Disenchanted (My Chemical Romance song)

"Disenchanted"
Song by My Chemical Romance
from the album The Black Parade
Released	October 23, 2006 (2006-10-23)
Recorded	2005
Length	4:55
Label	Reprise
Songwriter(s)	Bob Bryar Frank Iero Ray Toro Gerard Way Mikey Way
Producer(s)	Rob Cavallo

"Disenchanted" is a song by the American rock band My Chemical Romance from their third studio album The Black Parade (2006). It is one of the album's three power ballads, and is centered around the album's central figure, "The Patient", as he nears the end of his life and reflects on his past. The song has received mixed responses from critics.

Background and release

"Disenchanted" was created during My Chemical Romance's 2005 tour to promote Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge (2004), originally being titled "Shut Up And Play". It was the first song performed live from The Black Parade (2006). Despite this, the song was almost cut from the final album, though the bands bassist Mikey Way managed to advocate for the songs inclusion. The Black Parade was released on October 23, 2006 via Reprise Records; "Disenchanted" is the 12th song in the standard tracklist.

Composition and lyrics

"Disenchanted" is one of three power ballads from The Black Parade, alongside "I Don't Love You" and "Sleep". The song starts and ends with an acoustic guitar, an instrument that the band hadn't dominantly used in any prior songs. The lyrics, sung by frontman Gerard Way, revolve around the album's central figure, "The Patient", as he nears the end of his life and reflects upon his past. Some of his reflections include criticizing his idols, and describing life as a "lifelong wait for a hospital stay". Despite the dark lyrics, the song itself is relatively upbeat.

Reception

Reactions towards "Disenchanted" were mixed, with some believing it to be a memorable, well-written power ballad, and others believing it to forgettable. In an readers poll for Alternative Press, "Disenchanted" was voted as the third best song by My Chemical Romance. The magazine's Alessandra Schade described the song as overlooked in comparison to other ballads from The Black Parade, though still stood out from the rest of the album. She wrote that the tone of the songs lyrics were some of the best songs about life and death that the band had written, describing it as a "truly masterful power-ballad that ruminates on the futility of life." Writing for Paste, Eli Enis wrote that the song's lyrics were "some of the most tragic subject matters" on The Black Parade, serving as a "gut-punching reminder of our inescapable morality" as well as a "right-hook to the rockstar facade." He described the song as of My Chemical Romance's "most poignant artistic statements". Louder's Marianne Eloise ranked "Disenchanted" as the 14th best song by the band, writing that the band created ballads "like nobody else", and described the song as a "Queen-like" effort.

Ariana Bacle of Entertainment Weekly felt that the song wasn't "worth writing home about on its own", but viewed it as a nice "calm before the storm" song as the final track in the album before "Famous Last Words", as well as a break from the rest of the albums energetic songs. Writing for Loudwire, Jake Richardson described "Disenchanted" as one of the worst songs created by the band. In a play on the songs title, he felt that the song delivered a "disenchanted" message towards people trying to discover the band during its height in popularity. Another editor for Alternative Press, Mackenzie Templeton, felt that while the songs lyrics and their delivery were able to pull the listener in, it was not as unique as other songs from The Black Parade.

Live performances

"Disenchanted" was performed alongside every other song from The Black Parade in 2007 as part of the bands touring set list. The song then went seventeen years without being played live, only being performed during When We Were Young 2024, also alongside every other song from The Black Parade.