"The Willing Well II: From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness"

Album Art by Christopher Shy.

### Appears on

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

### Mastering

Brian Gardner

**"The Willing Well II: From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness"** is a song by the American rock band Coheed and Cambria. It is the twelfth song on their 2005 album *Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV - Volume One: From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness*. This is the second part of The Willing Well suite. A demo version exists on the *GAIBSIV Demos* cassette.

## Lyrics

**[Verse 1]**

What is this that I feel and what is this that I fear?

In these arms that whored out

Amongst the worms that mate in these fields

Oh, from pressure to pain, I wish to stay awake

In the measure I test with your love for me

So shout against these walls

With hopes that one will break free

So hear me...

**[Pre-Chorus]**

What is this that you keep selling me, boy?

I'm not gonna hold your hand here, when you walk

You'll burn in Hell, while they're digging you out

You'll burn in Hell, while they're digging you out

I'm not gonna hold your hand here, when you walk

You'll burn in Hell, while they're digging you out

You'll burn in Hell, while they're digging you out

**[Verse 2]**

So picture this face and burn it to flake

To shelter it at home, at the fireplace

And all but memory will fade

With the flick of the flame

So, I have a secret

That no one should know, that I should tell

But of all the... but of all the worlds

This one won't feel... this one just won't leave me well

**[Pre-Chorus]**

What is this shit you keep selling me, boy?

I'm not gonna hold your hand here, when you walk

You'll burn in Hell, while they're digging you out

You'll burn in Hell, while they're digging you out

I'm not gonna hold your hand here when you walk

You'll burn in Hell, while they're digging you out

You'll burn in Hell...

**[Bridge 1]**

In the press of your back, do you feel the shore swell?

Oh boy, I'm eating my way back home

In the press of your back, do you feel the shore swell?

Oh boy, I'm eating my way back home

**[Bridge 2]**

As father told son, in the make of his final escape

Should all good boys die

With God at their side, at the grace of His gates?

No, the Robot holds none

With a mind and a heart to comply

Then I will disguise and grieve of those dead

When I'm given the time

Run, little rabbit...

Go, hide in the blades of that grass...

Run, rabbit, run

**[Bridge 3]**

Should capture be our earnest fault?

Breathe up through lust, I'll find your cure

In there, I'll kill, kill...

In there, I'll kill, kill, kill...

**[Chorus]**

With your last breath of air

As the earth comes trembling down

Would you give her this last night

And give up your life?

With your last breath of air

As the earth comes trembling down

Would you give her this last night

The love of your life?

**[Outro]**

No one runs faster than you can

No one runs faster than you

No one runs faster than you eat

*(To the end with you! To the end with you!)*

No one runs faster than you can

No one runs faster than you

No one runs faster than you eat

*(To the end with you! To the end with you!)*

No one runs faster than you can

No one runs faster than you

No one runs faster than you eat

*(To the end with you! To the end with you!)*

No one runs faster than you can

No one runs faster than you

No one runs faster than you eat

*(To the end with you! To the end with you!)*

No one runs faster than you can

No one runs faster than you

No one runs faster than you eat

Eat...

## Story Context

This song takes place just before the Well is summoned. Ten Speed is still convincing Ryder to take action. Ryder is conflating the usual rosy picture of love with the grit of his current situation. The tone is upbeat and fun, until it isn't. In the first verse, we are again back with Ten Speed showing Ryder visions of a cheating Erica, but he can't be budged in his feelings. He feels trapped though. He is still desperately in love with her, but with Ten Speed's whispers, he can't help but also feel anger and frustration. He feels like he is trying to break away from it, but nothing comes of it: he's still trapped.

In the pre-chorus, we get one of Ten Speed's whispers: What the fuck are talking about? If you pussyfoot around this issue, you'll end up in the same grave she should be in.

