I don’t know if this is anything…buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut.
Since we’re talking about MCR songs, there is actually one that I do associate with Jack and Boodle! (Said song is also on their fan-made playlist that I made on Spotify lol).
“Kill All Your Friends” is a song I associate with them! Similar reasons as to what I had said in the ask you sent me—i.e., picturing the buildup to + the climax of the original FH story. BUT. I also picture beginning parts which are more, like, my interpretation of events + sprinkled in Boodle headcannons here and there.
The beginning part of that song is just plain Boodle identity issues and existentialism, babyyyyyyyyyyy. Also, Boodle being so painfully aware from the beginning that his death is imminent and inescapable. And he’s just gonna start over again, and again, and again, and again, and again. “And you can sleep in a coffin, but the past ain’t through with you”. UGH.
And then the “…tell me, baby, who do you wanna be?” Is Jack giving him an opportunity, inadvertently, to be a person? To find himself? To have friends and to LIVE for once?
And then the part where it’s “Sometimes you scrape and sink so low…” is kind of a back and forth with Jack and Boodle when things start to ramp up and start going not so good. Boodle starting it, internally, feeling so low of himself and also having the lines “I was killing before killing was cool” and “You’re so cool, you’re so cool, so cool” because. At least to me, I feel like all the reality warping takes a MASSIVE toll on Boodle. And I feel like, in some way, Boodle starts feeling really guilty and also terrified by these “abilities” that stem from HIS core that he CAN’T CONTROL and is DESPERATELY AFRAID that somehow, accidentally, he’ll hurt someone. And because of that he’s just like…when Jack is so fascinated by him and thinks this sorta stuff is cool—especially with all the dream stuff the two would do together—and thinks that HE has a shot at living and could be, like, “a planeswalker”????? He’s so utterly confused???? And is just like????? Whhhhhyyyyyyy would you think that????? Can’t you understand that I COULD hurt people???? WHY DO YOU THINK I’M COOL???? In some way, it could be sweet cause’ I highly doubt anyone he’d ever known thought of him like that but, like, for the most part…I think it’d haunt him.
And then, on the Jack side of things, he has the lines: “I’m shocked at what you’re capable of” because he thinks Boodle is cool and interesting and mysterious and…literally the coolest person he’s ever met? Like, he has magic! That’s so cool! And “So, tell me all about your problems” because he…does start to see a shift in Boodle at some point and tries to help him as best he can. I see this part happening shortly after the game of tag they had on the hill.
The chorus part “‘Cause we all wanna party when the funeral ends…/…And we all get together when we bury our friends” is the climax part (WHICH, by the way, I do choose to picture Jack seeing Boodle get his core get ripped out because one, extra angst, and two, he LITERALLY, more or less, SEES HIS BEST FRIEND DIE AND CAN DO NOTHING TO STOP IT—which I am totally sure was NOT cannon but…for the sake of making this more angsty…I chose to roll with it lol). And then the “And you’re walking away / And I will die in this place” is the part where Boodle makes the choice to leave after re-growing his core and the whole “swing-set goodbye” they have in their dreams.
THEN. The bridge part “You’ll never take me alive…/ Do what it takes to survive, ‘cause I’m still here” is Jack doing the transdimensional ferry stuff to go find Boodle in the Nexus. And yada, yada, yada…the rest follows the same stuff in the FH write-up more or less.
Besides Jack and Boodle though, another MCR song I associate with just Boodle is “Mama”. Which, may or may not be self explanatory based on the title alone lol. BUT. A lot of the lines reminded me of him. Especially this part: “If you could coddle the infection, they can amputate at once / You should’ve been, I could have been a better son”. Because, like, Box TRIED to raise him. Give him the best life he could after all of the initial ????? What the heck is this weird child???? Was mostly gone. But, it would never really amount to anything in the end because Boodle, no matter how much Box or the other Spine’s or even the Walter’s cared about him…they would all just end up forgetting him in the end. And then HE would be FORCEFULLY removed/erased (amputated) from the narrative JUST TO COME BACK AND DO IT ALLLLLLLLLLLLL OVER AGAIN (If you couldn’t tell, time looping Boodle is VERY interesting to me). AND ALSO. Boodle having issues with identity and who he “should/should’ve been” because he’s supposed to be a “Spine” but he just kinda…isn’t? So he kinda just pretends to be???? Even though he’s not and will never be one because he’s just too much…him???? He’s too “different” to be a “normal Spine”. And also him feeling like a burden stuff and feeling like he could’ve been a better son if only the Powers That Be could stop using him like a PUPPET ON A STRING FOR THEIR OWN ENTERTAINMENT.
ALSO ALSO. This line: “But there’s sh*t that I’ve done with this f*ck of a gun / You would cry out your eyes all along”…which also ties into the whole because Boodle can’t control the reality warping stuff thats caused by his core…even though it never DID technically happen…he’s mortified by the potentiality of “doing” HORRIBLE STUFF TO PEOPLE/THOSE HE CARES ABOUT BECAUSE OF HIS STUPID DEFECTIVE HORRIBLE BROKEN CORE…stuff that I had mentioned before.
And then there’s also: “We’re damned after all…/…To return from the ashes you call / We all carry on / When our brothers in arms are gone / So raise your glass high, for tomorrow, we die” …Which is basically just the tragedy of all of the paradox kids. At some point in all of their cannons (except for Junior…for some reason…I guess) I’m pretty sure they’re all supposed to disappear in the end. But BOODLE of course was so beloved HE just HAD TO COME BACK (In my original Boodle lore post I explained my logic and rational for time looping Boodle by the way, I’m not sure if you read it or not) and return from the ashes time and time again.
So, uh. Yeah. There’s that. Sorry that this got pretty long, I was just reminded of the MCR songs I personally associate with Boodle because of your ask and then I thought that maybe you’d find it interesting if I shared my reasonings for these songs (which are all on the Boodle playlist, let me assure you of that lol) and why I associate them with him!
I need to go back and re-read my own write-up haha. And listen to that first song, I know Mama but not that one. It's cool that it's a long ask, I don't think I've read everything you've posted but even though it's like, sad HCs and a bittersweet story I still find it heartwarming, since these two meant the world to me back then. Thanks for sharing!!
