# Disenchanted (My Chemical Romance song)

"Disenchanted" is a song by the American rock band My Chemical Romance from their third studio album The Black Parade (2006). A power ballad, the song is centered around the album's central figure, "The Patient", as he nears the end of his life and reflects on his past. It was the first song to be performed live from the album, with an early version titled "Shut Up And Play" being performed throughout the band's 2005 tour. It was then almost cut from The Black Parade, until the bassist Mikey Way advocated for its inclusion in the final album. The song has been met with mixed responses from critics, with some viewing it as well-written, and others considering the song to be forgettable.

## Background and release

While touring for their second studio album, Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge (2004), My Chemical Romance wrote and recorded demos for several songs in their tour bus's makeshift studio. Gerard Way referred to these demo recordings as "Cheers part two", a side project the band initially had no plans of releasing. Among these demo recordings was an early version of "Disenchanted", originally titled "Shut Up and Play". The song was worked on as the tour continued, being played during soundchecks for their concerts. In early 2006, the band went to S.I.R. Studios in New York City to begin writing their next studio album, The Black Parade (2006). During this time, the band went through their bus demos and began finishing work on them. "Disenchanted", in particular, would receive a complete lyrical overhaul over the next few months. The song was almost cut from the track list of The Black Parade, but the band's bassist Mikey Way successfully advocated for the song's inclusion on the final record. The song, alongside the rest of the album, was produced by Rob Cavallo, and was collectively written by all members of the band.
The Black Parade was released on October 23, 2006 via Reprise Records; "Disenchanted" is the 12th song in the standard tracklist. The song was also included on the 2008 live album and DVD The Black Parade is Dead!, which featured the final show of The Black Parade Tour. The song was included as part of The Black Parade/Living with Ghosts, a 10th anniversary reissue of The Black Parade, alongside a live demo of the song. Due to the song being performed during the band's Revenge tour, "Disenchanted" was the first song from The Black Parade to ever be performed live. After The Black Parade Tour, where the song was performed alongside the rest of The Black Parade, the band went seventeen years without playing the song , only playing it at the band's performance at When We Were Young in 2024, once again as part of The Black Parade in it's entirety.

## Composition and lyrics

"Disenchanted" is an emo song. It is four minutes and fifty-five seconds long, and 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. Lyrically, the song revolves around the album's central figure, "The Patient", as he reflects upon his life as he nears his death. In the process, he criticizes his high-school idols, and amounts his life to nothing more than a "lifelong wait for a hospital stay".

## 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 a 2023 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 that the band had written, describing it as a "truly masterful power-ballad that ruminates on the futility of life." In 2024, another readers poll from the same magazine ranked the song as the second best from The Black Parade, behind "Sleep". 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 album's 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.