"The Pavilion (A Long Way Back)"

"The Pavilion (A Long Way Back)" is a song by the American rock band Coheed and Cambria. It is the ninth song on their 2018 album Vaxis – Act I: The Unheavenly Creatures.

Lyrics
[Verse 1] Carried them over your shoulders, you fear The absence, the void you'll cause When you choose to leave them all here There's no turning back, it's time that you steer The wide open stares back alone at the cusp The self that you thought you lost The shine that burned well into rust You can't hear my voice 'cause I'm not loud enough

Believe me, when I say It's a long way back from here

[Chorus] Goodbye for now Hang on, it's clear... that the road's about to get rough Oh, can you hear the ringing it's left in my ear? Over and over, the light hits the dusk It's the choice that I've made but for us, I'd choose to give it all up If you want me here, well, then ask me to stay

[Verse 2] The glistening wet concrete, the heat off the road The clamoring hands and the bus you call home This is it? Believe what you want In this space, I don't fit The same day repeats with the things that you see Dirty dressing room carpets and broken TVs Is this it? In this water I'll tread 'til the day that I'm dead

[Chorus] Hang on, it's clear... that the road's about to get rough Oh, can you hear the ringing it's left in my ear? Over and over, the light hits the dusk It's the choice that I've made but for us, I'd choose to give it all up If you want me here, well, then ask me to stay

[Bridge] Goodbye for now, echo, echoes Mile marker, minutes, hours If this is it and there is no more And you believe that's true It's a long way back from here There's no going home

[Chorus] Hang on, it's clear... that the road's about to get rough Oh, can you hear the ringing it's left in my ear? Over and over, the light hits the dusk It's the choice that I've made but for us, I'd choose to give it all up If you want me here, well, then ask me to stay

[Outro] (Goodbye for now, echo, echoes) Well, then ask me to stay (Goodbye for now, echo, echoes) Well, then ask me to stay (Goodbye for now, echo, echoes) Well, then ask me to stay (Goodbye for now, echo, echoes) Well, then ask me to stay

Music Video
Directed by Sanchez and Ernie "Dirty Ern" Falconer, the video was released on May 30, 2019.



Story Context
"" This song focuses on describing Nia and Nostrand's nomadic lifestyle before (or during, in Nos' case) joining The Unheavenly Creatures. The first verse describes Nostrand's duality about wanting to live a normal life, but finding it constraining and how being with Nia has reopened his eyes to what a normal life could be. But because of that, he's really scared to do anything to disrupt that.

In the chorus, we get a preview of what will eventually happen: Nia will find out about his "other life" and temporarily leave him before demanding that he never lie to her again, and let her into that part of his life.

The second verse describes their seemingly simplistic life; getting around on buses, trudging off to work and the monotony of it all (they work for a theater trope helping with sets and costumes). Nos is trying to maintain the ruse, but he doesn't think he could ever do just this.

The bridge shows their ultimate compromise in response to the chorus. They briefly part, she presents the ultimatum, and Nos confirms this is what she wants, because there will be no going back once they embark down that path.

Trivia

 * The Pavilion is the off world port in the story where ships can come and go.
 * Claudio Sanchez said that this song was originally written when he was contemplating leaving the band. "It wasn’t until I started structuring the actual beats of the story that I found a place for it within the concept."