Helena
by My Chemical Romance
- 123
- BPM
- E major
- Key
- 12B
- Camelot
- 36
- Danceability
- 1
- Acousticness
My Chemical Romance finished touring their first album in November 2003, and that same day Gerard and Mikey Way's grandmother, Elena, died. Gerard was upset that he had been unable to see her one last time during the final year of her life. He began writing "Helena" to honor her and filled the song with self-hatred for not being there. It was one of the last songs written for Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge. He said the emotions of those six days fueled the whole album.
Howard Benson produced the album, which came out on June 8, 2004, with "Helena" as its opening track. The song went to radio as the second single on March 8, 2005. Marc Webb directed the video, filmed at a church in Los Angeles. It was nominated for five MTV Video Music Awards in 2005 and won none.
"Helena" reached number 33 on the Billboard Hot 100, the band's first big hit there, and number one on the UK Rock and Metal chart. It is certified 4x platinum in the United States, 2x platinum in Canada and platinum in the UK and New Zealand. In 2019 it reached number 19 on the Hot Rock and Alternative Songs chart after the band announced its reunion. It is often the closing song at their concerts.
Helena runs at 123 BPM, the tempo of house, disco and most club dance music. In classical terms it sits in allegro territory. A bar of 4/4 lasts 1.95 seconds, and a quarter-note delay is 488 ms. It is in E major, Camelot 12B, which shares its notes with C# minor and mixes cleanly with A major and B major.
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