Ten Speed (of God's Blood & Burial)

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"Ten Speed (of God's Blood & Burial)" is a song by progressive rock band Coheed and Cambria from their 2005 album Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV, Volume One: From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness. It is the third single from the album. The band requested that fans come to Los Angeles to appear in the video, which was released summer 2006, in Europe.

[edit] Song Meaning

Ten Speed (of God's Blood and Burial) details a mental trip taken by the Writing Writer regarding his indecision with his character Ambelina, alter ego of Erica Court, his lover, who has supposedly been cheating on him or becoming cold. In fact, some of the songs seem to suggest that she has actually left him. Ten Speed takes the form of a demonic bicycle and represents the Writer's darker thoughts, his negativity and banes - hence "God's blood and burial." In the story he writes, he is God, as he weaves their world. As the Prise (Ambelina's race)failed God in the story, so Erica has failed him in real life and ended his faith in love and women generally. In order to end his pain over Erica's hold, he thinks of destroying her character to symbolise him forgetting her original sweetness and kindness.

The first stanza depicts Ten Speed's arrival in front of the Writer, telling him he knows something is wrong ("I can feel it in the way your blood and heart beats.") Erica's deceit is making him physically sick and the Writer's body is becoming unbelieving and cold from the realisations ("My body's cold and it thinks that I'm already gone.") Ten Speed reminds him that he isn't doing anything wrong by only hurting her character, as they don't know he's doing it ("they see no evil in leading their bodies from home.") The chorus shows Ten Speed telling him that he'd best kill her off soon so the pain is lessened, although the Writer seems to be thinking that his stories won't help him with this one ("No, but I don't buy it.") The song also shows how a writer can split themselves into many different personalities - The Writing Writer wants to be Claudio again, a hero, kind, accepting and strong, but he knows he's only human ("like anything you do, as anyone you are.")

The second stanza goes on to say that if he knew the writing could save him from dying inside (his Blood and Burial, in alliance to Jesse's Blood Machine, his Heart) any more than it has by allowing him to trap her essence in a doomed character, he would take it. It also becomes clear that Ten Speed has been visiting his mentality and allowing him to visit the corners of his mind to enrich his story, but tonight he doesn't "want to ride" - he doesn't want the pain and negativity to show up. The next part is rather enticing as it outlines a speaking part between two characters:

Ten Speed: Are you gonna kill her off?
WW: Are you insane? I love her character. She stays.
Ten Speed: Yeah, well,the only thing love's done is put you in this position. I say kill her off!
WW: Yeah, well, you say a lot of things, but how does that work? You're a bicycle!

Here, it seems the Writing Writer is reluctant to kill Ambelina off because he is still in love with her kind heart and I think, to be honest, he still thinks he can get her back. To kill off her character would be a finality. Ten Speed argues back that her love has done nothing but harm him. The Writing Writer snaps back that Ten Speed is a figment of his imagination, and, furthermore, he knows he's not real. The rather dark feeling to the song is, I think, a symbol that Ten Speed echoes the Writing Writer's desire to end his pain, to just accept her rejection, and, possibly, to actually kill Erica Court. After all, the parallels of real life and stories are crossing over now. The final passages show the finality, that Erica will continue to harm him, to be his God's blood and burial, because the Writer is not yet ready to let her go.