アルバム紹介25 「The Black Parade」　My Chemical Romance　前編

こんにちは、記事に目を通していただき、ありがとうございます。

最近noteを積極的に書いていることにより、仕事での会議の議事録とりを褒められるようになりました。（それまで文脈が欠落していて酷かったんです）

なんにせよ、本を読む、文章を書くって素晴らしいことなんだなー、と、実感しております。

さて、少し前に「英語で音楽を学ぼう！」の記事で挙げた伝説のあの曲の伝説のあのアルバムをレビューしていきます！

そう、

My Chemical Romance 「The Black Parade」

です！

と、いっても、最近のバンドではなくて、2000年、2010年代に世界中でバカ売れしていたアメリカのバンドで、老若男女に愛されている世界の人気者です。

My Chemical Romance

出身：アメリカ合衆国ニュージャージー州
ジャンル：エモ、ポスト・ハードコア、スクリーモ
メンバー：ジェラルド・ウェイ （Vo）、レイ・トロ（Gt)、フランク・アイイアロ （Gt)、マイキー・ウェイ （Ba)
（過去にDrum担当はいたが、脱退済）

上記ジャンルは、Nicheシンドロームあたりのワンオクみたいなサウンドですが、
彼らの最大の特徴は、上記のロックサウンドにオペラの要素を混ぜており、曲をストーリー仕立てに表現しています。

また、「死」などをテーマにした曲が多く、コンセプトアルバムを多数リリースしているのも特徴のひとつです。

バンド名はベーシストのマイキー・ウェイの発案で、アーヴィン・ウェルシュのカルト小説『Ecstasy: Three Tales of Chemical Romance』に由来します。

2001年に結成し、2013年に一度解散してファンを驚かせますが、2019年には再結成している、苦労人バンドです。

では、彼らの伝説のアルバム、The Black Paradeの収録曲について見ていきましょう！

1. The End
2. Dead!
3. This Is How I Disappear
4. The Sharpest Lives
5. Welcome To The Black Parade
6. I Don't Love You
7. House Of Wolves
8. Cancer
9. Mama
10. Sleep
11. Teenagers
12. Disenchanted
13. Famous Last Words

ALBUM STORY
若くして癌を患った「the Patient (=病人、患者)」が一番強力な記憶 である、「The Black Parade」（バンド自身の別人格） を通して死を迎え、あの世でブラックパレードに参加しそこで自分の恐怖心や後悔と出会います。こうして旅の果てに主人公はもう一度生きたいと決心するという内容です。

1. The End

弾き語りから始まるこの曲のタイトルは、「終わり」。「死」がテーマだけあって、本来相応しくないタイトルがアルバムの入り口を飾ります。

確かにアルバムの最後に来てもおかしく無い曲展開ですね。

Now come one, come all to this tragic affair
Wipe off that makeup - What's in his despair?
So throw on the black dress, mix in with the lot
You might wake up and notice you're someone you're not

If you look in the mirror and don't like what you see
You can find out first-hand what it's like to be me
So gather 'round piggies and kiss this goodbye
I'd encourage your smiles
I'll expect you won't cry

Another contusion, my funeral jag
Here's my resignation, I'll serve it in drag
You've got front row seats to the penitence ball
When I grow up I want to be nothing at all
I said Yeah, Yeah
I said Yeah, Yeah

C'mon C'mon C'mon I said
Save me
Get me the hell out of here
Save me
Too young to die and my dear
You can't
If you can hear me just walk away and
Take me

The Endは、死を直前に迎えた主人公の嘆きと覚悟が歌われている曲です。

2. Dead!

曲調が一転して、ロックサウンドがメインになった２曲目はDead!
一瞬の余韻も挟まず、Dead!へ展開する様はまるで曲がつながっているかのように感じさせます。

タイトルに！がついているのは曲の後半で余命宣告をされることのインパクトでしょうか？

And in my honest observation
During this operation
Found a complication in your heart so long
'Cause now you've got
Maybe just two weeks to live

「正直な見解で、手術中に心臓に問題を見つけました。多分あと2週間の命かと思われます。」

And if your heart stops beating
I'll be here wondering
Did you get what you deserve?
The ending of your life
And if you get to heaven
I'll be here waiting, babe
Did you get what you deserve?
The end, and if your life won't wait
Then your heart can't take this

Have you heard the news that you're dead?
No one ever had much nice to say
I think they never liked you anyway
Oh take me from the hospital bed
Wouldn't it be grand?
It ain't exactly what you planned
And wouldn't it be great If we were dead
Oh dead

Tongue-tied and oh so squeamish
You never fell in love
Did you get what you deserve?
The ending of your life
And if we get to heaven
I'll be here waiting babe
Did you get what you deserve?
The end and if your life won't wait
Then your heart can't take this

Have you heard the news that you're dead?
No one ever had much nice to say
I think they never liked you anyway
Oh take me from the hospital bed
Wouldn't it be grand to take a pistol by the hand?
And wouldn't it be great if we were dead?

