"Shoulders"

"Shoulders" is a song by the American rock band Coheed and Cambria. It is the fourth track on their upcoming album Vaxis - Act II: A Window of the Waking Mind and the album's first official single.

Lyrics
[Verse 1] Listen now that I've got your attention Got to let you know I hate to see you go, now that you're gone We can enjoy the show When you find them laughing at you... There's no worse thing

[Pre-Chorus] Hey... my wicked eyes do see That I'm the one with the world on my shoulders

[Chorus] You're going out of your way Just to keep me down Maybe we weren't made for each other And I'm just the one you can keep around

[Verse 2] Maybe all things have their misconceptions That's the life you chose Every one is laughing at you... out to get you But change is the exception Time to brave your life outside their shadow When they keep laughing at you Dare you got to say...

[Pre-Chorus] Hey... my wicked eyes do see That I'm the one with the world on my shoulders

[Chorus] You're going out of your way Just to keep me down Maybe we weren't made for each other And I'm just the one you can keep around

[Outro] You're going out of your way Yeah, you're kicking me down Maybe we weren't made for each other But there's way worse things to keep around

Music Visualizer & Video
On July 21, 2021, when the single was officially released, a "visualizer" was released on the band's YouTube page. It was produced by Zakk Cervini with Sanchez. It has a very similar vibe as Sanchez's solo project's visualizers.



On August 9, 2021 an official music video was released. It was also produced by Zakk Cervini with Sanchez.



Story Context
"" We only know that the song is about two brothers; Gob & Siv Trafinder. According to a press release, the band has said, "‘Shoulders’ touches on the highs and lows of this journey, and how at times it can be frustrating to be an outsider to trendy circles, but in the end, doing it your own way has the biggest rewards."

Background
This song kind of follows the trail "Beautiful Losers" left off in the background department. Sure, they're the underdogs, but have they been able to accomplished all the things they wanted to in spite of it? It shows them coming out of that tunnel and feeling empowered by it. Additionally, as Sanchez's son's name is Atlas, it plays on the personal themes he was experiencing to inform Vaxis.

Trivia

 * This song seems to have a Piano Interlude in the beginning.
 * In addition to the two brothers in the album art, another figure, a spider-like fleshy creature, was included in the full version of the art. This third entity is called IXVOX3 (pronounced EEKS-VOX-three), according to Sanchez and confirmed in a follow up email.
 * An acoustic version was recorded during the band's 2021 co-headlining tour with The Used and released to their YouTube channel on October 20, 2021. Later, on October 29th, it was released for listening on streaming platforms and for purchase, if one desired with identical album art, but in black-and-white.