"The Lying Lies & Dirty Secrets of Miss Erica Court"

Album Art by Christopher Shy.

### Appears on

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

### Mastering

Brian Gardner

**"The Lying Lies & Dirty Secrets of Miss Erica Court"** is a song by the American rock band Coheed and Cambria. It is the tenth 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]**

They move too fast to be words behind your teeth

The give and go of most of your memories

But I'm not the one that they need pray for

If I've got it all, then what does do?

Oh, leave it alone

Oh, that once little boy we used to know

Are you willing... well?

**[Chorus]**

Help!

Oh, now off to the hell your God has sold

To find that never again will you rely

On the word of your friends, in the unwritten end

For when you go, they won't be following

Now, sell all your friends for the unwritten end

'Cause when you go, they won't be following him

**[Verse 2]**

I'll move the knife to show you of my cut

With the worst of truth, from here, I drew no blood

So you're not as real, just what I thought up?

You're just a page I'll burn from a book

That has nothing to show

Of that once little boy we used to know

Am I killing you?

**[Chorus]**

Help!

Oh, now off to the hell your God has sold

To find, that never again will you rely

On the word of your friends in the unwritten end

For when you go, they won't be following

Now, sell all your friends for the unwritten end

'Cause when you go, they won't be following

No, no

I said "When you go, they won't be following"

Whoa, no

I said "When you go, they won't be following him"

**[Outro]**

Believe it or not, you'll know

When this ends and how it goes

Believer... believe it or not, you'll know

When it ends and how it goes

## Story Context

This song follows the "Once Upon Your Dead Body". The first verse seems to be when Ten Speed takes over Ryder. With "little boy" being used to describe Ryder, Ten Speed knows that Ryder is the one who still, ultimately, holds the power over the story and the Fiction, so he must take control.

In the chorus, Ryder cries out, but he's unheard because of Ten Speed, who tells him to shut up. They enter the Willing Well, and using Chase, who is in a trance-like state, "sells" her friends out to bring Ryder to Ambellina through the Well, where no one can follow. He then takes the Prise, tossing Chase to Claudio, and leaves through the Well again.

In verse 2, we see what the culmination of all of Ten Speed's words: he'll kill Ambellina to cure his cut heart. As gruesome as it is, it won't matter, because Ambellina isn't a real person and can't really die, so her death holds no real consequences. But it will do something for Ryder; restore the "little boy" he used to be. And hopefully, kill the feelings he has for Erica.

In the Outro, we seem to get a final farewell from the Writer, but these are not in the comic.

## Trivia

* Danny Louis played Keyboard.
* According to Sanchez, the simple explanation of this song is: "The writer starts to realize that there’s something else behind what Ten Speed is telling him: that no one will be following you when you end the story; everyone is going to die. And that you never should have put your trust in this individual."
* Some changes were made from development:
	+ The lines "Oh, that once little boy we used to know / Are you willing... well?" were "Oh, those bad little girls in telephone / Well, I'm waiting..."
	+ In the chorus, the first section was completely absent and the lines "On the word of your friends, in the unwritten end" and "Now, sell all your friends for the unwritten end" were both just "So tell all your friends in the unwritten end".
	+ Similar to the first change, the lines, "Of that once little boy we used to know / Am I killing you?" was "For a good little boy with microphone / I'll be killing you..."
	+ There was no outro originally.

## References

1. ↑ https://genius.com/Coheed-and-cambria-the-lying-lies-and-dirty-secrets-of-miss-erica-court-lyrics
2. ↑ https://www.clevescene.com/scene-and-heard/archives/2007/10/24/coheed-decoded-coheed-and-cambria-frontman-recaps-his-sci-fi-epic