House Of Wolves

Flick.:

Modern Myth:

*ashes to ashes, we all fall down* Is a refrence to the Black Plague, from London. Personally, this song is about hell, right?

<b> Feel proud, this is my first post on Imnotokay.net</b>

Ring around the rosie...?

Ring around the rosie was a song that was made up in England during the time of the black plague and chidren would sing it... It could be a reference to hell as was stated by Flick.
Makes perfect sense.

Ultrapeepi:

That's interesting. I never thought of it that way, but it makes a lot of sense. I guess I tend to get too caught up in the whole "concept album" idea and not focus on the actual band members.

Well, Gerard said it was a concept album but he also said that it was the truth about him layered over with "thinly veiled fiction". He's basically saying this isn't just a story about a made-up character. It's more personal than ever before.

well...thatz my fav song (i think) on the albulm....i think the house of wolves is about hell also...idk... but yeah thatz meh fav song and i hope someone will find the meaning^^ so try hard! yeah this is snow_white_sorrow (or nikki p.) so please find a meaning for this amazing song^^

Hey I was wondering...its obvious it has to do with hell and all of that. Choosing. But can it also be interpreted as like, decisions in life. The Patient is at the end of the road, and he looks back on it all. He could have gone both ways. So can it just be a song about heaven and hell and he ends up going to hell because of the sins he commited?

this song rocks!!!!!, i love it, it has something you can rock out to

I think it's basically about an evil man the patient meets on his journey to the afterlife.

"I know a thing about contrition, because I've got enough to spare."
Knowing that you're evil, and regretting the things you've done.

"And I'll be granting your permission because you haven't got a prayer."
Might also be a demon or Satan himself, saying 'you didn't believe and now you're gonna burn.'

"And I said hey, hey hallejulah,come on and sing the praise."
Hooray! I've taken your soul!

"And let the spirit come on through ya, we've got innocence for days."
Let the evil spirits take over any good left in you, it'll give you a false sense of security and innocence.

"Well I think I'm gonna burn in hell, everybody burn the house right down."
I know I'm gonna burn, oh well.

"Say what I wanna say, tell me I'm an angel, take this to my grave.
Tell me I'm a bad man, kick me like a stray."
I do whatever I want, and you still love me, but then you turn on me.

"You play ring around the ambulance like ya never gave a care."
You play jokes and do evil things and act like it's no big deal and you don't care if it's bad.

"So get the choir boys around you, it's a compliment I swear."
I really don't get it.

"And I said ashes to ashes we all fall down, I wanna hear ya sing the praise."
I was right, and wanna hear you admit that you've done wrong and you're gonna die.

"I said ashes to ashes we all fall down, we've got innocence for days."
We're all gonna die, so why not just do what we want?

"You better run like the devil cuz they're never gonna leave you alone."
Run all you want, they're still gonna get you.

"You better hide up in the alley because they're never gonna find you a home."
Just give it up, you'll always be a misfit, and you'll never be loved.

"And as the blood runs down the walls, you see me creeping up these halls."
The evil one is coming to kill you.

"I've been a bad mutherfucker, tell you're sister I'm another."
I don't really get that either.

Well, that's my interpretation of House of Wolves.
I also kinda think it's about Bert McCracken.

i think its about hell cos he says 'you better run like the devil cos theyre never gonna leave you alone' and i think they represents like the devil so the 'House of Wolves' = hell thin makes a lot of sense right now

When Gerard was talking about this song, he was mentioning that after the patient died and moved on after the black parade, he was reminded that there was a hell and the wages of sin, which freaked him out.

I feel like this song is showing that the person that is singing just doesn't care about what people think of him, he'll say what he'll want to say and do whatever he wants. That's just me.

"The spirit" would be the holy spirit; holy ghost, etc. ... I can pretty much guarantee that. Gerard was raised Catholic (and possibly still is; I'm not sure, I'd have to ask him myself), and "the spirit" is the holy spirit in Catholicism/Christianity. Each and every time. I've never seen "the spirit" be in reference to anything else when it's Catholicism/Christianity.

"Hallelujah, come on sing the praise" ... very similar things are often said in churches. I really don't think he's talking about himself getting praised. It seems that, in parts of this song, he's singing from the perspective of a priest or pastor, or at least the "character who's singing" is doing that, maybe in a mocking way.

As for "S-I-N" versus "YES, I AM!" ... "YES, I AM!" makes more sense to me, personally. And I never heard it as "S-I-N" until I read it that way and heard the song again. But I doubt there's any way to prove it unless someone specifically asks them (if there's an actual interview on a real site, that would be great). There's nothing in the lyrics booklet; the lyrics websites say it's "S-I-N" from what I've seen, but those websites are usually really, really off. I've seen some bizarre interpretations of "Helena" on even the most professional ones. XDDD;;

About whether or not the Patient thought he was going to hell because of his sins...I doubt that. Again, Gerard was raised Catholic. I've never met a Catholic who thought you'd go to hell if you sinned too much, because of forgiveness and purgatory. So the "Patient sinned too much to go to heaven" argument doesn't really hold up for me because of Gerard's background (and the possibility that he's very well still Catholic or Christian). I know for a fact--and I can prove it if I need to--he does believe in God.

"Tell me I'm an angel" and then "tell me I'm a bad man" ...actually, this reminds me of something my father went through at a verrrry icky church he worked at as a youth pastor. One minute, they'd adore him and say great things about him. The next, they'd spread rumors about him, fired him, and generally kicked him around. Unfortunately, the "angel one minute, bad man the next" mentality is common in a lot of churches nowadays of a certain type (rigid rules-based). And unfortunately, my father did adopt the "screw it, then, I'm a bad man" mentality for awhile after that as a result. I'm not sure if Gerard would even be aware of this kind of thing going on, but it's a possibility. I know it makes the news once in a while--"so-and-so high member of such-and-such church kicked out for doing this-and-that"...

