Annotations for The Sharpest Lives

Lyric: [Interlude]
Annotation:
This dual solo Frank and Ray respectively, is accompanied by ominous choir-like chanting. Within the context of the album, this could be taunts from the souls within The Black Parade, since it’s commonly interpreted that everyone in the parade was once a living person. These taunting chants tie into the mocking lyrics sprayed across the album, often interpreted to be from Fear, Regret & Pepe (also called The Parader)

Lyric: This alone, you’re in time for the show
 You’re the one that I need, I’m the one that you loathe
Annotation:
As we know from most of the album, the Patient is cynical from a lifetime of pain and suffering he has endured. From  bullying to  war to  finding out that he has two weeks to live, that can do damage to a person’s psyche. The Patient is likely talking to a loved one –  one of the few he hasn’t pushed away yet – and is basically making their life a living hell. Because  he’s damned, after all. Or so he believes.

Lyric: A light to burn all the empires
Annotation:
This could be a reference to the phrase “The light that burns twice as bright burns half as long” famously used in 1982’s “Blade Runner”.

Lyric: Your kiss, and I will surrender
Annotation:
in the song, he recognizes that he has a problem and that his drinking is unhealthy and that he needs help, unfortunately he cant do it alone, so he asks his significant other to stay with him and give him the strength love and support so he can surrender his habit and get clean.

Lyric: You can watch me corrode like a beast in repose
Annotation:
Repose is a state of rest or sleep, so a beast in repose would be one that isn’t active. In this line, The Patient is saying that whoever he’s with can watch him slowly weaken/destruct/fade away, much like a beast stuck in a state of inaction, wasting away.

Lyric: The sharpest lives are the deadliest to lead
Annotation:
By saying this, the singer alludes to the fact that the life that he now leads, full of parties, alcohol and problems is very harming to his actual health. Lives of excessive partying and such are normally referred to as ”sharp lives”

Lyric: So why don’t you blow me
 A kiss before she goes?
Annotation:
Along with claims and references of being drunk throughout the song, this shows that much of his loved ones have died, remarkably women, and he can’t exactly make sense of it. PROPOSED SUGGESTION: I believe that when he says “So why don’t you blow me a kiss,” He could be talking to death itself. Saying as the kiss is like the “kiss of death.” He wants death to take him before his lover leaves him due to his addiction to alcohol and poisoning himself. This leads into the chorus where he talks about it “giving him a shot to remember,” and it taking all the pain away from him. Since Gerard seems to play into the idea at some points that death can bring you a sense of bliss and peace through your pain of living.

Lyric: Well, it rains and it pours when you’re out on your own
 If I crash on the couch, can I sleep in my clothes?
 ’Cause I’ve spent the night dancing, I’m drunk, I suppose
 If it looks like I’m laughing, I’m really just askin’ to leave
Annotation:
This verse sums up the majority of the song. The protagonist’s life has fallen quite out of his grasp, and it’s only going downhill from here. Life’s no fun when you’re alone, and he has no place to go. The talk of drinking refers to the later  ‘bender’ he’s on, and he admits to being a bit wasted. The verse concludes with the protagonist admitting that, even if the alcohol makes him look happy, he’s not. Gerard  mentioned having episodes like this, saying: I’ve always had a problem with drinking and mixing pills, and it started to get the best of me. […] I was strung out, hung over, and really desperate. I had tons of pills on me and lots of liquor.”

Lyric: So you can leave like the sane abandoned me
Annotation:
Since he’s drunk out his mind, all his sober friends probably left a long time ago. This line could also be a reference to the greater story of  The Black Parade; in the song “Dead!” he loses his sanity in the end of the song – so he is afraid that she’ll abandon him like his sanity did.

Lyric: There’s a place in the dark where the animals go
 You can take off your skin in the cannibal glow
Annotation:
In this party life, you can strip off your personality and become this numb monster instead. In addition, when you get drunk, it awakens a dark, primal part of your brain that unleashes the worst part of you. Everybody else is basking and reveling in the “cannibal glow” as well, so everyone at the party is screwed.

Lyric: Juliet loves the beat and the lust it commands
 Drop the dagger and lather the blood on your hands, Romeo
Annotation:
This is a reference to the story of Romeo & Juliet, in which Romeo is indirectly responsible for Juliet’s death. The journey to Juliet’s death starts when she gets attracted to Romeo and the life of the party, which in this case is also the attraction to the drugs and alcohol that come with it. The next line tells Romeo to ‘drop the dagger’ (which is a more direct metaphor of his role in her death) and ‘lather the blood on your hands’, as Romeo was responsible for her death from the start. In this context, it’s his fault his love was led astray.  That fatal scene is available to read  here

Lyric: Give me a shot to remember
 And you can take all the pain away from me
Annotation:
This is an oxymoron. A shot is a strong drink that makes you forget past and present events, and he is asking for one so strong that he will remember it. In reality, what he wants to remember is the numbness it brings him which makes him forget the pain and consequences of his actions.  Here, shot could also mean that he wants another chance to remember. Perhaps the band simply chose the word “shot” to stick with the alcohol references.

Lyric: I’ve really been
 On a bender, and it shows
Annotation:
A bender is a name for a wild drinking spree. He’s been on one and it’s clear.

Lyric: ’Cause I love all the poison, away with the boys in the band
Annotation:
This is a reference to the expression ‘washing away’ with alcohol, per se. Instead of ‘loving away’ his bandmates due to the effects of the booze, the two terms have been swapped around to create a seemingly deeper phrase that is in reality only the effect of his drunken mind trying to piece his actions together.

Lyric: So bright, the sun is ashamed to rise and be
 In love with all of these vampires
Annotation:
“Vampires” here is a metaphor for bad people — the kind that seek to destroy and corrupt people. Vampires usually die if they see the light of the sun. Alternatively,  it could be referring to people that party at night and go home in the morning when the sun rises. Sunlight might also be disturbing when you are hungover, like how sunlight irritates vamps. My Chem seem to have an affinity for bloodsuckers: they reference the creatures in their songs  “Vampires Will Never Hurt You” and  “Vampire Money.”

