"Three Evils (Embodied in Love and Shadow)"

"Three Evils (Embodied in Love and Shadow)" is a song by the American rock band Coheed and Cambria. It is the fourth track on their 2003 album In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3.

Lyrics
[Verse 1] Across the floor, in the hand of where we drove the drill A cautious ear to the mouth of your confession Think of all the things we put him through In the face of his god, would he tell the truth?

Still, recorded were the words that dribbled out his kiss When eyes go blind in this man of what could once become Sever the limbs off his torso, in sleep And burn what remains, so the world may now see

No longer... will we wait for your answers Back to the hell where you've come from Think of all the times you've once had Write them in a letter that says "goodbye"

[Pre-Chorus] You'll listen to reason While you're face down in the dirt You'll stomach the hurt and break for him, here Just how much he's worth

[Verse 2] Slowly discarded were the remains of his lonely youth Among the alley, where the dwellers scare to notice Picture a young boy in pieces and streets with leveled Malfunctions, no name to be called redeemer

I'll fix him, restore him... With the love if no other Think of all the things you did before Write them in a letter that says "reborn"

[Pre-Chorus] You'll listen to reason While you're face down in the dirt You'll stomach the hurt and break for him, here Just how much he's worth

[Bridge] (Following you across the interstate, walking away!) Walking away... I'll fire on! (Following you across the interstate, walking away!) Walking away... I'll fire on! (Following you across the interstate, walking away!) Walking away... I'll fire on!

[Pre-Chorus] On the wrong way out On the causeway to neverwhere On the wrong way out On the causeway to neverwhere On the wrong way out On the causeway to neverwhere

[Chorus] Dear my friends In the time we've spent Forever after, beyond this When will our nightmare ever end, end, end?

Dear my friends In the time we've spent Forever after, beyond this When will our nightmare ever end, end, end?

Pull the trigger and the nightmare stops Pull the trigger and the nightmare stops Pull the trigger and the nightmare stops Forever you will, forever you will learn

Pull the trigger and the nightmare stops Pull the trigger and the nightmare stops Pull the trigger and the nightmare stops Forever you will, forever you will learn

Pull the trigger and the nightmare stops Pull the trigger and the nightmare stops Pull the trigger and the nightmare stops Forever you will, forever you will learn

Pull the trigger and the nightmare stops Pull the trigger and the nightmare stops Pull the trigger and the nightmare stops Forever you will, forever you will learn

Story Context
"" In this song, we rejoin Sizer being tortured by Mayo Deftinwolf. The first verse pretty much catches us up to speed. Deftinwolf has drilled a hole through Sizer's hand, and is demanding information. They careful listen for anything relevant, but he seems to give them bullshit. He wonders if he'll tell them the truth if they actually kill him. So they do! The cut the limbs from his torso and burn it. But of course, as an IRO-bot, even this isn't enough to completely kill him. This doesn't deter Deftinwolf in the slightest, and he simply loses patience.

The pre-chorus switches to Claudio Kilgannon and Ambellina who has finally joined up with him on Shylos X in the city of Godder Damm. She's trying to reason with him to follow his destiny, but he continually dodges her logic. Going out of his rabbit hole to the trash heap adjacent to it. Digging through the trash, they two come across the discarded body of Sizer. Ambellina tries to convince him that he is related to Claudio, but he won't hear it. Inadvertently he knocks her out, and when she comes to, she insists on taking Sizer back to their hideout and fix him.

In verse two, we jump back to Deftinwolf having cut him up. He decides he's done with him, shoots him in the head, and tells his cronies to get rid of him. Where better to get rid of it then the garbage planet, Shylos X? They choose an alley no one comes by and dump him. Of course, back in the present, we can see (or picture) him there: a young man in pieces who can't even speak his name. In the care of Claudio and Ambellina though, he'll be fixed and restored. In the same way Deftinwolf made him want to say goodbye, the pair elicits an opposite effect: the sense that he's being reborn.

The bridge relates a quick snapshot of Ambellina and how she chased Claudio across the galaxy, saving him from attacks he was completely unaware of. We get a new pre-chorus, which explores how Claudio was when she met up with him and his current attitude throughout this ordeal. He took the coward's way out of his responsibility as The Crowing by hiding away. Of course, this path has no real destination (neverwhere).

The final revised chorus goes back to Sizer's captivity. The "Dear my friends" part seems to reference Chase, Jesse and the other IRO-bots. Of course, the line "Pull the trigger and the nightmare stops" is something Sizer says to Deftinwolf before the latter shoots him in the head. At this point, he's already implied that he's related to Jesse in some manner, and as far as the General is concerned, he has no more value.

Trivia

 * The piano Interlude at the end of this song is also featured in "A Favor House Atlantic" but played backwards. Due to this interlude's presence in the middle of the album, it is believed to represent a change in scene, rather than the passing of time.
 * This song came with a disclaimer in the lyric booklet that it was "part of a story and should not be taken literally."