Annotations for The World Is Ugly

Lyric: ’Cause the world is ugly
 But you’re beautiful to me
Annotation:
This could also be a reference to blink-182’s song ‘going away to college’ where he says, “this worlds an ugly place, but you’re so beautiful to me"

Lyric: Are you thinking of me
 Like I’m thinking of you?
Annotation:
Gerard (the singer) has said this song is about his wife and daughter. this line is him asking them if he’s always on their mind because they are always on his mind while on tour.

Lyric: These are the nights
 And the lights that we fade in
Annotation:
Gerard (the singer) has said on multiple occasions that being famous was traumatic for him (it eventually lead to him developing an eating disorder in 2010.) I think this line is referring to how mind-numbing it can be to pour your heart into performing on stage (under the stage lights) almost every night. He feels his personality is fading.

Lyric: I would say I’m sorry, though
 Though, I really need to go
 I just wanted you to know
 
 [Bridge]
 I wanted you to know
 I wanted you to know
 I’m thinking of you
 Every night, every day
Annotation:
Gerard (the singer) has said that this song (while not originally written for her) is in fact about bandit, his daughter, in case he ever relapsed (drugs, alcohol, etc) to me this line reads like an apology to his wife and daughter for always being on tour. It’s letting them know that he’s always thinking of them.

Lyric: These are their hearts
 But their hearts don’t beat like ours
 
 They burn ’cause they are all afraid
Annotation:
These lines might be referencing to The Ghost Of You battle scenes and saying the world is ugly and the army and battles prove it.

Lyric: Stop your crying, helpless feeling
 Dry your eyes and start believing
Annotation:
This line ties in with basically all the rest especially the chorus and the line “for every failing sun, there’s a morning after.” Since the interpretation on those lines are talking about falling down and getting back up again, this line is basically just emphasizing the signifacance as those and bringing those metaphors into wider and more clear context. So basically like the sun lyric, when you are down and hard on yourself get back up, there is another chance, you can do it and you can bring yourself back up and begin to believe in yourself.

Lyric: That the world is ugly
 But you’re beautiful to me
Annotation:
So basically In my opioin is that what this lyric is saying is that society is ugly, it is. It puts stereotypes and titles onto people which isn’t true, it wants us to look and act certain ways that can harm us and others mainly mentally. It wants us to like certain things and do certian things that can definitely harm us and others. So the world as in society is very ugly, but you are beautiful everyone is, but in societies mind you may not be, but in someones mind you are, in your own mind you are. In God’s mind you are. That is basically how I interpreted this lyric for years :)

Lyric: Though, I’m empty when you go
 I just wanted you to know
Annotation:
PROPOSED SUGGESTION: When all is said and done, when the lights of the show go off, when everybody’s had fun and is now gone, just in case it wasn’t clear from all that dedication the writer wants to make sure his audience know he has said his peace(and that he loves them- next verse).

Lyric: For every one of us
 There’s an army of them
 But you’ll never fight alone
Annotation:
My Chemical Romance’s fans often refer to themselves as the “MCRmy.” There’s a whole army of fans out there who are right behind the band in whatever they do, and they will never fight the world by themselves because the band will always be there for them.

Lyric: These are the words
 But the words aren’t coming out
 
 They burn ’cause they are hard to say
Annotation:
Keeping in theme with the possible fear of truth of these people he is addressing, from the beginning of the song, “the words” are a way of expressing oneself, of speaking one’s truth. The writer of the song notices that people are afraid to speak their truth as if the words were burning them.

Lyric: These are their hearts
 But their hearts don’t beat like ours
 They burn ’cause they are all afraid
Annotation:
“Their hearts don’t beat like ours” as in they don’t get excited by the same thing as the writer(possibly truth, knowledge, exploring your dark side). In many mystical traditions and religions burning is associated with hell, these people lie to themselves and they are in a living hell because they are afraid to see the truth.

Lyric: But mine beats twice as hard
Annotation:
This is one of the only times in the song where the writer (Gerard) implies himself. The only other time was when he said ‘though I’m empty when you go’ – this means that this occurrence is not common, and important. Taking the lyrics from the line above this one (which have already been analyzed), we can see that this is a continuation of them. It could mean two different things: one, that Gerard has grown stronger, and his heart beats twice as hard as it used to. Or two, Gerard’s heart is a metaphor for his love for the person he’s singing about. I personally think this ties into the song better – this would mean, though, that ‘they are all afraid’ that he is feeling something so strong.

Lyric: These are the eyes and the lies of the taken
Annotation:
When two people fall for each other (they are ‘taken’ with each other), sometimes they are known to lie. If this relationship could’ve been frowned upon, then the ‘taken’ might be known to lie about their relationship. But their eyes are the one place where truth can be seen, so therefore the line could be comparing the truth they have between each other and the lies they must tell to keep the relationship secret.

Lyric: There’s one thing
 They’ll never take from you
Annotation:
Here, the speaker is saying that the world will never take away how he feels about whoever he is singing to – his love is the one thing that cannot be taken away. This could also be direct reference to the B-side,  “The Light Behind Your Eyes.” In that song, a line says to “never let them take the light behind your eyes,” which could also be what the singer here is referring to.

Lyric: Are you thinking of me?
Annotation:
The repetition of this line in the song shows his true persistence. Obviously, this girl means a lot to Gerard and he wants her to think of him as highly as he thinks of her.

Lyric: (One day, like this
 We’ll never be the same
 Never, forever
 Like ghosts in the snow
 Like ghosts in the sun)
Annotation:
https://twitter.com/gerardway/status/318765796157423617 Lyrics from the song  “Vampires Will Never Hurt You” on My Chemical Romance’s first album.

Lyric: That the world is ugly
 But you’re beautiful to me
Annotation:
Society’s views on “beauty” are twisted- they make people feel bad about who they are. Gerard is telling a girl that even though she isn’t society’s view of beautiful, she’s still gorgeous.

Lyric: For every failing sun, there’s a morning after
Annotation:
There IS always another chance, but maybe the line also mean something like ‘You’ll get over me’ implying that the singer (Gerard) is actually the failing sun. The ‘morning after’ would be the time after the person got over him, or simply chose to not think about him.

