Stay Awake

Album: Not Included on an Album (2007)
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Songfacts®:

  • MCR frontman Gerard Way married LynZ of Mindless Self Indulgence on September 3, 2007 after the final date of Linkin Park's Projekt Revolution tour in Colorado, and the low key ceremony was performed backstage with the help of a member of Live Nation's touring staff, who was also an ordained minister. Tying the knot has influenced Way's songwriting and he told the NME January 19 2008 how this tune, which was premiered a couple of months later on MCR's November 2007 UK tour, reflected a more optimistic view on life. Said Way: "It's one of those songs that just spills out of you and you're very inspired. It's nice because it's a return to punk rock music. It feels like a rock song."

    He added: "It's letting somebody know something and it's knowing that yourself, and it's a great thing to know. It's a completely different direction, thematically, than what we're used to. We have stuff with a lot of hope in it but not like that. It's written from a different kind of place. It's not written from a place of skepticism at all."

    Way continued that this new outlook was a consequence of his marriage to Lyn-Z: "It's a direct result of learning something; learning something really amazing. That's what's supposed to happen to you as an artist and that's what supposed to happen in your life. It's one of the benefits of being a songwriter, you can show all your colors as they come out. It's really a special song to me."

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