
So I won’t stop dying, won’t stop lying.
If you want I’ll keep on crying. Did you
get what you deserve? Is this what you
always want me for?
“When we started this band all we ever wanted to do was write songs that meant something to us and play them live for as many people as we possibly could, and now in our old age all we want is exactly the same thing… and that’s why canceling shows kills us so much, playing for people is what we live for. Your off-time applause, your beautiful dirty faces, your raw energy, and your wretched little voices singing our lyrics back to us fuel our fire, you make us feel alive, and we love every single one of you for that.” —Frank Iero.
Interviewer: On the “I’m Not Okay” video, Gerard says “I don’t wanna make it, I just wanna…” and then it cuts to the music. Can you finish that sentence for us? “I don’t wanna make it, I just wanna…”
Frank Iero: See, the original line was… well, it summed up the entire cheesiness of the teen movie type thing. It was “I just wanna rock!” And it was just too much. We wrote a million other things, “I just wanna be myself”… ah, what were the other ones… there were so many. But we just left it open because I think you get a lot more out of it if you just leave it open and put whatever you want to put in there. In that scene, Gerard is like every kid. He’s me, he’s you, he’s everyone. It’s like, you know what, a lot of people are told they aren’t going to make it, but just do what you do best and live your life. Live it for yourself, and really just fuck everybody else. [x]