"In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3"

Album Art by Bill Scoville.

**"In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3"** is a song by the American rock band Coheed and Cambria. It is the second track on their 2003 album *In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3*. This song was released as a single about two years after its initially release in 2005; it is the album's third single.

## Lyrics

**[Verse 1]**

A broad incision sits across the evening

The victim to our fathers' lost war

The restless children sit and mourn the graves

Of those they've never seen before

Will they be buried here, among the dead?

In the silent secret

**[Pre-Chorus]**

The pioneers

In dealing with it they march for dawn...

Of Will and worthy

The truth be told, the child was born...

**[Chorus]**

Man your own Jackhammer!

Man your battle stations

We'll have you dead, pretty soon

And now

Sincerely written

From my brother's blood machine *(to yours)*

Man your own battle station

We'll have you home, pretty soon

*(And now)*

**[Verse 2]**

Awake through motion

With curiosity to curtain your first move

Over arms length, they'll break protocol

Jealous envy for the youngest one

To be the hero is all I'll ask

Can I be buried here, among the dead

With room to honor me here in the end?

You'll be better off too soon

You'll be better off when you get home

**[Pre-Chorus]**

The pioneers

In dealing with it they march for dawn

Of Will and worthy

The truth be told, the child was born

**[Chorus]**

Man your own Jackhammer!

Man your battle stations

We'll have you dead, pretty soon

And now

Sincerely written

From my brother's blood machine to yours

Man your battle stations

We'll have you home, pretty soon

And now

**[Bridge 1]**

For you, I'd do anything just to make you happy

Hear you tell me that you're proud of me

For them, I'll kill anything

Cut the throats of babies for them

Break their hearts, for they were them

Waiting for you to say... "I love you, too"

The navigator, the pilot, her favorite

The one they call the Vision that bears the gift

The navigator, the pilot, her favorite

The one they call the Vision that bears the gift

**[Bridge 2]**

Will, do the children really understand

The things you did to them?

And why, oh why, should they conjure up the will

For you, my love, I would kill him

We're coming home pretty soon

Coming home

In the seventh turning hour, will the victims shadow fall?

Will the irony grow hungry

With the victory and all they sought for

We were one among the fence

One among the fence...

**[Chorus]**

Now, we're coming home

Man your own Jackhammer!

Man your battle stations

We'll have you dead, pretty soon

And now

Sincerely written

From my brother's blood machine to yours

Man your battle stations

We'll have you home, pretty soon

Tonight...

## Story Context

In the comic, the flashback goes to the proper pickup from *Second Stage*'s ending. However, this song actually portrays a big battle in Issue 6 on Silent Earth: 3, the former Paris: Earth.

The first line, "A broad incision sits across the evening / The victim to our fathers' lost war" refers to the planet itself, which was the site of the last big battle in which Coheed and Cambria were transformed into the Monstar and The White Ruineer. "The restless children sit and mourn the graves / Of those they've never seen before" refers to the fact that this is Chase and Sizer's first real battle and they, knowing the weight of the place, feel for those that previously died. "Will they be buried here, among the dead / In the silent secret?" Of course, Jesse wonders if they will fall in battle, before ever knowing the truth of things.

"The pioneers" in the pre-chorus refers to KBI, the first IRO-bots, and especially Jesse who then made other IRO-bots. "In dealing with it they march for dawn / Of Will and worthy" refers to his apprehension in letting Chase and Sizer on the battlefield. He does care for them, even though he keeps this fact hidden from even himself. After all, he keeps preaching about worth and how important it is to take down WILhelm. "The truth be told, the child was born" which refers to Claudio, who is the Child of Three; this is more or less spoken in *Second Stage* where Jesse notes that he is trying to come up with an IRO-bot to take Claudio's place since he's gone missing, but none of them measure up. It is also important to note here that "The pioneers / In dealing with it they march for dawn" is something Claudio says to Apollo before he tells him about Cecil's fate. He tells him that the two of them are pioneers, and that in dealing with it, they march for dawn, but continues to add "dealing with memories of dreams past, and promises broken." This could be a sentiment Jesse shares regarding Mariah's death.

