"Always & Never"

Album Art by Bill Scoville.

### Appears on

*Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV - Volume One: From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness*

### Mastering

Brian Gardner

**"Always & Never"** is a song by the American rock band Coheed and Cambria. It is the second song 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]**

If beauty sits the child's kiss

Of laughter I amend

Can you catch her if she runs?

With this I would share with you

All of this count to no end

**[Verse 2]**

Behind your sealed eyes you miss

All that I've done for you

Will you catch me when I run?

If timing plays evident

What would you say when you're late?

**[Pre-Chorus]**

Stay with me and fall asleep

Pray to God for no bad dreams

Stay with me and fall asleep

Pray to God for no bad dreams

**[Chorus]**

Here, I'm still waiting here, my dear

For one kiss from you

So here, I'm still waiting here, my dear

To kill all of you

To kill all of you

## Story Context

This is told from a new character's perspective. We are introduced to Ryder the Writer who resides in our world. He suffers from schizophrenia and as such has many hallucinations and delusions, one of which may be the Fiction.

This song doesn't seem to take place within the comic, but seems to begin with Ryder describing his connection with Chase, the Vishual, who has the appearance of a child and the power to "hear God." He wonders if he'll be able to keep ahold of her if she decides to abandon her duty to him. Of course, her ability lets her see or hear him, but he implies this ability is by his grace with the line "I would share with you."

But in Verse 2 we get a brief vision of the future: Chase may be able to visualize his entity, but the rest of the "characters" can't. And with his grand plan, he wonders if they, the ungrateful, will be able to stop him once he puts it into motion. And when there is no stopping him, what will they do then?

In the chorus, we have a child-like vocal of the lines, "Stay with me and fall asleep / Pray to God for no bad dreams" which draws him back to reality in which his girlfriend, Erica Court has left him for being too involved in his story. And thinking this is all a bad dream, which schizophrenia can look like. The chorus' tone then takes a darker turn. He's waiting, wanting her back. But with the end he reveals his master plan: "To kill all of you," which is directed at his story's characters. In the comic scene, he is mentally breaking and stabs his hand against the mirror with a screwdriver, which is also done to Claudio, with his eyes glowing as though he's using a power.

## Trivia

* **Janiris Sanchez** who made the child vocals on this track is Sanchez's niece.
* According to Sanchez, the simple explanation of this song is: "A lot of these songs are what is being told by the Writer. Certain songs are a reflection of why certain things are the way they are, more of a description of a character. And this explains the character Chase, why that character exists, and why she stays so young. And the second verse starts to clash with the Writer’s version of the story, why he talks about the love who left him, and the influence on what is to come in the story. And ‘To kill all of you’ is the writer referring to what will happen in the story. And he’s killing that love of his, crushing her, maybe literally."

## 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-always-and-never-lyrics
3. ↑ https://www.popmatters.com/193759-keeping-the-acclaim-the-legacy-of-coheed-and-cambrias-good-apollo-im-2495525711.html
4. ↑ https://www.clevescene.com/scene-and-heard/archives/2007/10/24/coheed-decoded-coheed-and-cambria-frontman-recaps-his-sci-fi-epic