I do think this song is about hell. Other than that, I'm not sure. I do know Gerard (and the rest of the band, I believe) was howling his head off in the darkness before the song at Madison Square Garden last night...that was fun. I think someone in the audience started that.

(By the way, before anyone asks...nope, I'm not Catholic. Just a Christian. X3)

that song is soo awesome..XD one of my fav

This is just my opinion, like it or lump it. I feel like it's a conversation with the Patient and a Priest who is there to give him last rites. The lines that give me this idea are "And I'll be grantin' your permission,
'Cause you haven't got a prayer." This to me says that the Priest is telling the patient he has the power to absolve him of his sins, but the Patient doesn't believe him. And then the verse about

You play ring around the ambulance,
Like you never gave a care.
So, get the choir boys around you,
It's a compliment, I swear.
And I said, ashes to ashes, we all fall down,
I wanna hear you sing the praise,
I said, ashes to ashes, we all fall down,
We got innocence for days!

Makes me think that the Patient doesn't believe in priests and that they just hang around hospitals trying to find people who are dying. And no matter what the priest tells him, he thinks he still gonna burn in hell because he's been so bad in his life and feels like he needs to be punished (kick me like a stray).

mcr_mom:

This is just my opinion, like it or lump it. I feel like it's a conversation with the Patient and a Priest who is there to give him last rites.
This to me says that the Priest is telling the patient he has the power to absolve him of his sins, but the Patient doesn't believe him.
... Makes me think that the Patient doesn't believe in priests and that they just hang around hospitals trying to find people who are dying. And no matter what the priest tells him, he thinks he still gonna burn in hell because he's been so bad in his life and feels like he needs to be punished (kick me like a stray).

i see where you're coming from... about the priest and the patient...
i don't know about the kick me like a stray bit, though...

maybe the "kick me like a stray" bit isn't so much as a punishment but used to symbolise a kind of indifference towards the absolution... like he feels someone kicking a stray could just fade into the background... yes its wrong... but its a stray... noone cares about it as much as a cherished pet... so he feels "yeh if you say i'm absolved of my sins... good...i guess i can die more peacefully... you've absolved them... i can go to heaven, right... but if you can't, is it going to make much of an effect... i'm already marked by my sins"
he knows he's done wrong in the past and he's haunted by it... the words of a priest can't (and won't) really do much for his conscience

then it goes to the bit at the end

"you better run like the devil cos they're never gonna leave you alone... "
which could fit in with the kick me like a stray... about how you can try and hide from your sins... from all the wrong you've done (like a priest absolving your sins in a hospital bed) but they're going to stay with you and haunt you forever... you can't escape...

"you better hide up in the alley cos they're never gonna find you a home"
(still with the escaping... like to a church or some other sanctuary... your sins and thoughts will still reach you there)

"and as the blood runs down the walls... you see me creeping up these halls"
(as all his memories come flooding back to him... he's trying to hide from them... or possibly not hiding from the sins but trying to hide the sins from others)

"i've been a bad motherfucker... tell your sister i'm another"
not only is he being haunted by his sins in his own conscience he has to deal with the whispers of everyone going on around him... they'll all talk about the bad things he's done regardless of whether the priest absolves him... so its like a "go on, just do it... tell everyone... everyone else is" kind of feeling


so thats how i feel it fits with your theory (which i like )... only not so much feeling like he needs to be punished... but like he is being punished every day... if you know what i mean

so you have the priest saying all these things to him... and while he's lying there he's thinking "you're really not going to help me... you just go after everyone dying you see. i can't make peace with God through you... i still can't make peace with myself"
he's mocking the priest trying to "help"... because he knows he'll be haunted by it forever.

well i always thought it was kinda bout the plague you know let th e spirit come on through you we got innocence for days bu i dunno their songs are so hard to figure out but thats what i love lol

i think its about gerards life he had in new jersey he writes alot about and wheni listen to it i get mental images of new jersey and newborn puppies (lol)

Lightning Zap:

Ring around the rosie was a song that was made up in England during the time of the black plague and chidren would sing it... It could be a reference to hell as was stated by Flick.

Tirvia of the day! didnt know that. thx 4 sharing

gonna look up the details now

Yknow the band has introduced me to so many bits of trivia that i wouldnt know otherwise. now if only i could put these interesting bits of knowledge to use.....

^ bugger. of COURSE. "ashes to ashes, we all fall down" is a clear-as-day reference to Ring Around The Rosie. =FAcePaLM= How could i not hv noticed that?? maybe becoz i havent thought abt the nursery rhyme in a loooong time...

I think house of wolves is about some idiot trying to be more than he could ever do

ITS THE LOONEY TUNES CARTOON!!!!
cause on the mcr welcomes u to the black aprade thats what they all said they imagined the looney tunes cartoon where the dude dies and he goes into hell which is a jazz club where wolves play
thus the name.....
basically its about the patient getting scared because hes starting to wonder if hes destined for hell

I think this song is about how he remembers all the things he's done in is life.
He's sorry for them but he doesn't regret them because he knows there's nothing he can do to change them.
And, how he can't fix his mistakes so he says you can call me whatever you want but that still can't change what I did and hurting me isn't going to solve it either.

So basically he's saying.
I screwed up, Im sorry. I can't fix it because it already happened. Nothing you can do will make it better. I'm going to hell. Get over it