"Shoulders"

Single Art by Chase Stone.

## Music Video

Official Visualizer on YouTube
Official Music Video on YouTube

**"Shoulders"** is a song by the American rock band Coheed and Cambria. It is the fourth track on their upcoming album *Vaxis - Act II: A Window of the Waking Mind* and the album's first official single.

## Lyrics

**[Verse 1]**

Listen now that I've got your attention

Got to let you know

I hate to see you go, now that you're gone

We can enjoy the show

When you find them laughing at you...

There's no worse thing

**[Pre-Chorus]**

Hey... my wicked eyes do see

That I'm the one with the world on my shoulders

**[Chorus]**

You're going out of your way

Just to keep me down

Maybe we weren't made for each other

And I'm just the one you can keep around

**[Verse 2]**

Maybe all things have their misconceptions

That's the life you chose

Every one is laughing at you... out to get you

But change is the exception

Time to brave your life outside their shadow

When they keep laughing at you

Dare you got to say...

**[Pre-Chorus]**

Hey... my wicked eyes do see

That I'm the one with the world on my shoulders

**[Chorus]**

You're going out of your way

Just to keep me down

Maybe we weren't made for each other

And I'm just the one you can keep around

**[Outro]**

You're going out of your way

Yeah, you're kicking me down

Maybe we weren't made for each other

But there's way worse things to keep around

## Music Visualizer & Video

On July 21, 2021, when the single was officially released, a "visualizer" was released on the band's YouTube page. It was produced by Zakk Cervini with Sanchez. It has a very similar vibe as Sanchez's solo project's visualizers.

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On August 9, 2021 an official music video was released. It was also produced by Zakk Cervini with Sanchez.

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## Story Context

This song is most likely about Siv & Gob Trafinder and their relationship to Nia and Nos. Siv and Gob in particular are conjoined; Gob to Siv's upper chest on his right side. Like all siblings, they have a bit of a love-hate relationship. (If Siv didn't love Gob he wouldn't have agreed to affix him to his chest to save him, but one can only take so much of someone before they need space.) In this perspective we can see how the first Verse is establishing the brother's relationship. The pre-chorus and chorus has the feeling of "The World is Against Us," with each reassuring each other that even though the situation isn't ideal, they're happy to be here.

The second verse addresses Nia: Everyone might continue to think what they want about Gob and his feelings, but he accepts the path Nia chose. He doesn't care if people laugh at him because he doesn't regret how he got this way and he hopes that eventually she will see how he's changed; matured out of the school boy crush everyone assumes he still has.

## Background

This song kind of follows the trail "Beautiful Losers" left off in the background department. Sure, they're the underdogs, but have they been able to accomplished all the things they wanted to in spite of it? It shows them coming out of that tunnel and feeling empowered by it. Additionally, as Sanchez's son's name is Atlas, it plays on the personal themes he was experiencing to inform Vaxis.

    Sanchez also said, "‘Shoulders’ touches on the highs and lows of this journey, and how at times it can be frustrating to be an outsider to trendy circles, but in the end, doing it your own way has the biggest rewards."

## Trivia

* This song seems to have a Piano Interlude in the beginning.
* In addition to the two brothers in the album art, another figure, a spider-like fleshy creature, was included in the full version of the art. This third entity is called IxVox3 (pronounced EEKS-VOX-three), according to Sanchez and confirmed in a follow up email.
* An acoustic version was recorded during the band's 2021 co-headlining tour with The Used and released to their YouTube channel on October 20, 2021. Later, on October 29th, it was released for listening on streaming platforms and for purchase, if one desired with identical album art, but in black-and-white.

## References

1. ↑ https://genius.com/Coheed-and-cambria-shoulders-lyrics
2. ↑ Coheed and Cambria. Booklet. *Vaxis - Act II: A Window of the Waking Mind*, Roadrunner Records, 2022.
3. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=budmX5jCGns
4. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=budmX5jCGns
5. ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/TheFence/comments/vklxyl/claudios\_trackbytrack\_descriptions\_from\_allmusic/
6. ↑ https://bloody-disgusting.com/music/3674768/coheed-cambria-return-new-single-shoulders-listen/
7. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxW\_Ia-ViDY
8. ↑ https://www.amazon.com/Shoulders-Acoustic/dp/B09JR2TJ3D/ref=sr\_1\_15?dchild=1&keywords=coheed+and+cambria+shoulders&qid=1635649429&s=dmusic&sprefix=Coheed+and+Cambria%2Cdigital-music%2C84&sr=1-15