But still Ryder tries to ignore it. He hopes that Erica will remember him as he was and treasure it; use it as a sort of comfort and reminder as that version of him disappears. Then he reveals something cryptic: he has a secret; one that he has kept close to his heart and hasn't shared with anyone. Then he switches gears to talk about the story, which he calls the world and labels it the world that won't leave him alone and hints that there has been others, but they've gone. This may refer to his schizophrenia, of which a common symptom is hallucinations and delusions. This may be a hint that The Fiction is not actually a part of his mental illness (though Ten Speed might be), and thus, this could be the secret. But we don't know for sure.

The subsequent bridges are also interesting and don't seem to follow any material in the comic. The first line seems to be describing someone laying at the face of a beach. This could be describing Ryder's inner turmoil again. "Eating his way back home" may be a metaphor for attempting to reclaim (by consuming) his old self. The follow up bridge takes a different route and gives us some more Christian imagery (even setting that tone with a choir wailing) as it describes a different scene: A father posing a question to his son. Should God be at one's side and present His gates before them if they are a good boy? A strange question! If they are good, you would assume so, therefore posing the question in the first place gives us the impression that the answer isn't what we assume; the answer, for the father, is no. The follow up section is also strange. A robot, indeed, usually doesn't have a heart but uses logic to comply with its makers wishes without question. But we know two things. 1: IRO-bots *do* have hearts and minds. 2: Jesse frequently uses this logic to kid himself and instill the same value in his children. The lines after give us a strong hint that this section is all about Jesse because it is revealed in the comic that he has downloaded his consciousness on to a drive and right before his death at Mayo Deftinwolf's hands, used this drive to upload it to Deftinwolf's cybernetic brain. And he has lost many people, but has never really taken the time to grieve, so this seems fitting. The last section is also laced with symbolism, but is very simplistic as "rabbit" has always been a fill in for Claudio. Could these three sections all be visions or premonitions of things in the story?

In the third and final bridge we shift back to Ten Speed and Ryder. They have detained Erica and Ryder is now determined to enter The Fiction and kill Ambellina to save his relationship with Erica. We finally get the chorus in this moment as well. It seems to be posed to Ryder, but it isn't clear who is asking; perhaps Ryder himself. If today the world ended, would Ryder sacrifice himself for her? And then as revised, it seems to be asking the same thing, but if chosen to look at it with more scrutiny, may be asking if he would sacrifice her instead, with "last night" meaning she would be killed. But then the question becomes: Erica or Ambellina?

The outro again uses the word "eat," but the running imagery is usually associated with Claudio. This may be a way to describe the overlapping actions of both of them that we see in the comic (Ryder stabbing his hand with a screwdriver and Claudio magically having the same happen to him).

## Trivia

* Eppard provided the Keyboards.
* This song is the subtitle for the album it appears on: Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV - Volume One: From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness.
* This is the second mention of a hidden secret, with the first being in "21:13".
* According to Sanchez, the simple explanation of this song is: "I-IV is a lot of going back and forth between perspectives. This is more from the Writer’s perspective: The walls he’s been building around himself, the state that he’s been in, he’s become isolated from the world, and he’s been stagnant. And he finds a way out, which is to destroy the story. And in finding a way to destroy the story, he’ll destroy those walls."
* Some changes were made from development:
	+ In the pre-chorus, the line "What is this that you keep selling me, boy?" didn't exist.
	+ In verse 2, the line "This one won't feel, this one just won't leave me well" was "This one won't feel, this one just won't go to hell".
* Sanchez said that on this album, this song would be the one he would choose to showcase his talent and progression.

## 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-the-willing-well-ii-from-fear-through-the-eyes-of-madness-lyrics
3. ↑ https://www.clevescene.com/scene-and-heard/archives/2007/10/24/coheed-decoded-coheed-and-cambria-frontman-recaps-his-sci-fi-epic
4. ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1ikw5z/i\_am\_claudio\_sanchez\_frontman\_of\_coheed\_cambria/cb5h9qi/?utm\_source=reddit&utm\_medium=web2x&context=3