this is a brilliant song representing that one who lives by violence and death shall die by it and be forever cursed possibly about the thousand bodies storyline im not sure but definitely referrs to the life and death of a murderer and the one he loves

i know this is the only song that ever mentions the killing really, but i think the whole ablum can be connected to the whole thousand bodies thing..
all the songs on the album where writen with these things in mind...
-the man (demolition lovers guy)
-the women
-the killing of 1000 evil men
-the man(gerard) speaking or singing to the women, or vice versa
-the fear of losing someone
- or sometimes even all of these thing have their place in a single song
helena or cemetary drive, is the first song in the story; losing someone you love, someone dying. (the women dying)
thank you for the venom is the next song in the story, after the death of the women, the man makes his grief know to the world in the form of a horrible bloody massacre. venting his rage and sorrow on on his victims, killing randomly, running from the law, the man cares not wether he lives or dies... the song also mentions the mans first encounter with the devil.
the following songs have no distinct place in the storys line up(they dont have to be in order)
-the kiling of 1000 evil men-
to the end- the victems in this song are a cheating husband (possibly homosexual) and a super materialistic wife.
prision- the main victems are murderers and rapists
im not ok- the story behind this is of a deranged student who shoots up his school; he is the victem in this song
Hang 'Em High- after so much killing the man is getting closer and closer to his goal of 1000 evil souls
but at the same time he is making more and more enemies.
I Never Told You What I Do For A Living- the man is trying desparately to scrape together the last of the evil souls, befor he is killed him self.. finaly the devil returnes to to to tell he that it is imposible to find any more evil souls because he has killed them all, teh women is brought back to life. but them they are both killed with gun shots to the back of the head because they are the last evil souls on earth. in death they can finaly be together.

This song is about a murderer trying to kill his lover.

"Stay out of the light
Or the photograph that I gave you..."

This is the man trying to lead the woman away from safety...it also establishes the fact that he knows her, with implying that there was a photograph he gave her some time ago.

"You can say a prayer if you need to
Well, just get in line and I'll grieve you
Can I meet you alone?"

She knows about what he does, and is scared to be alone with him, so he's saying, "Say a prayer if you need to." He's implying what he's about to do with the line, "Get in line and I'll grieve you." Once again, the man restates the fact that he wants to meet her away from people, where he won't get caught.

"Another night, and I'll see you
Another night, and I'll be you..."

He further establishes the fact that he knows this woman. They've been together for some time.

"Some other way to continue
To hide my face..."

These lines imply that he's done something horrible; or else, why would he need "to hide [his] face"?

"Another knife in my hands..."

Obvious what this implies. He's killed before, and he's going to again.

"A stain that never comes off the sheets..."

Blood.

"Clean me off...
I'm so dirty, babe
The kind of dirty where the water never cleans off the clothes..."

This is showing that the woman knows what he's doing. He's asking her to "clean [him] off," which can be taken as literal or metaphorical--the literal meaning being he's covered in blood, the metaphorical one being that he was hoping her innocence can wash away his sins.

"I keep a book of the names and those..."

Directly establishes the fact that he's killed many times before.

"Only go so far
'Till you bury them
So deep and down we go..."

Talking about the people he's killed...how easy he does it. "So deep and down we go" is possibly a line that's foreshadowing what may happen to him and her at the end.

"Touched by angels, though
I fall out of grace..."

He used to be a good man...maybe while he was with her ("touched by angels"), he stopped killing. But then he relapsed to his old addiction, and killed again.

"I did it all so maybe
I'd live this every day..."

He enjoys killing.

"Another knife in my hands
A stain that never comes off the sheets
Clean me off...
I'm so dirty, babe..."

Already explained this portion.

"It ain't the money, and it sure as hell ain't just for the fame
It's for the bodies I claim and lose..."

Further establishing his love for murder. It also implies that people know about his murders, and that he may kill those who are rich and wealthy ("it ain't the money".

"Only go so far
'Till you bury them
So deep and down we go..."

Already explained.

"Down...
And down we go...
And down we go...
And down we go...
And we all fall down!"

