"Welcome Home"

Album Art by Bill Scoville.

### 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

**"Welcome Home"** is a song by the American rock band Coheed and Cambria. It is the third song and first 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]**

You could've been all I wanted

But you weren't honest

Now get in the ground

You choked off the surest of favors

But if you really loved me

You would have endured my world

Well you're just as I presumed

A whore in sheep's clothing

Fucking up all I do

And if it's here we stop

Then never again

Will you see this in your life?

**[Chorus]**

Hang on to the glory at my right hand

Here laid to rest, is our love ever longed?

With truth on the shores of compassion

You seem to make premise to all of these songs

**[Verse 2]**

You stormed off to scar the armada

As Jesus played letter,

I'll drill through your hands

The stone for the curse you have blamed me

With love and devotion, I'll die as you sleep

But if you could just write me out

To neverless wonder... happy will I become

Be true that this is no option.

So with sin, I condemn you

Demon play, demon out!

**[Chorus]**

Hang on to the glory at my right hand

Here laid to rest, is our love ever longed?

With truth on the shores of compassion

You seem to make premise to all of these songs

**[Bridge]**

One last kiss for you

One more wish to you

Please make up your mind girl...

I'd do anything for you

One last kiss for you

One more wish to you

Please make up your mind girl...

Before I hope you die

## Music Video

An official music video was released for the single on September 20, 2005. It was directed by Artificial Army, who also directed "The Suffering"'s music video.

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## Story Context

This song takes place entirely from Ryder the Writer's perspective and depicts a moment of his psychosis. Starting in the first verse, Ryder believes Erica Court, his estranged girlfriend, has cheated on him (though she denies it), and he mourns "You could have been all I wanted / But you weren't honest / Now get in the ground" with the last bit being something he says after digging her a grave and pushing her in. "You choked off the surest of favors / But if you really loved me / You would have endured my world" is spoken by Ryder just before the previous set of lines in the comic. In Ryder's eyes, Erica has taken his work for granted and dismissed it, she claims to love him, but he replies that if she loved him, she wouldn't have dismissed his work (his fictional world). He then sets up the scenario: "Well if you're just as I presumed / A whore in sheep's clothing / Fucking up all I do" meaning if she's not as innocent as she looks, and is trying to ruin his life, then... "And if so here we stop / Then never again / Will you see this in your life"—they'll break up, and he'll end her life.

In the chorus, we get, "Hang on to the glory at my right hand / Here laid to rest is our love ever longed" with the first line being an allusion to actual biblical passages in which being seated at God's right hand is indicative of that person having God's love and grace. Ryder (who thinks of himself as God) is telling Erica to enjoy this favor while she can, as in the next line, he says he will lay their love to rest forever... "With truth on the shores of compassion / You seem to take premise to all of these songs." So their love will end, along with the truth and his compassion. The "you" in the last line is not meant to be directed at Erica, but describes Erica: *Erica* is the reason (premise) behind Ryder's work (the songs, which tell *The Amory Wars*).

In verse 2, we start with, "You stormed off to scar the armada / Like Jesus played letter / I'll drill through your hands" which continues the idea that Erica is a traitor to him and wants to ruin his plans. In the same way that Jesus, who messed up a lot of the Romans plans, was punished, Ryder will punish her too. "The stone for the curse you have blamed me / With love and devotion, I'll die as you sleep" is his way of saying that Erica has placed their breakup on him (it's his fault) and even though he has nothing but love and devotion for her, she's killed him while he was sleeping. "But if you could just write me out / To neverless wonder, happy will I become" holds some double meaning with her writing him out of her life, but also the idea that he can *literally* write her out of his stories, and of course, either way, he may be happy as a result. "Be true that this is no option / So with sin, I condemn you / Demon play, demon out" shows that he knows he's not actually able to be happy, no matter the closure being real or fiction. The sin that he condemns her with is, of course, death. If he lets this demon "play" then it may leave.

The bridge is a mess of his stream of consciousness. He is angry, but he still loves her. He wants her back, but he can't have her back, he hopes she dies.

## Trivia

* The Violin was played by Meg Okura & Julianne Klopotic, the Viola by Ron Lawrence, the Cello by Tomas Ulrich, with Strings Arrangement by Karl Berger.
* Easily, this is the single most recognized Coheed and Cambria song. It peaked on the US Billboard chart for Alternative Music at #36, and peaked on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Songs chart at #24.
* When played for the radio, the time was cut from 6:15, to 4:29.
* Other media featuring this song includes:
	+ The trailer song for the animated movie *9*, and featured on the movie's soundtrack.
	+ Popular with sports teams, having been used by the Atlanta Hawks and the Dallas Stars, and was used in the Xbox 360 version of the video game, *Madden NFL 06*.
	+ The theme song for *WWE NXT* from the show's relaunch on June 20, 2012 to February 24, 2014.
	+ It was sampled in the song "LEGOS" by KiD TRUNKS. (Listen here.)
	+ It was also added to the video game *Rock Band* upon release on Nov 20, 2007.
		- The words "whore" and "fucking" were edited to "wolf" and "mucking" respectively in the release.
* According to Sanchez, the simple explanation of this song is: "The Writer and the Character share this dream, and when they awake, that’s when the two stories happen. The writer goes to the refrigerator, and he sees himself in this disfigured form, and a woman bound, next to a grave. And the woman says, ‘Don’t kill me. I loved you.’ And he says, ‘What do you care? You left me this way. The only way my pain will end is in your suffering. Now get in the ground.’ That’s the scene in the video. ‘Hang on to the glory of my right hand, the pen that pens the pages,’ that’s a big line."
* Some lines were changed in development:
	+ "With truth on the shores of compassion" was "With truth falls short of compassion"
	+ "I'll die as you sleep" was "I'll die when you sleep"

## 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-welcome-home-lyrics
3. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0H3RlaQVrM
4. ↑ https://www.discogs.com/artist/665880-Artificial-Army
5. ↑ https://www.billboard.com/music/coheed-and-cambria/chart-history/MRT
6. ↑ https://www.billboard.com/music/coheed-and-cambria/chart-history/RTT
7. ↑ https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/9-original-motion-picture/id328548787
8. ↑ https://vgost.fandom.com/wiki/Madden\_NFL\_06
9. ↑ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1601141/soundtrack?ref\_=tt\_trv\_snd
10. ↑ https://genius.com/Kid-trunks-legos-lyrics
11. ↑ https://rbdb.online/songs/details/304
12. ↑ http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/826/826182p1.html
13. ↑ https://www.clevescene.com/scene-and-heard/archives/2007/10/24/coheed-decoded-coheed-and-cambria-frontman-recaps-his-sci-fi-epic