And in my honest observation
During this operation
Found a complication in your heart so long
'Cause now you've got
Maybe just two weeks to live
Is that the most the both of you can give?

1,2,1,2,3,4
La La La La La, La La La La La
La La La La La La
Well come on
La La La La La, La La La La La
La La La La La La(La La La La La.....)
If life ain't just a joke then why are we laughing?　×3
If life ain't just a joke then why am I dead?
DEAD！

Have you heard the news that you're dead?は、
あなたが死んでしまったNewsを聞きました？という訳ですが、幽体離脱した主人公が自分自身に問いかけてるとも取れますし、現世から、誰かが死んでしまった主人公に対して驚きながら尋ねているとも取れますね。

3. This Is How I Disappear

エモーショナルな泣きメロが多く、だんだんとギターが激しくなるのが特徴の3曲目。

直訳すると、これが僕の消える方法。

自分の直前の死を知ってしまった主人公の人生の後悔、死への恐怖を歌った曲です。

Go!
To un-explain the unforgivable
Drain all the blood and give the kids a show
By streetlight this dark night
A séance down below
There’s things that I have done
You never should ever know

And without you is how I disappear
And live my life alone forever now
And without you is how I disappear
And live my life alone forever now

Who walks among the famous living dead
Drowns all the boys and girls inside your bed
And if you could talk to me
Tell me if it’s so
That all the good girls go to heaven
Well, heaven knows

That without you is how I disappear
And live my life alone forever now
And without you is how I disappear
And live my life alone forever now

Can you hear me cry out to you?
Words I thought I’d choke on, figure out
I’m really not so with you anymore
I’m just a ghost
So I can’t hurt you anymore
So I can’t hurt you anymore

And now, you wanna see how far down I can sink?
Let me go, fuck!
So you can
Well, now, so you can
I’m so far away from you
Well, now, so you can

And without you is how I disappear
And without you is how I disappear
Forever, forever now

個人的にSo I can’t hurt you anymoreの最後でキーがぐんと高くなり、シャウトにもつれ込む一瞬がたまらなくカッコ良くて好きです。

4. The Sharpest Lives

直訳すると、最も鋭い命。
めちゃくちゃかっこいいタイトルですが、曲もめちゃくちゃかっこいいんです！
正直アルバムで一番好きかもしれません。

日本人に聞きやすいメロディーですね。

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 asking to leave

This alone, you're in time for the show
You're the one that I need
I'm the one that you loathe
You can watch me corrode like a beast in repose
'Cause I love all the poison
Away with the boys in the band

I've really been on a bender and it shows
So why don't you blow me a kiss before she goes?

Give me a shot to remember
And you can take all the pain away from me
A kiss and I will surrender
The sharpest lives are the deadliest to lead
A light to burn all the empires
So bright the sun is ashamed to rise and be
In love with all of these vampires
So you can leave like the sane abandoned me

There's a place in the dark where the animals go
You can take off your skin in the cannibal glow
Juliet loves the beat and the lust it commands
Drop the dagger and lather the blood on your hands, Romeo

I've really been on a bender and it shows
So why don't you blow me a kiss before she goes?

Give me a shot to remember
And you can take all the pain away from me
A kiss and I will surrender
The sharpest lives are the deadliest to lead
A light to burn all the empires
So bright the sun is ashamed to rise and be
In love with all of these vampires
So you can leave like the sane abandoned me

Give me a shot to remember
And you can take all the pain away from me
A kiss and I will surrender
The sharpest lives are the deadliest to lead
A light to burn all the empires
So bright the sun is ashamed to rise and be
In love with all of these vampires
So you can leave like the sane abandoned me

