"The Suffering"

Album Art by Christopher Shy.

### 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

**"The Suffering"** is a song by the American rock band Coheed and Cambria. It is the ninth song and second single 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]**

Is there a word or right to say

Even in this old-fashioned way?

Go make your move, girl, I'm not coming home

Would things have changed if I could've stayed?

Would you have loved me either way?

Dressed to the blues, day to day, with my collar up

Decision sits, so make it quick

A breath inhaled from an air so sick

I cursed the day I had learned of the web you spun...

*(You had your hold 'til bleeding)*

**[Pre-Chorus]**

*(Hey, hey)* If it was up to me

I would've figured you out

Way before the year clocked out

Oh, I hope you're waiting

*(Hey, hey)* If it was up to me

I would've never walked out

So until the sun burns out

Oh, I hope you're waiting

**[Verse 2]**

Would we have lived as a child would care?

With this vial to drink, I dare

Only to cry all alone with your taste on tongue

*(Oh, where have you been? Oh, where have you been?)*

*(Oh, where have you been, if it hurts to be forgiving? Bye)*

Should we try this again, with hope? *(Bye, bye)*

Or is it lost? Give up the ghost

And should I die, all alone, as I knew I would?

*(Then burn in hell, young sinner)*

**[Pre-Chorus]**

*(Hey, hey)* If it was up to me

I would've figured you out

Way before the year clocked out

Oh, I hope you're waiting

Oh, I hope you're waiting

**[Chorus]**

Now listen well... will you marry me? *(Not now, boy)*

Are you well in the suffering?

*(You've been)* The most gracious of hosts

You may be invited, girl, but you're not coming in

Listen well, will you marry me? *(Not now, boy)*

And are you well in the suffering?

*(You've been)* The most gracious of hosts

I may be invited, girl, but I'm not coming in

**[Pre-Chorus]**

*(Hey, hey)* If it was up to me

*(You had your hope)* I would've figured you out

*(Oh, where have you been? Oh, where have you been?)*

Way before the year clocked out

Oh, I hope you're waiting

*(Hey, hey)* If it was up to me

*(You burned it up)* I would've never walked out

*(Oh, where have you been? Oh, where have you been?)*

So until the sun burns out

*(Oh, where have you been if it hurts to be forgiving?)*

Oh, I hope you're waiting

**[Chorus]**

Listen well, will you marry me? *(Not now, boy)*

And are you well in the suffering?

*(You've been)* The most gracious of hosts

You may be invited, girl, but you're not coming in

Listen well, will you marry me? *(Not now, boy)*

Are you well in the suffering?

*(You've been)* The most gracious of hosts

I may be invited, girl, but I'm not coming in

Listen well, will you marry me?

*(Listen well, listen well) (Not now, boy)*

Are you well in the suffering? *(Listen well, listen well)*

*(You've been)* The most gracious of hosts

You may be invited, girl, but you're not coming in

Listen well, will you marry me?

*(Listen well, listen well) (Not now, boy)*

Are you well in the suffering? *(Listen well, listen well)*

*(You've been)* The most gracious of hosts

I may be invited, girl, but I'm not coming in

And you're not coming in

## Music Video

An official music video was released for the single on February 13, 2006. It was directed by Artificial Army, who also directed "Welcome Home"'s music video.

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## Story Context

This song seems to take place towards the beginning of the story. Ryder is not as far gone yet (hasn't seen Ten Speed), but he has upset Erica by bleeding his Fiction into his Reality. In Verse 1, he struggles to find the right way to say sorry, but truly loves his story, and doesn't want to apologize for that. Of course, he also wonders if he could give it up, get a normal 9 to 5 job, and stayed in Reality, would she still love him? To him, his story is fundamentally *who he is*, so he can't imagine she would still be interested in him. The last bit shows how he reacts when, in fact, she does agree he should give up the story and get a proper job. Was that her plan all along? To change him?

In the pre-chorus, he expresses his regret, but also reluctant acceptance. He would have rather found some fault with her to leave her before she left him. But also, if their roles were reversed, he wouldn't have left, so she shouldn't have left.

