"The Broken"

UK promo CD.

## Music Video

Official Video on YouTube

**"The Broken"** is a song by the American rock band Coheed and Cambria. It is the second track and first single on their 2010 album *Year of the Black Rainbow*.

## Lyrics

**[Verse 1]**

I'll followed your every move

In a stride that wills disguise

Little markings clue the find

Your red lips speak of painted figures

The teeth of mangled little listeners

The thoughts that hide your rusty scissors

And hooded men

Swinging honesty across this violence

Obscurity has no hero

**[Chorus]**

The world looks better when you're falling

Grace to comfort enough to crawling

Divided, we must pray for the broken

No one can fix us

We are, we'll always be the wronged.

*(Blah, blah, blah)*

**[Verse 2]**

Your touch seethes of emptiness

The callous tips against the brush

The world's now breaking off to crust

**[Chorus]**

The world looks better when you're falling

Grace to comfort enough to crawling

Divided, we must pray for the broken

No one can fix us

We are, we'll always be the wronged

**[Bridge]**

*(We're conspiring)*

Where was your heart when we needed it most?

Live in denial and I'll be your ghost

There is nothing to let go, only time will let you know

If you're worth anything and you know then

Giving up way too early, let the axis turn you free

And destroy everything you love

**[Chorus]**

The world looks better when you're falling

Grace to comfort enough to crawling

Divided, we must pray for the broken

No one can fix us

We are, we are

We are, we are

We are, we'll always be the wronged

## Music Video

An official music video was released for the single on March 10, 2010. It was directed by WeWereMonkeys Productions. The description read: "Extreme devastation and mass extinction of living beings has blackened a distant universe, and an epic war continues to rage. On a ruined planet, machines of war battle desperately in a death-match to fulfill an ancient prophecy; the fecundation of a new future."

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## Story Context

This track seems to be depicting the prologue of the novel in which Wilhelm Ryan, who has recently won the governorship of Sector 6, begins to enact his plans to take over the other sectors. His main opponent, Covet Marth, has an infinity for painting, so the lines, "Your red lips speak of painted figures / The teeth of mangled little listeners" could be referring to their meeting in which Marth was painting and told him of his premonition (how he will conquer the Fence) and how their peers do not believe him.

The song, in that way, can be seen as a gloat of victory. As Ryan ultimately succeeds in this, Marth is the one who "looks better when you're falling."

In the bridge, we even get more details that can match with the book. "Where was your heart when we needed it most?" could refer to Marth's disappearance to lay low for a time during which Ryan captured or destroyed the other mages. "If you're worth anything, you'll know that I'm / Giving up way too early, let the axis turn you free / And destroy everything you love," could refer to when Marth gave everything he had to a counterattack, was sure of his victory, but completely underestimated Ryan and ultimately came to his own end as a result.

## Trivia

* Sanchez played the Synthesizers & Keyboard with Wes Styles.
* Sanchez said the solo guitar section is meant to be hinting at "The Ring in Return".
* The line, "Obscurity has no hero," is the title of Chapter 1.
	+ In the Second Stage comic, it opens with "Long ago, the Universe held nothing but cold, **obscure** darkness..." So the idea that "obscurity" has no hero, may refer to Ryan's belief that there is no one in the universe who can take him down.
* The line, "everything you love," is the title of Chapter 14.
* The line, "I'll be your ghost," is the title of Chapter 21.
* This song was added to the video game *Rock Band* in the DLC pack titled "Coheed and Cambria Pack 01" on Apr 10, 2010.

## References

1. ↑ https://www.discogs.com/Coheed-And-Cambria-The-Broken/release/2619154
2. ↑ Coheed and Cambria. Booklet. *Year of the Black Rainbow*, Columbia Records, 2010.
3. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DR\_Nxk2BpWM
4. ↑ https://wwm.productions/vid\_thebroken.php
5. ↑ https://genius.com/Coheed-and-cambria-the-broken-lyrics
6. ↑ http://twitter.com/claudioPsanchez/status/12227953886
7. ↑ https://rbdb.online/songs/details/300