"Elf Tower New Mexico"

Album Art by Bill Scoville.

**"Elf Tower New Mexico"** is a song by the American rock band Coheed and Cambria. It is the eleventh track and first bonus song on the reissue of their 2002 album *The Second Stage Turbine Blade*. This song is *not* related to the story of *The Amory Wars*.

## Lyrics

**[Intro]**

Elf Power, New Mexico

Elf Power, New Mexico

**[Verse 1]**

Well, thank God you're still angry at me

I've got a better chance of seeing you dead and buried

I'll thank her for this one last big mistake

It's your turn, come shoot for it, if you win

Well, you can lead the way

Midday subway into New Jersey

Did you think maybe I was doing quite well

Without you in the frame, still?

**[Chorus]**

Killed in defense, calm with your cold years after

I'm giving you up, go on, find someone new

'Til then, pretend I touched before you'd ask her

I'm giving you up, go on, find someone new

Dear Nikki, what, what if I

Could have found a better half here, in you?

Oh Nikki, here in Elf Power, New Mexico

**[Post-Chorus]**

Elf Tower, New Mexico

**[Verse 2]**

Stay here

In our last standing hourglass circumstance

Devoted here, to the midst of the weary eyes

Lost and buried here, in your big surprise again

Well, your fingers find my back

Familiar fit in the questions that I had to ask

Did you think maybe I was doing quite well

Without you in the frame, still?

**[Chorus]**

Killed in defense, calm with your cold years after

I'm giving you up, go on, find someone new

'Til then, pretend I touched before you'd ask her

I'm giving you up, go on, find someone new

Dear Nikki, what, what if I

Could have found a better half here, in you?

Oh Nikki, here in Elf Power, New Mexico

**[Interlude]**

Somehow, tonight, you run out of air

**[Bridge]**

I'll mark my words in learned lessons

Dear god, before I heard this was your intention

Before I could have figured how to love another

Dear, there's Coheed and then Cambria

In departure, absence makes the heart grow fonder

**[Verse 3]**

Thank God they recovered your body in New Mexico

Three days, it's spoiled, love

We miss you in every way, you could've been dear

Wish you were here in the frame, still

**[Chorus]**

Killed in defense, calm with your cold years after

I'm giving you up, go on, find someone new

'Til then, pretend I touched before you'd ask her

I'm giving you up, go on, find someone new

Dear Nikki, what, what if I

Could have found a better half here, in you?

Oh Nikki, here in Elf Power, New Mexico

## Trivia

* The song was written by Sanchez as a way to express heartbreak and anger following the end of the relationship that birthed the idea for the characters Coheed and Cambria. It's speculated whether or not the song was written during the band's Shabütie days, as Claudio uses the actual name of former girlfriend Nikki Owen, rather than the character Newo Ikkin, who bares the anadrome of the name.
* Elf Tower, New Mexico is a fictitious city the band considers to be their hometown, since the individual members were from various parts of New York, and called it a portal to take people from reality to the fiction of *The Amory Wars*.
	+ Being that this was never solidified amongst the members, the name of the city could either be "Elf Power" OR "Elf Tower."
* During the standalone Neverender for *Second Stage* in 2011, an acoustic version of this song was finally played live by Sanchez and Stever. Sanchez stated that due to the nature of the song and considering all that's happened, it feel weird to play the song and that he doesn't like it.
* The lyric booklet did not include this song.

## References

1. ↑ https://genius.com/Coheed-and-cambria-elf-tower-new-mexico-lyrics
2. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nh3RmuujB1k
3. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJu3gg9bm10
4. ↑ Coheed and Cambria. Booklet. *The Second Stage Turbine Blade*, Equal Vision Records, 2002.