"IRO-Bot"

Album Art by Bill Scoville.

**"IRO-Bot"** is a song by the American rock band Coheed and Cambria. It is the hidden track on their 2002 album *The Second Stage Turbine Blade*. On the original release of the album, the track was hidden in "God Send Conspirator", but on the reissue, it was hidden in the demo version of "Everything Evil". In both cases, it is the final "track" on the album.

## Lyrics

**[Verse 1]**

In our days we've mourned insignias

The passing glance, unstamped

We've rendered ourselves powerless, unfortunate

The useless mend the fixed

In our every hour, it detonates

My courage goes unlooked

The ride home through perilous

The land it goes, I will

**[Pre-Chorus]**

You've been a bad boy

You broke all the rules

You've been a bad boy

You'll get yours paid in full

**[Chorus]**

IRO-bot will never die

My robot will never die

You look down but far from out

And the paper reads "You lose"

IRO-bot will never kill

**[Verse 2]**

A favor captain, a word with you

My system's gone and lost its mind

My right eye has done shed a tear

My gun, I've left behind

Will systems take me home and disassemble me?

Will I be terminated with you near?

Alongside the others that I hold so close?

If I'm to be killed, then when, by whom?

**[Pre-Chorus]**

You've been a bad boy

You broke all the rules

You've been a bad boy

You'll get yours paid in full

**[Chorus]**

IRO-bot will never die

My robot will never die

You look down but far from out

And the paper reads "You lose"

IRO-bot will never die

## Story Context

This song may very well be depicting events that happened after the end of the story. Jesse is on his ship, *The Grail Arbor*, in which he is in a lab, and destroys an IRO-bot. This is, chronologically, something that *must* be happening *after* the events of the regular timeline. He mentions the death of Mariah and the loss of Coheed and Cambria. His destruction of a so-called prototype named "Longcindia" and wistful determination that someone is out there, fits the bill if he's referring to Claudio, and if the destruction is met with crying and antagonization from Chase and Sizer, which is depicted in the original conception of the comic, and later in Issue 6. This is still the future, past the events of "God Send Conspirator".

The first line starts here. "In our days we mourned insignias" refers to the rebellion scattering and Mariah, their symbol of leadership and hope, having been killed. "The passing glance, unstamped" refers to Jesse and his cold, dismissive attitude toward his creations. Their presence doesn't leave an impression on him. "We've rendered ourselves powerless, unfortunate / The useless mend the fixed" refers to Jesse's current line of thinking. They are not human. If a mistake is made, it is a fault in programing and should be scrapped to be rebuilt. Mistakes are for humans, he said to Chase and Sizer. "In our every hour, it detonates" could be Jesse's inner thoughts on what has happened. It seems like he is, in fact, becoming sentimental. Something he once chastised and scoffed at Coheed and Cambria for being able to do. "My courage goes unlooked / The ride home through perilous / The land it goes, I will" supports this, questioning his courage. He *doesn't* want the children to worry and yet he knows the journey is only going to continue to be dangerous. Yet he continues on.

"You've been a bad boy / You broke all the rules / You've been a bad boy / You'll get yours paid in full" in the pre-chorus definitely refers to Jesse. Saying he broke all the rules probably refers to his *own* rules. He never states them out loud, except that mistakes are for humans, but he also believes IRO-bots aren't supposed to fall in love and feel like humans either. But he *clearly* feels for Mariah, his "brother" and "sister-in-law" and even if he doesn't feel much for the majority of the other IRO-bots he makes, he definitely feels for Chase, and maybe a little for Sizer. Of course the ending to this lines is "You'll get yours paid in full," which may mean he also thinks these mistakes he's making will be the end of him. He'll pay for them.

The actual chorus has "IRO-bot will never die / My robot will never die." IRO-bots are still machines, so their death has be absolute destruction, but even then, the data can be salvaged. The line, "You look down but far from out" probably refers to the rebellion's loss on the battlefield. But just because they lost this battle doesn't mean they've lost the war. This is supported with "And the paper reads 'You lose'" as in, the world knows Ryan was successful. So if IRO-bots don't make mistakes, what is a loss? "IRO-bot will never kill" probably refers to the "prototypes" he is destroying, the ones that will never see battle, like Longcindia.

In fact, this second verse is entirely spoken by Longcindia. "A favor captain, a word with you / My system's gone and lost its mind / My right eye has done shed a tear / My gun, I've left behind," shows that he came to Jesse and told him of his "faults"—he can't concentrate, he cries, and he can't bring himself to kill. Then, we see him questioning and panicking about his death: "Will systems take me home and disassemble me? / Will I be terminated with you near? / Alongside the others that I hold so close? / If I'm to be killed, then when, by whom?" He knows these traits are not acceptable, and based on what Jesse tells them, they know this is grounds to be destroyed. He probably sees Jesse like how Chase and Sizer see him: a father figure. He wonders if Jesse will be by his side when he dies, like a father at his son's bedside. Will the other IRO-bots, his siblings, join him and be with him as well? Who will be the one to kill him, how and when? These are questions even a human might have. We don't know when or how we will die, and we all long for those we love to be by our side until the end.

Of course, we have the repeated pre-chorus and main chorus, and in this context, it is more a reflection of Jesse's failure, having to destroy Longcindia. He gives a brave front, but these events have rocked his façade too. And in this, he's been a bad boy.

## Trivia

* Eppard played Piano.
* Though not confirmed, this song has a lot of similarities to the sound in songs by The Prize Fighter Inferno, in which Sanchez uses a lot of synthesizers to convey the melody. Since Sanchez was making music for that project during this time, it is possible that it was the first to be published, albeit under the main band.
* This song is briefly reprised in the song "21:13", the hidden track on *In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3*.
* As a hidden song, the lyrics were not included in the lyric booklet.

## References

1. ↑ https://genius.com/Coheed-and-cambria-iro-bot-lyrics
2. ↑ Coheed and Cambria. Booklet. *The Second Stage Turbine Blade*, Equal Vision Records, 2002.