The Chorus rings out with "Man your own Jackhammer! / Man your battle stations / We'll have you dead, pretty soon / And now..." Which is spoken by General Mayo Deftinwolf, the Red Army's leader in this battle, directed towards Jesse. A Jackhammer being a type of ship the Army uses. The second half, which is kind of a reprise, is spoken by Jesse: "Sincerely written / From my brother's blood machine to yours / Man your battle stations / We'll have you home, pretty soon / And now..." In which "my brother's blood machine" refers to Coheed, Jesse's "brother," so to speak. In other words, it's as though Jesse is saying "This is for my family!" as he attacks. The reprised line, "We'll have you home, pretty soon" shows that Jesse has a more compassionate relationship with his troops, unlike Deftinwolf.

In Verse 2, the battle is underway. "Awake through motion / With curiosity to curtain your first move" is describing the battle. Things are hectic, but the rebellion is moving cautiously and using their wit. This changes with "Over arms length, they'll break protocol / Jealous envy for the youngest one / To be the hero is all I'll ask" in which Jesse observes Sizer, whom his kept at a distance even more than his other creations, breaks the protocol and, transforming into a large golem, goes head first into the battle. "The youngest one" is Chase, though she's actually not "young" as an IRO-bot, but she wasn't given the growth hormone to go with her intelligence, so her body is that of little girl. She is clearly Jesse's favorite, which Sizer is envious of. Sizer wants to be seen as worthy as Chase is. He wants to be acknowledged and validated in Jesse's eyes, which he thinks he can only do by becoming a "hero."

"Can I be buried here, among the dead / With room to honor me here in the end? / You'll be better off too soon / You'll be better off when you get home" is a sentiment shared by both Jesse and Sizer. The two are very similar, using anger and stoicism to mask true feelings. If they die, their past mistakes might be forgiven and forgotten. The last line is actually solely Jesse's thought: if the battle is won, maybe things will be better when they all make it back home.

In the bridge, we get "For you, I'd do anything just to make you happy / Hear you tell me that you're proud of me" which is conveying Sizer's desire of recognition from Jesse. "For them, I'll kill anything / Cut the throats of babies for them / Break their hearts, for they were there" is used to show how far he'll go to achieve this end. "Waiting for you to say 'I love you, too'" is just the support to these lines. Then we are back to Jesse's view of the battlefield: "The navigator, the pilot, her favorite / The one they call the Vision that bears the gift" with The Navigator representing the IRO-bot Hack, the Pilot representing the IRO-bot Many, and "her favorite" representing Sizer, who is Chase's closest IRO-bot companion. The Vision refers strictly to Chase herself.

The second bridge starts with, "Will, do the children really understand / The things you did to them?" with "Will" being a shortened version of Wilhelm Ryan's name. The "children" references the inhabitants all throughout Heaven's Fence. (Fans of the band are called "Children of the Fence.") Jesse wonders if the regular citizens of The Fence understand what Ryan's has been doing and how it effects them. "And why, oh why, should they conjure up the will? / For you, my love, I would kill him" is him referring to the rebellion. Why should anyone join them if they have no clue what Ryan is up to? This especially hits home with the follow up line in which he addresses Mariah and her absence. She was the reason people had hope and followed the rebellion anyway. In the end, Jesse is willing to carry on her fight and see her goal met. This makes the conclusion, "We're coming home pretty soon / Coming home" seem more like the concept of "home" refer to death, in which the two might be reunited. The second half of the bridge is almost a riddle with a line like, "In the seventh turning hour, will the victims' shadow fall?" The "seventh hour" might be a reference to the time Coheed left his job for the day, only to meet Deftinwolf. The victims would be the Kilgannon children. "Should the irony grow hungry" may refer to Josephine, in this case. She actually held the cure to The Monstar Virus, but was killed before it could be activated, the irony being that she was killed by Coheed, her father, who became The Monstar. "With the victory and all they sought for" probably refers to KBI in its original form, who sought for Ryan's downfall. "We were one among the fence / One among the fence..." is pretty self explanatory.

## Trivia

* Two-Tone Tony’s Pirate Glee Club provided the vocals for the choir, and Danny Louis played the Keyboard.
* The "my brother's blood machine" line is also used as the title of The Prize Fighter Inferno's first album: My Brother's Blood Machine.

## References

1. ↑ Coheed and Cambria. Booklet. *In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3*, Equal Vision Records, 2003.
2. ↑ https://genius.com/Coheed-and-cambria-in-keeping-secrets-of-silent-earth-3-lyrics