"The Audience"

"The Audience" is a song by the American rock band Coheed and Cambria. It is the ninth track on their 2015 album The Color Before the Sun. A demo version of the song was released on The Color Before the Sun (Big Beige / 4th Street Demos) album and on the The Color Before the Sun: Deconstructed album.

Lyrics
[Verse 1] Please allow me to introduce myself I'm the lie you use When surrounded by snakes and talking sharks Be mindful the words you choose

Their eyes reflecting a purpose, calling Welcome to the feast Will you follow their actions, and play game? And as they step, will you repeat Their formalities?

[Pre-Chorus] Thieves of our time Watch as they rape your integrity March as the beat suggests

[Chorus A] Time ticks forward towards the bomb Undoing all that I once loved Come take your piece of me, blood or bone No matter, I'll still be here when you're

[Verse 2] Done, crossed, a story, you were always a maybe Here there are no absolutes Oh, used and abused, now left for show They laugh from their perch to let you know There's no letting go

[Pre-Chorus] Thieves of our time Watch as they rape your integrity March as the beat suggests

[Chorus A] Time ticks forward towards the bomb Undoing all that I once loved Come take your piece of me, blood or bone No matter, I'll still be here when you're

Done... Be here when you're... Done... Be here when you're...

[Chorus B] This is my audience Forever one, together burning stars Cut from the same disease Ever longing what and who we are

[Bridge 1] This is the story of a boy Who lost his way and found the fire, fire! Awestruck, his courage lost Damaged goods, a trust now long retired

[Chorus B] This is my audience Forever one, together burning stars Cut from the same disease Ever longing what and who we are

[Bridge 2] Take all matters into your own hands And I, and I, I Let them play with the coward you can't command And I, I, I... Now you’re just a memory Of humanity

(The audience... I will show... all of myself...)

[Chorus B] This is my audience Forever one, together burning stars Cut from the same disease Ever longing what and who we are Ever longing what and who we are

Background
Sanchez said, "The good and bad reactions to our music are all a part of The Audience. I receive all of it: the negative and the positive. It all makes me who I am. When we started making this record I kept thinking, ‘This is the first non-concept Coheed record, how will it be received?’ The reason I created The Amory Wars [an ongoing series of comic books written by Claudio Sanchez, and the focus of all Coheed and Cambria’s music up until now] so many years ago was because I was a shy guy, and I was afraid to express myself in songs. So I created a fictional world that could take the beating, and I could remain unscathed. And now here I am coming to accept that The Color Before the Sun is going to be concept-less, and that negative feedback is not going to bother me as much as I thought I would when I first started writing music back when I was 24. Now I’m 37, and I’m going to be as open to both sides of the audience as possible, because it all makes me who I am, and Coheed what it is. This song is really just addressing both sides of the positive and negative reactions to this record as a whole."