Lyric of the Week

Lyric of the Week: Skylines and Turnstiles (My Chemical Romance)

Lyric of the WeekI was at home this morning, fifteen years ago, having recently been laid off from work, watching NBC’s Today. Katie Couric broke away to show that a commercial jet had flown into the World Trade Center. Shortly after that, America watched as a second plane flew into the opposite tower.

Gerard Way (of My Chemical Romance) was on his way to work when he saw this happen and it inspired him to write “Skylines and Turnstiles,” the first song written by the band.

Enjoy Skylines and Turnstiles by My Chemical Romance (from 2002’s I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love).

You’re not in this alone
Let me break this awkward silence
Let me go!
Go on record,
Be the first to say I’m sorry
Hear me out
And if you take me down,
Would you lay me out?
And if the world needs something better,
Let’s give them one more reason now

We walk in single file
We light our rails and punch our time
Ride escalators colder than a cell

This broken city sky
Like butane on my skin
Stolen from my eyes
Hello angel, tell me
Where are you?
Tell me, where we go from here
This broken city sky
Like butane on my skin
Stolen from my eyes
Hello angel, tell me
Where are you?
Tell me where we go from here
Tell me we go from…

And in this moment we can’t close the lids
On burning eyes
Our memories blanket us with friends we know
Like fallout vapor
Steel corpses stretch out towards an ending sun
Scorched and black
It reaches in and tears your flesh apart
As ice cold hands rip into your heart

That’s if you’ve still got one that’s left
Inside that cave you call a chest
And after seeing what we saw
Can we still reclaim our innocence?
And if the world needs something better
Let’s give them one more reason now

This broken city sky
Like butane on my skin
And stolen from my eyes
Hello angel, tell me
Where are you?
Tell me, where we go from here
This broken city sky
Like butane on my skin
Stolen from my eyes
Hello angel, tell me
Where are you?
Tell me where we go from here
Tell me where we go from here

If you have a favorite song that features entertaining lyrics which you’d like to see featured as a Lyric of the Week, drop me a line in the comments (or email me at ed@suitcasefullofdimes.com) and tell me what you find special about the song.