With Verse 2, we see the aftermath of their last parting after all is said and done. Ryder again wonders how things could've been, and picks up his medication. He doesn't like the way it makes him feel, so he thinks of it like a poison, and ultimately doesn't take it. Instead, he weeps for Erica's absence. He wants to start over with her, but he thinks he's truly messed it all up, and she's gone for good. He fears being alone, and now he's sure he's sealed that fate.

The chorus shows what happened between the two verses: Ryder, panicked and desperate, asks Erica to marry him, but she rolls her eyes and leaves anyway. *She* knows why he is doing it, but he doesn't recognize this as a panicked response, and is devastated. (This is the suffering.) He wants her in his life, but at this point, he struggles with allowing her to invade his heart. (The contradictory invitations and hosting lines.) Under different circumstances, Erica may have agreed to marriage, but not in this out-of-mind state.

## Trivia

* Danny Louis played Keyboard.
* Unlike most radio edits (which shorten the length of songs for the radio), the one for this song is *longer* than the album version; the song's chorus was inserted into the song again after the first pre-chorus section.
* There are three different covers for this single, all featuring graphic novel artist Christopher Shy's artwork.
	+ The main one (used above), came with additional content: "The Final Cut" (Live In Atlanta From 2005 Summer Tour) and the music video for the single. It doesn't seem to come from the graphic novel.
	+ The one featuring a lone house on a hill (top right) was used on versions that contained both the regular edit (on the CD) and the radio edit. But it was also used for a limited vinyl of the single which contained the regular edit of the song and "Welcome Home" (Live In Atlanta From 2005 Summer Tour). It is also the final image in the graphic novel.
	+ The last one is a clean version of a scene from Welcome Home in the graphic novel (comparison below). It was a Limited release in the UK only and contains the radio edit of this song, plus "Blood Red Summer" (Live at the Avalon, Los Angeles).

* The chorus actually samples some melodies from "Blood Red Summer" as well.
* According to Sanchez, the simple explanation of this song is: "It’s another extension of “Wake Up,” saying that it would have gotten to the point of asking this person to marry him. And the background vocals are saying, ‘Not now, boy.’ It’s a Queen-esqe song, more like a play, a dialogue. It’s the climax of the Writer losing it."
* Some changes were made from development:
	+ The line "I cursed the day I had learned of the web you spun" was "I'll still make what I heard if you cry in turn"
	+ There was a fourth section originally to the first verse that goes "Is there a word or right to say / Even in this old-fashioned way? / I hope you cry all alone till your dying day".
	+ In the pre-chorus, "I would've figured you out / Way before the year clocked out" was "I would've [unintelligible] / Before the year's countdown" and likewise, the line "I would've never walked out / So until the sun burns out" was "I would've [unintelligible] / Before the sun burns out". And the second pre-chorus wasn't cut short.
	+ In the chorus, the lines "Listen well, will you marry me? *(Not now, boy)* / Are you well in the suffering?" were originally just "Listen well, will you marry me? *(Not now)* / Listen well, will you marry me? *(Not now)*"

## 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. ↑ 2.0 2.1 https://genius.com/Coheed-and-cambria-the-suffering-lyrics
3. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnABRPS37hk
4. ↑ https://www.discogs.com/artist/665880-Artificial-Army
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 https://www.discogs.com/Coheed-And-Cambria-The-Suffering/release/1255332
6. ↑ https://www.discogs.com/Coheed-And-Cambria-The-Suffering/release/5356976
7. ↑ https://www.discogs.com/Coheed-And-Cambria-The-Suffering/release/9974393
8. ↑ https://www.discogs.com/Coheed-And-Cambria-The-Suffering/release/843521
9. ↑ https://www.discogs.com/Coheed-And-Cambria-The-Suffering-UK-Ltd-Edition-/release/8331116
10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 https://www.clevescene.com/scene-and-heard/archives/2007/10/24/coheed-decoded-coheed-and-cambria-frontman-recaps-his-sci-fi-epic