"Wake Up"

Album Art by Bill Scoville.

### Appears on

*Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV - Volume One: From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness*

### Mastering

Brian Gardner

**"Wake Up"** is a song by the American rock band Coheed and Cambria. It is the eighth song on their 2005 album *Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV - Volume One: From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness*. A demo version exists on the *GAIBSIV Demos* cassette.

## Lyrics

**[Verse 1]**

I'm gonna ride this plane out of your life again

I wish that I could've stayed, but you argued

More than this, I wish you could've seen my face

In the backseat, staring out the window

I'll do anything for you

Kill anyone for you

**[Pre-Chorus]**

So leave yourself intact

'Cause I will be coming back

In a phrase to cut these lips

I love you

**[Chorus]**

The morning will come

In the press of every kiss, with your head upon my chest

Where I will annoy you

With every waking breath, till you decide to wake up

**[Verse 2]**

I earned through hope and faith

The curves around your face

That I'm the one you'll hold, forever

If morning never comes for either one of us

Then this, I pray to you, wherever

I'll do anything for you, this story is for you

*('Cause I'd do anything you want me to... for you)*

I'll do anything for you, kill anyone for you

**[Pre-Chorus]**

So leave yourself intact

'Cause I won't be coming back

In a phrase to cut these lips

I loved you

**[Chorus]**

The morning will come

In the press of every kiss, with your head upon my chest

Where I will annoy you

With every waking breath, until you decide to wake up

The morning will come

In the press of every kiss, with your head upon my chest

Where I will annoy you

With every waking breath, 'til you decide to wake up

## Story Context

This song is probably from Erica's perspective. After Ryder continues to speak to Ten Speed, whom she can't see or hear, she decides to leave and begins crying. When he asks her where she's going, she answers, "To get you help." Of course, this does not go over well with him and he decides to tie her to a chair.

In the song, we can see the parallels in Verse 1 with her leaving and him arguing. The last lines, "I'll do anything for you / Kill anyone for you" are said by Ryder, after he's restrained her. In the pre-chorus, we probably go back to her leaving, where she believes leaving him now is best for him, and when he's well again, she can come back and they can pick up where they left off.

The chorus echoes these sentiments; she dreams of a morning where they happily wake up together, but to do this she will have to annoy him until he comes to his senses.

In verse 2, we see things starting to slip. She can see he's getting angry and things are different with the voice he's hearing. She knows he loves her, more than anything, but he's talking crazy. She's not sure how far he'll take this love. If things go badly, she prays... but her thoughts are interrupted by Ryder restraining her and saying all that he's done was for her.

She knows at that point that he's too far gone. She wants the best for him, but she can no longer be with him, thus in the reprised pre-chorus, the "I love you," has become "I loved you."

## Trivia

* Daniel Sadownick played Percussion, Danny Louis played Keyboard, Tomas Ulrich played Cello, Meg Okura & Julianne Klopotic played Violins, Ron Lawrence played Viola, and String Arrangement was provided by Karl Berger.
* In the documentary *The Fiction Will See The Real*, Sanchez says that this was a song he originally wrote for his then-girlfriend, now wife, and played for her over the phone. Shortly after this, she broke up with him due to the difficulty of maintaining a relationship with a musician which, in turn, resulted in the events of this album as we know it, as well as the more depressing editions to the lyrics here.
	+ It should be noted that Sanchez never wanted to hurt Echert, (obviously). The events of the story were *sparked* by the painful break up, but were altered to suit the story. Sanchez would never hurt a fly; he is not Ryder. Erica is not Echert.
* This song was featured in the movie, *Snakes on a Plane*.
* According to Sanchez, the simple explanation of this song is: "It’s a very love song kind of thing. You get a history of the writer, that he’ll do anything for this person, that he’ll kill anyone for this person who went on to do this horrible thing to him."
* The line "Then this, I pray to you, wherever" was "Then this, I page to you, wherever" which really dates when it was written.

## References

1. ↑ Coheed and Cambria. Booklet. *Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV - Volume One: From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness*, Equal Vision Records, 2005.
2. ↑ https://genius.com/Coheed-and-cambria-wake-up-lyrics
3. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFIe16QkaKs
4. ↑ https://genius.com/albums/Various-artists/Snakes-on-a-plane-the-album
5. ↑ https://www.clevescene.com/scene-and-heard/archives/2007/10/24/coheed-decoded-coheed-and-cambria-frontman-recaps-his-sci-fi-epic