Drowning Lessons
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Drowning Lessons Lyrics
Without a sound, I took her down
And dressed in red and blue, I squeezed
Imaginary wedding gown
That you can't wear in front of me
[Chorus]
A kiss goodbye, your twisted shell
As rice grains and roses fall at your feet
Let's say goodbye the hundredth time
And then tomorrow, we'll do it again
[Post-Chorus]
Tomorrow, we'll do it again
[Verse 2]
I dragged her down, I put her out
And back there, I left her where no one could see
And lifeless, cold into this well
I stared as this moment was held for me
[Chorus]
A kiss goodbye, your twisted shell
As rice grains and roses fall at your feet
Let's say goodbye the hundredth time
And then tomorrow, we'll do it again
I never thought it'd be this way
Just me and you, we're here alone
And if you say, all I'm asking for is
A thousand bodies piled up
I never thought would be enough
To show you just what I've been thinking
And I'll keep on making more
Just to prove that I adore every inch of sanity
All I'm asking for is, all I'm asking for is...
Come on!
[Bridge]
These hands, stained red
From the times that I've killed you and then
We can wash down this engagement ring
With poison and kerosene
We'll laugh as we die
And we'll celebrate the end of things
With cheap champagne
[Outro]
Without, without a sound
Without, without a sound, and I wish you away
Without a sound, and I wish you away
Without a sound, without a sound, and I wish you away
Without a sound, without a sound, and I wish you away
Without a sound, without a sound, and I wish you away
About
“Drowning Lessons” is about the manifestation of the narrator’s guilt over the death of his lover. He relives the same day over and over again, you see this when the narrator says:
Tomorrow we’ll do it again
and
Say goodbye for the hundredth time
One of the main connections between “Drowning Lessons” and the plot is the phrase ‘a thousand bodies piled up,’ which is what the devil had asked for.
Q&A
Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning
“Drowning Lessons” is known for being ‘cursed’; MCR has estimated that they’ve only played the song live a handful of times. In an AMA on reddit in 2014, Gerard Way, former frontman, said:
Just various stuff would go wrong, everything from starting the song at different times, to amps and drums breaking. It was also too personal for me to want to sing it live.
Earlier, in 2013 as Way was tweeting his listen through MCR’s discography, he said this about “Drowning Lessons”:
In a video from 2003 Gerard mentions the song:
We’re about to play a song, that we never play live, that we just started playing on this tour – it’s called ‘Drowning Lessons.’
This line could have quite a variety of meanings. The first would be the album’s storyline, where a man must kill 1,000 others in order to be reuined with his lover.
Alternatively, this could be referring to someone named ‘Kat.’ It is believed that she was a girlfriend of Gerard’s, but sje was never mentioned besides the sidenote in Bullets, reading,
To K: I’m sorry I wrote all this stuff about killing you, I hope the last song makes up for it!
An additional message adressesed to ‘Katmandu’ can be found in The Black Parade, but it remains unknown if this is the same person.