"The Pavilion (A Long Way Back)"

Album Art by Chase Stone.

**"The Pavilion (A Long Way Back)"** is a song by the American rock band Coheed and Cambria. It is the ninth song on their 2018 album *Vaxis – Act I: The Unheavenly Creatures*.

## Lyrics

**[Verse 1]**

Carried them over your shoulders, you fear

The absence, the void you'll cause

When you choose to leave them all here

There's no turning back, it's time that you steer

The wide open stares back alone at the cusp

The self that you thought you lost

The shine that burned well into rust

You can't hear my voice 'cause I'm not loud enough

Believe me, when I say

It's a long way back from here

**[Chorus]**

Goodbye for now

Hang on, it's clear... that the road's about to get rough

Oh, can you hear the ringing it's left in my ear?

Over and over, the light hits the dusk

It's the choice that I've made but for us, I'd choose to give it all up

If you want me here, well, then ask me to stay

**[Verse 2]**

The glistening wet concrete, the heat off the road

The clamoring hands and the bus you call home

This is it? Believe what you want

In this space, I don't fit

The same day repeats with the things that you see

Dirty dressing room carpets and broken TVs

Is this it?

In this water I'll tread 'til the day that I'm dead

**[Chorus]**

Hang on, it's clear... that the road's about to get rough

Oh, can you hear the ringing it's left in my ear?

Over and over, the light hits the dusk

It's the choice that I've made but for us, I'd choose to give it all up

If you want me here, well, then ask me to stay

**[Bridge]**

Goodbye for now, echo, echoes

Mile marker, minutes, hours

If this is it and there is no more

And you believe that's true

It's a long way back from here

There's no going home

**[Chorus]**

Hang on, it's clear... that the road's about to get rough

Oh, can you hear the ringing it's left in my ear?

Over and over, the light hits the dusk

It's the choice that I've made but for us, I'd choose to give it all up

If you want me here, well, then ask me to stay

**[Outro]**

*(Goodbye for now, echo, echoes)*

Well, then ask me to stay

*(Goodbye for now, echo, echoes)*

Well, then ask me to stay

*(Goodbye for now, echo, echoes)*

Well, then ask me to stay

*(Goodbye for now, echo, echoes)*

Well, then ask me to stay

## Music Video

Directed by Sanchez and Ernie "Dirty Ern" Falconer, the video was released on May 30, 2019.

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## Story Context

This song focuses on describing Nia and Nostrand's nomadic lifestyle before (or during, in Nos' case) joining The Unheavenly Creatures. The first verse describes Nostrand's duality about wanting to live a normal life, but finding it constraining and how being with Nia has reopened his eyes to what a normal life could be. But because of that, he's really scared to do anything to disrupt that.

In the chorus, we get a preview of what will eventually happen: Nia will find out about his "other life" and temporarily leave him before demanding that he never lie to her again, and let her into that part of his life.

The second verse describes their seemingly simplistic life; getting around on buses, trudging off to work and the monotony of it all (they work for a theater trope helping with sets and costumes). Nos is trying to maintain the ruse, but he doesn't think he could ever do just this.

The bridge shows their ultimate compromise in response to the chorus. They briefly part, she presents the ultimatum, and Nos confirms this is what she wants, because there will be no going back once they embark down that path.

## Trivia

* The Pavilion is the off world port in the story where ships can come and go.
* Claudio Sanchez said that this song was originally written when he was contemplating leaving the band. "It wasn’t until I started structuring the actual beats of the story that I found a place for it within the concept."

## References

1. ↑ Coheed and Cambria. Booklet. *Vaxis - Act I: The Unheavenly Creatures*, RoadRunner Records, 2018.
2. ↑ https://genius.com/Coheed-and-cambria-the-pavilion-a-long-way-back-lyrics
3. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=\_r5sK1CvsY8
4. ↑ https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/coheed-and-cambrias-claudio-sanchez-on-resuming-the-amory-wars-707534/