Album: Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys (2010)
Charted: 50 58
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This anthemic tune is the second official single from the American alternative rock band My Chemical Romance's fourth album Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys. The song debuted on November 3, 2010 on BBC Radio 1 and subsequently on the band's MySpace site and several other radio stations.
  • Frontman Gerard Way explained to the British newspaper The Sun that the song takes its title from a 1991 Blur song, which later appeared on the Trainspotting soundtrack. Said Way: "Just listen to the track 'Sing' - the notion of singing it out to followers. And I gave it the title because I loved the Blur track 'Sing' and Damon Albarn was so important to me when I was growing up."
  • The song's music video was directed by P.R. Brown (Prince, Mötley Crüe, Smashing Pumpkins) and carries on from the Na Na Na clip in portraying the My Chem lads as members of the renegade gang the Fabulous Killjoys.
  • My Chemical Romance recorded Danger Days with Black Parade producer Rob Cavallo following an aborted collaboration with Brendan O'Brien. This song contributed to the band's decision to scrap much of what they had already recorded and start over. Gerard Way explained to Billboard magazine: "'SING' is the song I'm most proud of on the record. We had recorded 'SING' fourth and that's when we realized we were re-tracking the album. What I love about it is that it's the band finally writing music free of genre or anything else - writing music solely as fans of music and with a very broad, direct, world view. It started with a beat. The song just took this beat and that's how we started writing it. We kind of mediated on that beat for days. The song ended up really important, really early for us so it was pretty great. That's when we realized, 'Alright, we're doing something special here. We're finally on to something. Let's finish this album.'"
  • The song was performed on the Fox TV show Glee in the 2011 episode titled, Comeback. MCR became the first contemporary rock band to have a song on the hugely popular TV show in the process and guitarist Ray Toro told Rock AAA that he believed having their music featured on the hit show is another way for the New Jersey rockers to have their music heard. He explained: "With the record industry the way it is now, with pop music the only thing dominant, I think you have to make choices like this to make inroads into things."
  • My Chemical Romance released a re-envisioned version of the song on April 13, 2011, entitled "#SINGItforJapan," to raise money for the Red Cross' ongoing disaster relief efforts in Japan. This was in part because they noticed their fans had begun using the lyrics to send messages of hope to the Japanese nation after the earthquake that devastated the country. "We talked about something that we could do, and at first we were thinking about writing a new song to raise money for charity," Ray Toro told MTV News. "And on Twitter, something we had seen was #SINGitforjapan, and it was kids starting this Twitter feed, writing messages of hope. And that really inspired us, and we just set to work, and after a couple weeks, we were able to pull this thing together."

Comments: 1

  • Megan from Stevenson, AlI SING this all the time at school! It's sooo addicting:)
see more comments

Editor's Picks

Leslie West of Mountain

Leslie West of MountainSongwriter Interviews

From the cowbell on "Mississippi Queen" to recording with The Who when they got the wrong Felix, stories from one of rock's master craftsmen.

Mike Rutherford (Genesis, Mike + The Mechanics)

Mike Rutherford (Genesis, Mike + The Mechanics)Songwriter Interviews

Mike Rutherford talks about the "Silent Running" storyline and "Land Of Confusion" in the age of Trump.

90210 to Buffy to Glee: How Songs Transformed TV

90210 to Buffy to Glee: How Songs Transformed TVSong Writing

Shows like Dawson's Creek, Grey's Anatomy and Buffy the Vampire Slayer changed the way songs were heard on TV, and produced some hits in the process.

Rufus Wainwright

Rufus WainwrightSongwriter Interviews

Rufus Wainwright on "Hallelujah," his album Unfollow The Rules, and getting into his "lyric trance" on 12-hour walks.

Zakk Wylde

Zakk WyldeSongwriter Interviews

When he was playing Ozzfest with Black Label Society, a kid told Zakk he was the best Ozzy guitarist - Zakk had to correct him.

Don Brewer of Grand Funk

Don Brewer of Grand FunkSongwriter Interviews

The drummer and one of the primary songwriters in Grand Funk talks rock stardom and Todd Rundgren.