"Cancer" is a song by the American rock band My Chemical Romance, released as the eighth track from their third studio album, The Black Parade (2006).
The song was written by band members Bob Bryar, Frank Iero, Ray Toro, Gerard Way, and Mikey Way, and was produced by the group alongside Cavallo.
"Cancer" was praised by music critics for its sentimentality, though its bleakness was deemed excessive by some; nonetheless, it has been regarded as one of the best songs in the band's discography as a whole.
The song has been certified gold in the United States by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), and has notably been covered by American duo Twenty One Pilots in 2016.
[7] The band played "Cancer" during an October 2006 episode of Saturday Night Live in promotion of the album, alongside "Welcome to the Black Parade".
[14] Sia Michel of The New York Times called "Cancer" the "unlikeliest power ballad ever",[15] while Alternative Press instead classified the song as emo.
[4][19] The song takes on a first-person perspective,[19] depicting The Patient's struggle with the disease as he bemoans his "fading appearance" and wishes to bid his family goodbye.
[10][20] However, Gerard Way has also said that cancer was "being used as a metaphor",[7] and My Chemical Romance biographer Tom Bryant suggested that the song was about Way's depression, as it "crawled over him like an illness", and his relationship troubles.
[25] "Cancer" received generally positive reviews from music critics, with NME writing that it "packs an emotional punch so devastating and graphic that you could never call it rock'n'roll".
[26] Ariana Bacle of Entertainment Weekly ranked "Cancer" at sixth on The Black Parade, arguing that the "overtly bleak" nature of the track suited the album well.
[28] Similarly, Lauren Boisvert of American Songwriter placed the song at twelfth, calling it "hard to listen to" despite being a "masterpiece of narrative".
American musical duo Twenty One Pilots recorded a cover of "Cancer" for the 2016 tribute album Rock Sound Presents: The Black Parade.
Althea Legaspi of Rolling Stone wrote that the cover "stays faithful to the already melancholic song while ratcheting up the somberness a tad.
[41] Alternative Press called "Cancer" one of the best covers of a My Chemical Romance song, praising Tyler Joseph's vocals for having the "same kind of grace that he conveys on his albums".