主人公が薬物にはまっていた記憶を辿る内容の歌詞です。
欲望で溢れた自分の心を空想のロミオとジュリエットに暴れさせる表現力は鬼才としか言いようがありません！

5. Welcome To The Black Parade

この物語の最大の名場面を飾るリードトラック、Welcome To The Black Paradeです。

ピアノの旋律とジェラルドの語りからしっとりと始まる衝撃の曲展開。
かと思えば、急に疾走感をまとい、まるで少年漫画の主題歌ばりにぶち上がるアッパーさ。

この１曲だけでもストーリーができてしまう最高傑作です。

ここで初めて、マイケミが作り出した架空の集団「The Black Parade」が登場し、主人公はいよいよ死を迎えます。

しかし、この曲は他の曲と違い、前向きな歌詞が多いのが特徴。

本当の死の直前で、父との記憶を思い出し、生きたい！と心から願う。
その思いが、サビで何度も登場する
We'll carry on　に乗っかっています！

When I was a young boy,
My father took me into the city
To see a marching band.

He said, "Son when you grow up,
would you be the saviour of the broken,
the beaten and the damned?"
He said "Will you defeat them,
your demons, and all the non-believers,
the plans that they have made?"
"Because one day I'll leave you,
A phantom to lead you in the summer,
To join The Black Parade."

When I was a young boy,
My father took me into the city
To see a marching band.
He said, "Son when you grow up,
would you be the saviour of the broken,
the beaten and the damned?"

Sometimes I get the feeling she's watching over me.
And other times I feel like I should go.
And through it all, the rise and fall, the bodies in the streets.
And when you're gone we want you all to know.

We'll carry on,
We'll carry on
And though you're dead and gone believe me
Your memory will carry on
We'll carry on
And in my heart I can't contain it
The anthem won't explain it.

A world that sends you reeling from decimated dreams
Your misery and hate will kill us all.
So paint it black and take it back
Let's shout it loud and clear
Do you fight it to the end? we hear the call

To carry on
We'll carry on
And though you're dead and gone believe me
Your memory will carry on
We'll carry on
And though you're broken and defeated
Your weary widow marches

On and on we carry through the fears
Ooh oh ohhhh
Disappointed faces of your peers
Ooh oh ohhhh
Take a look at me cause I could not care at all

Do or die, you'll never make me
Because the world will never take my heart
Go and try, you'll never break me
We want it all, we wanna play this part
I won't explain or say I'm sorry
I'm unashamed, I'm gonna show my scar
Give a cheer for all the broken
Listen here, because it's who we are
I'm just a man, I'm not a hero
Just a boy, who had to sing this song
I'm just a man, I'm not a hero
I! don't! care!

We'll carry on
We'll carry on
And though you're dead and gone believe me
Your memory will carry on
We'll carry on
And though you're broken and defeated
Your weary widow marches on

Do or die, you'll never make me
Because the world will never take my heart
Go and try, you'll never break me
We want it all, we wanna play this part (We'll carry on)

Do or die, you'll never make me (We'll carry on)
Because the world will never take my heart (We'll carry on)
Go and try, you'll never break me (We'll carry)
We want it all, we wanna play this part (We'll carry on)

英語で学ぼうの記事に、この曲の文法や単語、込められたストーリーを解説しているのでよかったら見てください！かなり勉強になります！

6. I Don't Love You

シングルカットされたミディアムバラード。

死んでしまった主人公は、自分の感情を隠すためのか、恋人に対して冷たくあしらいます。

Well, when you go
Don’t ever think I’ll make you try to stay
And maybe when you get back
I’ll be off to find another way

And after all this time that you still owe
You’re still a good-for-nothing I don’t know
So take your gloves and get out
Better get out while you can

When you go, and would you even turn to say
“I don’t love you like I did yesterday?”

Sometimes, I cry so hard from pleading
So sick and tired of all the needless beating
But baby, when they knock you down and out
Is where you ought to stay

And after all the blood that you still owe
Another dollar’s just another blow
So fix your eyes and get up
Better get up while you can
Whoa, whoa, whoa

When you go, and would you even turn to say
“I don’t love you like I did yesterday?”
Well, come on, come on

When you go, would you have the guts to say
“I don’t love you like I loved you yesterday?”
I don’t love you like I loved you yesterday
I don’t love you like I loved you yesterday

最近から英語学習をしている方をメインターゲットにしているため、今回初めて歌詞を全部載せました！

また、The Black Paradeは一つの壮大なストーリーのため、1記事でストリー解説しながら英語解説もしていると疲れてしまうので、今回はThe Endから I Don't Love Youまでを前編として区切ろうと思います！
（スタミナ切れです。すいません、、、）

後編の記事もすぐ出しますので楽しみにしてくださいね！

では、読んでいただきありがとうございました！