Shows that everyone dies in the end. Possibly a foreshadow of the inevitable end for him and his lover.

"I tried!
I tried!"

He tried to control his addiction; he tried to live a normal, happy life with his lover, but failed.

"And we'll all dance along
To the tune of your death
We'll love again, we'll laugh again
And it's better off this way..."

Trying to convince the woman that her death will make everyone happy.

"And never again
And never again
They gave us two shots to the back of the head
And we're all dead now
Well, never again
And never again
They gave us two shots to the back of the head
And we're all dead now..."

There's a flaw in his plans; maybe the police show up? Anyway, someone shows up, and shoots both him and the woman, assuming that she was somehow a participant in his crimes.

"I tried!"

Already explained.

"One more night, one more night!
Where I'll...
Laugh out! Cry out! Laugh out loud!"

He gets to kill again, and be happy again; however, he'll also "cry out" because he still holds feelings for her.

"I tried!
Well, I tried!
Well, I tried!"

Already explained.

"'Cause I tried...
But I lied.
I lied!"

He lied to her about who he was, and what he was about to do to her that night, and possibly feels shame for it.

"I tried!
I tried!
I tried..."

Already explained.

"And we'll love again...
We'll laugh again...
We'll cry again...
And we'll dance again.
And it's better off this way, so much better off this way..."

He feels it's better off if she's dead, so he can further pursue his murderous ambitions.

"I can't clean the blood off the sheets on my bed!"

He realizes now that he can't change who he is; he's a monster, and it was foolish of him to believe that he could change.

"Well, never again
And never again
They gave us two shots to the back of the head
And we're all dead now."

Restating what happens to them both. It doesn't matter what he was going to do to her now bec ause they're both dead.

Wonderful song...

Great song, it grows on you. From what I read, the concept album is about how the man and woman from 'Bullets' end up dead, with the man in purgatory, but his love is hell-bound, and he thus makes a deal with satan to save her soul in return for a thousand evil men's corpses. This song seems to me like he failed in the bargain, that Satan gave the man a set amount of time to gather the corpses, but he failed. The beginning is, to me, about how the killing has affected him, making him 'dirty'. The second half seems to be his final failing, from how he says things like 'I tried', 'one more night', which definately sounds like he's apologizing to her and pleading for a little more time, and 'it's better off this way', because at least they'll be together in Hell. The part about 'we'll love again, we'll laugh again...' could be his last hopeful thoughts, and the two shots to the back of the head could be what happened that got them killed in the first place, or could mean that he's used up his second chance.

here we go again, these are all metaphors to killing an evil lifestyle he can't seem to kick. sex and drugs and rock and roll. sex and drugs and drinking. and he's as bad as the lifeless ones he's partying with. and an adress book of the lifeless girls he's done. he can't break the addictions.

hey this is the first time ive ever used this so easy on the abuse!
i like the idea of the whole getting a 1000 bodies to get his woman but do they both have to be evil? when i first heard it i thought the devil had just taken some guys wife and said you can have her back after a 1000 evil people are killed. and as he killed them he became more and more evil hence the line

Another night and ill see you.
Another night and ill be you.

like he's becoming as bad as all the people he's killed.
and maybe he killed himself as the 1000th person? like cause he says we're all dead now?
could be wrong just trying to sound smart!
oh and the other reason i signed up was to call out Bella Muerto or whatever it is.
how are we supposed to understand the meaning of a song if the lyrics are wrong?
DUH!

It is most certainly not their best work. I mean for them it not that good at all. Still worth a listen or two like everything else by MCR.

Somewhere i think this ties in with the whole concept of the album that isnt so like, distinct or clear

but i always think mobster/gang or murderer for what he doesx for a living, just from the lyrics

AHHHH! I love the part, "Never again, never again, they gave us two shots to the back of the head and we're all dead nooowwww." I always sing it and everyone's just like, "You alright there?"
Ha ha.

Listen, everyone...
I never told you what I do for a living...
...
...
...
I CLEAN TOILETS! YAY! YEAH, MAN!