"Key Entity Extraction III: Vic the Butcher"

"Key Entity Extraction III: Vic the Butcher" is a song by the American rock band Coheed and Cambria. It is the seventh track on their 2012 album The Afterman: Ascension. A demo version of the song was released on The Afterman: Ascension (Big Beige Demos) album and a live version was released on The Afterman: Live.

Lyrics
[Verse 1] You made this harder than it had to be The absolute marker, etching into me You flashed your colors at me way prematurely Now I know what you're up to And it feels so good, it's right

[Pre-Chorus] We've got your number written Reset the system screaming Hang your secrets, hang 'em up, hang 'em up now Hang your secrets, hang 'em up, hang 'em up now

These sitting ducks in season The march of little children Hang your secrets, hang 'em up, hang 'em up now Hang your secrets, hang 'em up, hang 'em up now

[Chorus] The truth will cut you down to pieces 184, let's burn it down And if I can't keep from living with this regret I'll need to change the way I think about us

[Verse 2] I listened to them chuckle as they eat Their judgement hiding behind eyes and dirty teeth You think I care for all these phony pleasantries When I want nothing to do I want nothing to do with your life

[Pre-Chorus] We've got your number written Reset the system screaming Hang your secrets, hang 'em up, hang 'em up now Hang your secrets, hang 'em up, hang 'em up now

These sitting ducks in season The march of little children Hang your secrets, hang 'em up, hang 'em up now Hang your secrets, hang 'em up, hang 'em up now

[Chorus] The truth will cut you down to pieces 184, let's burn it down And if I can't keep from living with this regret I'll need to change the way I think about us

[Bridge] Baby, I'm bad company and you don't have a mark You're the prettiest thing I have ever seen Come with me, I want to make you dirty

[Chorus] 184, let's burn it down I'll need to change the way I think

[Outro] Hang your secrets, hang 'em up, hang 'em up now Hang your secrets, hang 'em up, hang 'em up now Hang your secrets, hang 'em up, hang 'em up now Hang your secrets, hang 'em up, hang 'em up now Hang your secrets, hang 'em up, hang 'em up now Hang your secrets, hang 'em up, hang 'em up now Hang your secrets, hang 'em up, hang 'em up now Hang your secrets, hang 'em up, hang 'em up now (Hang your secrets, hang 'em up, hang 'em up now)

[Spoken] All Mother: "Heart rate: 119 bpm. Blood pressure: 85 systolic, 50 diastolic. Respirations: 10 per minute. Pulse Oximetry of 83% indicates severe hypoxia and neurovascular compromise. Sirius, you are not well... Caution, unidentified entity approaching."

Story Context
"" Right into Vic's life, are set a stage: Vic was a merciless, apathetic, tyrannical Army Lieutenant General who often disregarded rules, exploited loopholes, and engaged in illegal activities.

Our first verse depicts one such situation: Vic calls a promising Sergeant Major named Sentry into his private quarters to give him a secret order to bomb an enemy building. Sentry defies this order, and Vic has him hung. The line "Now I know what you're up to / And it feels so good, it's right" clearly shows Vic has no regrets about his actions toward Sentry.

In the pre-chorus, we get a more explicit call out to Vic's actions with "Hang your secrets, hang 'em up, hang 'em up now" and the lines "These sitting ducks in season / The march of little children" call back to how Vic told Sentry's family how he passed: "he had committed suicide, citing the intense mental strain of being in the military."

In the chorus, we flash forward to a retired Vic who, living a relatively "quite" life, is extradited and charged, but knowing the "truth will cut him down to pieces," decides the better option is to burn down his townhouse—whose building number is 184. In doing this, he not only dies ("can't keep from living with the regret") but his wife and the rest of the building as well ("change the way I think about us").

In the second verse, we get more images of Vic's time as a General. "I listened to them chuckle as they eat / Their judgement hiding behind eyes and dirty teeth" showing how he carefully kept an eye on soldiers in his command, waiting for them to betray him. But in the next lines, we see he ultimately doesn't care about them beyond his own selfish reasons at all. They are just a means to an end. ("You think I care for all these phony pleasantries / When I want nothing to do / I want nothing to do with your life.")

In the bridge, we hear Vic speaking to someone (probably his wife), which would maybe explain a bit about how he felt about her. ("Baby, I'm bad company and you don't have a mark / You're the prettiest thing I have ever seen / Come with me, I want to make you dirty.") Vic was a "bad boy" to her, and flattered her, and though he may have never said it explicitly to her, he thought she was the one thing pure in his life, though he was sure he would taint her.

Lastly, we have All Mother's words at the end of this track. Sirius doesn't do as Vic wants, and his soul torments Sirius' more. We hear her rattle off his vitals, including the diagnosis of severe hypoxia and neurovascular compromise (which may hearken back to the cover art of either album). And lastly, she senses yet a fourth entity approaching.

Background
Sanchez wrote that the inspiration for this song came when he and his wife, newly married, had been hosting a party in their cramped little apartment, when he got into a fight with one of the guests. Leaving to cool his head, his wife was upset that he had just left without a word, and wouldn't talk to him. He wrote, "The immature side of me blew things out of proportion and the next day, I started to write this song about the course of events that evening; how one “strike of a match” could have burned this entire relationship and friendship down."

Trivia

 * The number, 184, is a reference to the apartment Sanchez and his wife shared during the incident that inspired this song.