"Key Entity Extraction I: Domino the Destitute"

Art by Nathan Spoor.

## Music Video

Official Video on YouTube

**"Key Entity Extraction I: Domino the Destitute"** is a song by the American rock band Coheed and Cambria. It is the second track on their 2012 album *The Afterman: Ascension* and is the first single released for it. A demo version of the song was released on *The Afterman: Ascension (Big Beige Demos)* collection, and a live version was released on *The Afterman: Live* album.

## Lyrics

**[Verse 1]**

If you had the courage to stop me from turning

Into what would be the worst in everybody's eyes

Hey, I'm no angel or the devil of your conscience

To tell you who to be, good, bad, ugly, or otherwise

If you had good common sense

Your choices would be gleaming, flawless

I want no part in this self-deprecating

Worthless chemistry

**[Pre-Chorus]**

We made our beds to lie in them, proud

Proud of our great mistakes

This warring knife, the flash of its blade

Turn about-face

**[Chorus]**

I implore you, brother

Don't walk away, don't walk away from me

'Cause this is our war

**[Verse 2]**

Oh, you think they have it all while you were left with nothing

Oh, oh, you've taken the fall for them to walk all over

You made your bed, so soft and comforting

These dreams await the Great Good Morning

**[Pre-Chorus]**

We made our beds to lie in them, proud

Proud of our great mistakes

This warring knife, the flash of its blade

Turn about-face

**[Chorus]**

I implore you, brother

Don't walk away, don't walk away from me

'Cause this is our war

**[Post-Chorus]**

Oh, we've got you by the throat

Ha-ha-ha, all you wanna be...

**[Interlude 2]**

Welcome all, to the everlasting all-time low

Please put your hands together

For the ever-failing one man show—

Domino!

Ladies and broken gentlemen

The undisputed champ of misery

And in this corner, we find his challenger

The pride of Utopia, the greatest thing ever

**[Bridge]**

If you could recall one moment of your past

That defined you to be, that made you the man

We've come to love, all the above

Oh, this disaster binds us, absolute

A thousand lies, you'll tell yourselves

That no one ever loved you right

Oh, but I would do anything for you

The question fits the question mark

Your signals crossed, your message lost...

Ha, ha!

**[Spoken]**

Well this has been an extraordinary change of events

As two great champions at the fight to the finish find themselves in their last and final round

The fight now being deemed around the world as the upset of the century

Let's get back to the brawl and in the fray!

The fighters meet in the center of the ring, the challenger swings to the right, quick with a left, hooks across Domino's jaw

Followed by a crushing strike to the body OH!

He might have took another left... His hook sends Domino into the ropes!

The Challenger lands a devastating combo followed by a driving hook that sends Domino to the floor

The crowd's on their feet

The ref calls the fight

He's out, he's out...

**[Interlude 2]**

This wall won't hold, forever

Your time has come, it's now or never

**[Pre-Chorus]**

We made our beds to lie in them, proud

Proud of our great mistakes

This warring knife, the flash of its blade

Turn about-face

**[Chorus]**

I implore you, brother

Don't walk away, don't walk away from me

'Cause this is our war

**[Outro]**

One by one

We are together! We fall together!

One by one

We are together! We fall together!

Now, my brother, don't be afraid

We are together! We are together!

Brother...

We are together! We fall together!

## Music Video

An official music video was released for the single on August 27, 2012. It was directed by Robert "Roboshobo" Schober. The video is an apt description the meaning of the song itself.

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## Story Context

When Sirius Amory steps off his ship, the blue energy of the Keywork seems to be full of "tiny, scattered noises." They slowly begin to take on human shapes. He asks All Mother for an analyses and she comes up with a variety that all means the same thing: souls. One soul pushes his way through the crowd and makes short work of possessing Amory.

The beginning verse is a conversation Domino, a boxer, has with his brother, **Chess**. Chess is imploring Domino to stay away from the gangster **Kriptor Noncruss** who became a patron to Domino. The pre-chorus foretells that Domino will make a terrible mistake that he'll have no choice but to live with. It uses "we" to signify that though this is Domino's memory, Amory is still there in his place as a dual POV. In the chorus, we see that this choice (to dope at Kriptor's urging) has clearly torn the brothers apart with the line, "**I implore you, brother / Don't walk away**" ending with "**This is our war**." It's normal for brothers to fight, but if Domino walks away, Chess might never see him again.

In verse 2, we are seeing things briefly from Amory's POV: Domino thinks he can become rich and famous by throwing his lot in with Kriptor, but he ends up taking the fall for it and is left with nothing. It closes with a re-imagined line from the pre-chorus (which makes sense as we're still in Amory's POV). The post-chorus and interlude here set a new stage. In a mock fighter, the announcer introduces Domino as the "**undisputed champ of misery**." The event he's fighting in is called an "**everlasting all-time low**" and an "**ever-failing one man show**." Contrary, his challenger is "**The pride of utopia, the greatest thing ever**" (the drugs Domino takes to dope).

Into the bridge, it begins with "**If you could recall one moment of your past / That defined you to be, that made you the man**" which is Amory trying to understand the visions he's seeing in Domino's head. Then "**A thousand lies, you tell yourself / That no one ever loved you right**" solidifying that Domino has obviously perceives the events differently (Chess never loved him and he's all alone) when these are obvious lies he's told himself. There's also the lines "**This disaster binds us, absolute**" and "**Your signals crossed, your message lost**" which refers to Amory trying to break free but ultimately having to continue on. We are taken out of the sequence in the Announcer's spoken part to a flashback between Domino and **Saul "the Ghostmaker" Maven** who, due to Domino's intoxication, lost in a stunning knockout, leading to his spiral into the present events.

In the final interlude, we get the line "**Your time has come, it's now or never**" where Krip offers Domino an out: help with a heist and get a cut of the pay out. Wanting to make up with Chess, we get the lines "**We are together! We fall together!**" and "**Now, my brother, don't be afraid**" which describe how Domino asks Chess if he wants to join him. Even though he's scared, Chess will follow Domino until the end, but things don't go right, and after Chess is shot, Domino ultimately kills himself. With this, Amory is freed, but sees the Entity continues on, leading him to believe the Entities go through these moments over and over again in a kind of hell-like scenario.

## Background

Sanchez wrote that the main inspiration for this song was the situation with their former band mate, Michael Todd. Todd had a drug addiction and struggles with it led him to leaving the band, and Sanchez wrote, "despite so much potential and support all around him, he couldn't avoid the pitfalls" that come with being in a band.

## Trivia

* John Medeski played the Synthesizers.
* The line "To tell you who to be, good, bad, ugly, or otherwise", is a reference to *The Good, the bad, and the Ugly* which is a movie about cowboys and criminals.
* A special promo CD was made for this single featuring the actor in the music video. The imagery is also used in the video on posters advertising the fight between him and Saul.
	+ In this poster, Domino's last name is listed as Cruiser.

## References

1. ↑ Coheed and Cambria. Booklet. *The Afterman: Ascension*, Everything Evil Records, 2012.
2. ↑ https://noisecreep.com/coheed-and-cambria-domino-the-destitute-video-premiere/
3. ↑ https://imvdb.com/video/coheed-and-cambria/domino-the-destitute
4. ↑ https://genius.com/Coheed-and-cambria-key-entity-extraction-i-domino-the-destitute-lyrics