r/coheed's Song of the Day #32: The Willing Well I: Fuel For The Feeding End

Fuck. Yes. This song is my favorite Coheed and Cambria song. I can talk for hours about this song, but I'll try to keep it short so I don't require a tl;dr for a tl;dr. The Willing Well I: Fuel For The Feeding End is the opening to the best four songs in a row in music history. I love every single little goddamned thing about it, from the ridiculous title to the chimes in the second verse, to the solo, to the drums and bass, to the ending cymbals. Fuck, I want to cry just thinking about the intensity of the emotion behind it all. Hell, the lyrics don't really even make much sense to me, but I'm about to embark on a journey and figure them the fuck out. That's how powerful this song is. It makes me do little finger motions during the electronic part after "is this hate the same". I air guitar during "in the curve of your body". It makes me headbang during "the better end of all to come". I tear up with emotion during "the fiction will see the real". It is the inspiration for these posts.

The Fiction- Claudio Sanchez: “The Willing Well is where the two worlds collide. It goes back and forth between the characters in the graphic novel.”

Just as the summary says, both Writer and Character (Claudio Kilgannon) are feeling the same uncertainty about their destinies. Writer, uncertain because he’s on his way to destroy the world he has unknowingly created to parallel his own life, begins to influence Claudio, who is simultaneously on his way to becoming the Keywork’s messiah and is still having trouble gripping the meaning of that. Though by different approaches, it becomes clear that they have the same goal: bring about the end of the Keywork. While Writer feels compelled by grief, Claudio feels compelled by fate. It becomes obvious that Claudio is a tool Writer is using as a means of destroying the story world. Because they are parallels of each other, they are experiencing the same emotions, including those for Ambellina. -CobaltandCalcium.com

The Real- Claudio can't figure his feelings out. Get them straight. He is feeling heartbreak, which feels so hazy, so foreign. You love this person but despise them for the pain they bring to you constantly. This song is really mostly just embodiment of that. Claudio wonders if her life was better before she met him. It's a stream of consciousness that results in mostly just thoughts you feel during heartbreak. I'm willing to bet this is one of the first songs he wrote after she left him.

The Part- I used to think this song was boring. The next song was so much more exciting, and I loved it instantly. It was my true favorite. One night, I was out delivering pizzas with the windows down. That summer, I listened exclusively to the Good Apollo albums. The Willing Well I: Fuel For The Feeding End began to play and for whatever reason, I chose not to skip it. Maybe it was the cool breeze that was uncharacteristic for the recent climate, maybe it was the open road, maybe it was just me being in a relaxed, open mood. Whatever it was, it clicked. Ever since then, every single time I've listened to this song has been better. 'The Part', though, is a very specific moment. The lyrics "The memory to fuel...the fire" leading into that solo. That 45 seconds of absolute musical bliss are rivaled in my mind by only two other moments in songs, which I'll disclose in comments for those interested. The guitar is undeniably gorgeous, the cymbals (KSH KSH KSH) beg to be air drummed, and the whole thing is just masterpiece level work. An honorable mention goes to the last two verses in the song, most notably the music behind "the pen in our mouth" and when the whole band comes in during some of the most beautiful lyrics/singing ever: "the fiction will see the real". Fuck you Coheed, I can't write about this shit anymore, no language can do justice to the way I feel about this song.