in arms are gone (When our brothers in arms are gone)
Annotation:
Even after our fellow armsmen have died, we continue to fight and never give up. This could be referring to the band members' parents worrying when they chose to pursue music as a career. There was a chance that their children could lose it all — the hope, the money they put in to their music, and the time. However, accompanying it was a slim chance they could get lucky and get famous. In addition, frontman  Gerard Way and bassist  Mikey Way are brothers, so the Ways had double the worries and risk to fear. Mikey temporarily left the group during the recording of  The Black Parade, but returned after hearing  “Famous Last Words,” a song Gerard wrote for him. Gerard  carried on recording during Mikey’s absence. This line is highly reminiscent of a lyric from  “Welcome To The Black Parade”:

Lyric: Mama, Mama, Mama
 Mama, Mama, Mama, Ma
Annotation:
Here is just a pure vocal expression of the narrator lamenting him and his mother’s relationship. Gerard’s voice sounds desperate here, like he’s gasping for air. This may signify the soldier’s  last words being “mama,” or that the speaker regrets his broken relationship with his mother. In addition, here the narrator may be crying out for his mother out of fear like a young child would. He may need the comfort only a mother could bring, but she’s not around. This reflects how distant the two were during his childhood and showcases the troubling effect it has had on him. While the band was touring for  The Black Parade, this is when the fire would come in aggressively, mirroring the violent and harsh emotions the speaker feels towards his mother.

Lyric: You should’ve been, I could have been a better son
Annotation:
This seems to be a back and forth between him and his mother. She’s accusing him, saying “you should’ve been-” before he cuts her off and replies that, yes, he could have been a min better son. He could have been easier to deal with, stayed out of trouble, not gone to war, etc.

Lyric: She said, ”You ain’t no son of mine
 For what you’ve done, they’re gonna find
 A place for you and just you mind your manners when you go
 And when you go, don’t return to me, my love,”
Annotation:
The narrators mom hears about his actions when he was in the war and tells him not to return to her when once he leaves – she doesn’t want to see him again. His mother speaks almost passive aggressively, saying that she never wants to see him again, rejecting him for what he’s done during the war. At the same time she keeps the motherly tone with “mind your manners”, like any mother would tell a child when they’re going somewhere without them.

Lyric: You should’ve raised a baby girl, I should’ve been a better son
Annotation:
As the narrator laments the damage that the war has done to himself and his family, he reflects that had he been born a girl, he would not have fought in the war, likely due to  conscription of young men. Singer Gerard Way is outspoken on gender diversity and has expressed a degree of gender non-confirmity in  interviews and concert costumes, such as  the cheerleader dress during the 2022 North America tour.. “To be a kid that’s transgender, you have to be fearless”. The pre-chorus has become a feature of crowd sing-alongs at My Chemical Romance concerts, with many fans identifying the lyrics with the transgender experience. https://twitter.com/gwayupdates/status/1562281349884542976

Lyric: Well, mother, what the war did to my legs and to my tongue
Annotation:
War has changed the way the narrator acts and what he says. Typically when one is terrified, their knees get weak and they become mute. It could also mean that he actually lost his leg during the battle.

Lyric: Mama, we all go to Hell
 Mama, we all go to Hell
 I’m writing this letter and wishing you well
 Mama, we all go to Hell
Annotation:
The narrator is referring to his past fighting in a war and writing a letter to his mother. Soldiers of wars past described feeling damned due to the cruelties they committed in war. Considering the context of this album, it’s possible the speaker (The Patient) isn’t fighting a literal war but a figurative one. (In this case his battle with cancer.) This can probably be understood better as “Everyone goes through Hell”. Even if Hell is not your final destination, all humans experience pain and suffering here on Earth.

