"Ten Speed (Of God's Blood & Burial)"

Album Art by Bill Scoville.

### Appears on

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

## Music Video

Official Music Video on YouTube

**"Ten Speed (of God's Blood & Burial)"** is a song by the American rock band Coheed and Cambria. It is the fourth song and third single on their 2005 album *Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV - Volume One: From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness*.

## Lyrics

**[Verse 1]**

I can feel it in the way your blood and heart beats

*(My body's cold and it thinks I'm already gone)*

Or is it in the way your body moves?

*(I'd like to tell you, but I think that you already know)*

The words I drag out from your mouth speak

*(So listen up world, listen up world)*

In her vision, I have given company

*(They see no evil in leading their bodies from home)*

**[Chorus]**

Believer, you'll leave her in leaving them all

*(No, but I don't buy it)*

Like anything you do, as anyone you are

*(Ten Speed, if I must... then I must!)*

Believer, you'll leave her in leaving them all

*(No, but I don't buy it)*

Like anything you do, as anyone you are

**[Verse 2]**

If written wrote me even chance and the choice to save you

I wouldn't answer if it even had to ask

In her figure, I've instilled a taste of my own

*(So listen up world, listen up world)*

To make it easier to take what life I'm owed

*(As the curse has returned from the hell of you, heart and your soul)*

**[Chorus]**

Believer, you'll leave her in leaving them all

*(No, but I don't buy it)*

Like anything you do, as anyone you are

*(Ten Speed, if I must... then I must!)*

Believer, you'll leave her in leaving them all

*(No, but I don't buy it)*

Like anything you do, as anyone you are

**[Bridge]**

Nobody knows but you

Nobody knows but you

I don't want to ride, tonight

No, I don't want to go

I don't want to ride, tonight

Or maybe I don't want to go

**[Spoken]**

Ten Speed: "But are you going to kill her off?"

Ryder: "It's not your decision. I love the character, she stays."

**Ten Speed**: "Yeah, well the only thing love's done is put you in this position; I say kill her off!"

**Ryder**: "Yeah, but you say a lot of things... and how does that work? You're a bicycle."

**[Chorus]**

Believer, you'll leave her in leaving them all

*(No, but I don't buy it)*

Like anything you do, as anyone you are

*(Ten Speed, if I must... then I must!)*

Believer, you'll leave her in leaving them all

*(No, but I don't buy it)*

Like anything you do, as anyone you are

**[Outro]**

'Cause I'm...

Ten Speed of God's Blood and Burial

Ten Speed of God's Blood and Burial

Ten Speed of God's Blood and Burial

Ten Speed of God's Blood and Burial

Ten Speed of God's Blood and Burial

Ten Speed of God's Blood and Burial

Ten Speed of God's Blood and Burial

Ten Speed of God's Blood!

## Music Video

An official music video was released for the single sometime in 2006. It was directed by Brian Lazzaro.

```

```

## Story Context

In this song, Ryder has found his missing ten speed bicycle, but it has been transformed and appears possessed by an evil entity who attempts to help the writer be happy again. He believes the only way for that to happen is for the writer to use the fiction as a substitute and kill off a character that Erica was the basis for. Ten Speed does the main talking in Verse 1, with Ryder responses as whispers, which illustrates how meek he is in front of Ten Speed. The lyrics are very straightforward in this regard. Ten Speed claims he can read Ryder like a book. He knows how he thinks too, indicated by "The words I drag out from your mouth speak." The last line ("In her vision, I have given company"), we see he knows that Ryder has used Erica as the template for Ambellina. The Writer can't respond because he's frozen with fear ("My body's cold and it thinks that I'm already gone" and "I'd like to tell you, but I think that you already know"), but with Ten Speed's encouragement, he begins to feel more brave ("So listen up world, listen up world") and he reveals that he holds some resentment for Claudio and his characters who have deviated from his original plans ("They see no evil in leading their bodies from home" where home refers to said plans).

In the chorus, Ten Speed again takes center stage. "Believer, you'll leave her in leaving them all" is the entity telling him he can find closure with Erica if he ends the story. But Ryder responds: "No, but I don't buy it" which indicates he's unsure if this is really true or not. "Like anything you do, as anyone you are" is Ten Speed trying to be encouraging; telling him he is the God of that world and he can do anything. To this, Ryder says, "Ten Speed, if I must... then I must!" flipping positions in reluctant acceptance. Put aside the demon bicycle, just this position switching is enough to reveal his broken mind.

In Verse 2, we now switch to Ryder taking the stage. "If written wrote me even chance and the choice to save you / I wouldn't answer if it even had to ask" is referring to Ten Speed's proposition; Ryder is imagining the scenario: He can leave the story to chance, or he can save the character he likes, and when presented these options, he doesn't want to have to make the decision. He continues, "In her figure, I've instilled a taste of my own" which refers to Ambellina; Ryder is admitting she is his ideal version of Erica and then, "To make it easier to take what life I'm owed" which is him admitting he did that on purpose to live out the fantasy he felt he couldn't materialize with her. Ten Speed retorts: "As the curse has returned from the hell of your heart and your soul" which is him saying, "Load of good that did: you're back to being unsatisfied all over again."

In the bridge, we have Ryder again drowning in doubt. "Nobody knows but you" addresses Ten Speed, who has spoken everything he's never admitted to. "'Cause I don't want to ride, tonight / No, I don't want to go" and its reprised following lines, "I don't want to ride, tonight / Or maybe I don't want to go" also refers to Ten Speed. By "ride" he means going along with Ten Speed, who is a bicycle.

Of course, the spoken conversation is a summary of the entire song. And the outro is a very forward, aggressive depiction of Ten Speed. By declaring himself to be a part of God (Ryder), he is saying that he is his life (blood) and death (burial) which concretes him in Ryder's life as an influence.

## Trivia

* Eppard played Keyboard.
* This song was added to the video game *Rock Band* as a stand alone DLC on Jan 29, 2008.
	+ It was a cover version as the Master file did not adequately record the instruments on separate tracks for the game to be able to function properly. This was actually shown in the bonus DVD's Behind the Scenes recording titled *In the Studio*. In it, there is a recording of the exact moment Sanchez and Stever notice there is something wrong with *Ten Speed*'s Master Track.
* According to Sanchez, the simple explanation of this song is: "Ten Speed is the writer's subconscious, like the Son of Sam dog. This is a dialogue, Ten Speed telling the Writer that he knows of a way to get out of his rut: All he needs to do is stop doing the story. ‘Believer/You’ll leave her/ When leaving them all’ is Ten Speed telling the Writer that in the end, everyone is going to die. The record isn’t really chronological."

## 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://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNfYvNtQqss
3. ↑ https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2830192/otherworks?ref\_=nm\_pdt\_wrk\_sm
4. ↑ https://genius.com/Coheed-and-cambria-ten-speed-of-gods-blood-and-burial-lyrics
5. ↑ https://rbdb.online/songs/details/303
6. ↑ *Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV - Volume One: From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness Bonus DVD* (2005). [DVD]  Directed by Coheed and Cambria. USA: Columbia Records.
7. ↑ https://www.clevescene.com/scene-and-heard/archives/2007/10/24/coheed-decoded-coheed-and-cambria-frontman-recaps-his-sci-fi-epic