"Comatose"

Album Art by Chase Stone.

## Music Video

Official Lyric Video on YouTube

**"Comatose"** is a song by the American rock band Coheed and Cambria. It is the third song and fourth single on their 2022 album *Vaxis - Act II: A Window of the Waking Mind*.

## Lyrics

**[Intro]**

I don't want to feel

Fuck it

Keep me Comatose

**[Verse 1]**

Come on save me

She tells me what she wants

That only you can have your way

I don't want to be here

Like a photograph remains

You and I

At the end of a bad night

Oh, maybe this is a war

I'm so full of bad ideas

And trust me you don't want to hear them

Tell me everything

Now draw the line *(Now draw the line)*

**[Chorus]**

'Cause I'm so afraid to let you know

I'm letting go

Oh, I'm such a mess

Baby, this game's over

A one man prison

And no one gets in

I start to finish

But just sit and spin... Alone

Don't get too close

I don't want to feel

Fuck it, keep me comatose...

**[Verse 2]**

There's no more maybes, this is absolute

So don't stop now... today's the day

I know it's not what you want

It's not want you want to hear

But what's it really matter when you're lost

Go sing a song for all the lonely hearts

No more wasted years...

You're free to be as crazy as you want

But you can't cross the line

You're borderline *(You're borderline)*

**[Chorus]**

'Cause I'm so afraid to let you know

I'm letting go

Oh, I'm such a mess

Baby, this game's over

A one man prison

And no one gets in

I start to finish

But just sit and spin... Alone

Don't get too close

I don't want to feel

Fuck it, keep me comatose

**[Bridge]**

*Honey, keep me comatose*

*I'm so afraid, afraid of you*

Out of this world and into all of you

Remember, that I'm...

**[Chorus]**

So afraid to let you know

I'm letting go

Oh, I'm such a mess

Baby, this game's over

A one man prison

And no one gets in

I start to finish

But just sit and spin... Alone

Don't get too close

I don't want to feel

Fuck it, keep me comatose

Oh... don't get too close

I don't want to feel

Fuck it, keep me comatose

## Music Visualizer & Video

On May 18, 2022, the single was officially released at midnight. A "lyric video" was released on the band's YouTube page as well. No producer for the video was credited, but it had a very similar vibe as Sanchez's solo project's visualizers and prior lyric videos.

```

```

## Story Context

This song seems to depict the events that happened after Chapter 3 but before Chapter 4. Nostrand had just heard from ARP-51 that the vials of biologicals he and Nia had stolen from CRST on Crocsif were basically useless. At the beginning of the next chapter, their ship, the *Rixen Freckle*, had docked on the free planet Rheforth where Nia went out on her own to give him space.

The first verse, "Come on save me," could very well be the pressure Nos feels in trying to help his son with, "She tells me what she wants / That only you can have your way," the additional pressure of trying to keep his partner happy and looking out for himself. The rest of lines are repeated throughout additional verses and offer a summary of how those scenarios make him feel: like he wants to run away, and like maybe this simple argument is more than that (but it's not as all couples eventually argue or buttheads). It's easy to feel that a small thing is bigger if you're already dealing with a big thing (like the health and safety of your five year old son). Interestingly enough, the verse ends with "I'm so full of bad ideas / And trust me you don't want to hear them / Tell me everything" which seems to be referring to the end of the chapter when Nia comes back with Siv and Gob Trafinder and a decidedly "bad idea" that Nos agrees to listen to.

The chorus is a continuation of that last thought (that perhaps this is the argument to end it all) and seems to switch to Nia's perspective as "A one man prison / And no one gets in" is something she specifically says in Chapter Four before meeting the Brothers. the last few lines ("I don't want to feel / Fuck it, keep me comatose") might even be a thought they *both* have.

Verse 2 might be from Chapter 6 when the Trafinder brothers join them on their ship to tell them about the possibility of a "cure" in the interactions between Windows and Quintillian Speakers. This conversation is not one Nos wants to have, especially at the conclusion that they would have to work with the Liars Club again. But in the end, they feel lost and this is at least *some* direction, which is ultimately better than nothing. The last few lines ("Go sing a song for all the lonely hearts / No more wasted years...") may also allude to Gob confessing to Nia and accepting that she's moved on. It's a freeing moment for him that allows everyone to kind of look pass the elephant in the room.

## Background

The music having been composed before the pandemic, the lyrics were penned during confinement when Sanchez and his wife had had an argument. Additionally, "comatose" is what his mother would call his father when he'd get home and pass out on the couch after a long day at work.

## Trivia

* Eppard's drum work on this track was actually the version he put down on the original demo. It was so good, they kept it.
* The line, "Fuck it, keep me Comatose" is very close to what Sanchez's mother would say to his father when he would nap after a long day at work. "Skippy, you're comatose!"

## References

1. ↑ https://genius.com/Coheed-and-cambria-comatose-lyrics
2. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sG940KWNeI8
3. ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/TheFence/comments/vklxyl/claudios\_trackbytrack\_descriptions\_from\_allmusic/
4. ↑ https://twitch.tv/claudiopsanchez