"Once Upon Your Dead Body"

Album Art by Bill Scoville.

### Appears on

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

### Mastering

Brain Gardner

**"Once Upon Your Dead Body"** is a song by the American rock band Coheed and Cambria. It is the seventh 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]**

If hello could only drop its 'O'

And it stayed in the front door's way

Of your home, would you live there still?

Could that make you everything I hate?

Wait...

**[Interlude]**

Do you remember why you did it? *(No, I don't)*

Do you remember why she left?

**[Pre-Chorus]**

No, I hope you die, right now

Will you drink my chemical?

**[Verse 2]**

Is there price to burn this paradise?

Where you left all parts that hurt to mend

If I don't stay await, will she come here again

For my wish of only one last kiss?

**[Interlude]**

Do you remember why you did it? *(No, I don't)*

Do you remember why she left?

*(Unless you did what you thought would befriend)*

Do you remember why you did it?

Do you remember why she left?

**[Pre-Chorus]**

No, I hope you die, right now

Will you drink my chemical?

Oh, and if you cry out loud

It'll only make me feel too good

Whoa, I hope you die, right now

Will you drink my chemical?

Oh, and if you cry out loud

It'll only make me feel too good

Oh, I hope you die, right now

Will you drink my chemical?

Oh, and if you cry out loud

It'll only make me feel too good

**[Chorus]**

*(Once upon your, once upon your)*

I hope you die, right now

*(Once upon your dead body)*

It'll only make me feel too good

*(Once upon your, once upon your)*

I hope you die, right now

*(Once upon your dead body)*

It'll only make me feel too good

*(Once upon your, once upon your)*

I hope you die, right now

*(Once upon your dead body)*

It'll only make me feel too good

*(Once upon your, once upon your)*

I hope you die, right now

*(Once upon your dead body)*

I hope you die, right now

## Story Context

The events of this song take place prior to Erica's visit in the last song, and thus before Ryder enters The Fiction. It begins in Chapter 4, after finding Ten Speed who tries to convince him to give up on Erica and shows him visions of her cheating on him with a friend. The first verse is actually the latter half of the events. When Ryder comes home after finding his bike, he steps on his doormat that just says "Hello" with his foot covering the "O." Of course, this also spells "Hell" instead.

In the interlude, we hear Ten Speed attempting to persuade Ryder. The first line ("Do you remember why you did it?") refers to his story; do you remember why you started the story? Which Ryder doesn't. Then, Ten Speed asks if he remembers why Erica left. In the comic, Ryder immediately thinks of the moment they were intimate and he called out Ambellina's name, rather than Erica's name, which caused her to storm out. Basically, the story is why she left.

But Ryder answers, "No, I hope you die, right now" in the pre-chorus. Part of why he says "die, right now" here is because Ten Speed begins showing him visions of Erica cheating, which causes Ryder to become angry and flop his emotion. Of course, he's already devised many ways to end her life in these delusions, and for this, he wonders if she would drink a poison.

Verse 2 takes us back to the present where Ryder is attempting to reconcile with Erica, who clearly cares about his mental well-being, but Ryder can't get Ten Speed's visions out of his mind, and while the pair is trying to talk, Ten Speed also continues to speak to Ryder, in a manipulative, devilish way.

In the reprised pre-chorus, we see the evolution of Ryder's thoughts have come around to Ten Speed's method. And in the chorus we get confirmation of this, but it is important to note that he is referring to Ambellina's body.

## Trivia

* Danny Louis played Keyboard.
* According to Sanchez, the simple explanation of this song is: "Some of the lines of the song are in the book. It’s Ten Speed toying with the Writer, trying to get him to kill off his Character. And the Writer sees it as Ten Speed trying to talk him into killing off the person that his love interest is based on. And the Writer is saying he’s no murderer."
* Some changes were made from development:
	+ There was no prechorus
	+ There was no "Once upon your, once upon your" or "Once upon your dead body" which is odd as this contains the title of the song.

## 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-once-upon-your-dead-body-lyrics
3. ↑ https://www.clevescene.com/scene-and-heard/archives/2007/10/24/coheed-decoded-coheed-and-cambria-frontman-recaps-his-sci-fi-epic