"33"

"33" is a song by the American rock band Coheed and Cambria. It is the seventh track on their 2002 album The Second Stage Turbine Blade. A demo version was released in 2000 on Delirium Trigger.

Lyrics
[Verse 1] It's not what you have learned But what they said about you under your shirt You know they never will They'll make sense of what you gave them And now it's all downhill from here

Well, in case you break my fall We're bringing it home! Patrick, short flip And outside boundary lines

[Chorus] (I'm running you down) Oh yeah, well nothing looks right from up here (Inside out) I'm still unclear 'Bout the things you might have said

[Verse 2] In piece they stagger, indebted Rush me to the emergency room Flat line equals frantic endeavor But I guess this'll have to do now

Patrick, short flip, and outside We're bringing it home!

[Chorus] (I'm running you down) Oh yeah, well nothing seems right from up here (Inside out) I'm still unclear 'Bout the things you might have said

(Down) Oh yeah, well nothing seems right from up here (Inside out) I'm still unclear 'Bout the things you might have said 'Bout the things you might have said

[Bridge] Hold on to the things you favor most Shift right and let it run down If my peace could find a way out

Let go of the youthful honesty Let go of the youthful honesty Let go of the youthful honesty

[Chorus] (I'm running you down) Oh yeah, well nothing looks right from up here (Inside out) I'm still unclear 'Bout the things you might have said

(Down) Oh yeah, well nothing looks right from up here (Inside out) I'm still unclear 'Bout the things you might have said

(I'm running you down) Oh yeah, well nothing looks right from up here I'm still unclear

Story Context
"" This song is told from Patrick McCormick's perspective. He is the fiancé of the late Josephine Kilgannon and witnesses her father, Coheed, bash her head in with a hammer while under the impression she harbored a deadly virus that would kill everyone in The Fence. As he flees, he is also pursued by an Onstantine Priest who wants to kill him to prevent witnesses to anything Wilhelm Ryan has planned. This is outlined in great deal in the extra issue titled "33". Many of the lyrics are converted (almost) directly into text throughout the issue, mostly materialized as Patrick's inner monologue.

The first lines ("It's not what you have learned / But what they said about you under your shirt") are almost one-for-one what Patrick conveys in the first scene of the issue. "...the mind [...] has an awful way of reminding you, not what you have learned—but the things they've said about you, the things that break you down make you feel less." So when Sanchez writes "under your shirt" he uses that as a metaphor for feeling vulnerable—the things people say that make you feel insecure. In this panel, a disapproving Coheed and worried Cambria are featured in Sepia, giving us the impression that this is how Patrick remembers them. The following lines of "You know they never will / They'll make sense of what you gave them" also correlates to a follow up line in the comic: "You know they never will make any sense of what you gave them." And this features a very much in love Josephine hugging Patrick, again in Sepia to denote a memory. But then the hammer comes down, and we get "And now it's all downhill from here."

The next bit isn't directly mentioned so we can only guess at its meaning within the context of the issue. Patrick is in his car and is trying to outrun the Priest on his heels. He is full of memories and thought of Josephine. When he uses the word "we," it seems as though he's referring to himself and Josephine as a unit. So when he uses "you" he may be referring directly to Josephine. Therefore, "Well, in case you break my fall / We're bringing it home! / Patrick, short flip / And outside boundary lines" may be him "speaking" (if you will) to Josie, asking for her strength to help him succeed (bring it home). The "short flip" may be an analogy to his car chase and antics to out maneuver the monster. And the boundary he's breaking could be a representation of its proximity to him in the chase.

The "I'm running you down" part is also used directly in the issue (with a satisfying "motherfucker" added after). "Oh yeah, well nothing looks right from up here" could corollate to where Patrick says "Everyone has gone crazy, nothing is right anymore," which seems to work with the "Inside Out" line that follows. Of course, it ends with "I'm still unclear / 'Bout the things you might have said" which if we go back to the theory of the "you" being Josie, could give us some insight into how Patrick is dealing with her death. When he last saw her, she'd been messed up due to his actions (or lack thereof) so what would she have said to him if they could've talked again after that? Who knows. This makes sense because in the issue, Patrick does wonder if she could have been spared if she just hadn't loved him, if she would have found someone else who could've protected her.

The second verse takes us back to where the first left off in the issue, going back to his memories: the shards of glass that littered his car after the Devils broke into it ("In piece they stagger, indebted"), Josie, dealing with the rape, begging to go home, even though Patrick knew he should've taken her to the ER ("Rush me to the emergency room"). The line "Flat line equals frantic endeavor," refers to Josie's death (the flat line) and his subsequent actions (frantically running away). The last line before the reprise is "But I guess this'll have to do now" which seems to refer to him deciding to stop running from the Priest and confront it head-on.

The bridge is almost entirely direct quotes: "Hold on to the things you favor most" is attached to a picture on Patrick's dash of the two of them, "Shift right and let it run down" is literally what he does (shifting gears, moving to the right, and letting the Priest run him down to be beside him), and "If my peace could find a way out" is given to us a little more succinctly: "The only way to let this wound heal and scab over is to kill this thing." Then we have the repeating line, "Let go of the youthful honesty," which is a direct quote, but instead of being repeated is modified a bit each time to: "Let go of her. Let death reign down and peace its way up." with the last bit being almost an exact one-to-one of the previous line.

Of course, he shoots the Priest, but it gets away. For now.

Trivia

 * Nate Kelly provided additional Drums for this track.
 * The title is a reference to Patrick's license plate: "07 33"; as track 7, this would make the entire reading 07. 33 in file lists.
 * The "33" additional issue was included in the second volume and omnibus (Ultimate) version of the comic. It was drawn by Dave Hamman.
 * Sanchez said that the main reason he wanted an issue dedicated to Patrick is because he was perceived as "useless" by fans and determined that to be his fault as he didn't give Patrick the opportunity to speak for himself in the original comic's content. He sums up both the song and issue as the feeling of, "Running from the things you don't understand."
 * Patrick drives a red, stick-shift car.
 * Ryder the Writer opens his fridge and sees this number in a hallucination.