r/coheed's Song of the Day #40: The Running Free

The Running Free is the reason I'm posting this thread today. It's the reason I've been posting, and it's the reason I'll continue to post. It's not my favorite Coheed song, but it's the one that has changed my life the most. More than any other song ever has, or most likely ever will. I've said it before, but I'll say it again: I didn't like Coheed. I had heard A Favor House Atlantic and The Suffering. I secretly enjoyed The Suffering, but didn't dare to tell friends for fear of ridicule, so the enjoyment washed away quickly. But one day, I was alone in my apartment, laying on my bed with the TV set to MTV Hits. I have narcolepsy, so I'm prone to random sleep spells. I was watching the video for Against Me- Thrash Unreal, and then I was zonked. I remember waking up on the deflated air mattress, feeling enclosed in the walls of the intended water bed. My eyes were closed, and my ears focused in on one thing. Travis' lick in the back of the chorus. This was before I was aware, so it was just the guitar ringing in my mind. To those who haven't had their mind filled with music before awareness, it's an indescribable thing. You feel like the world is the sound, like there is nothing else and you just know what you're hearing is around you. It's comforting, while even unfamiliar, it's surreal and healing. I opened my eyes after listening and took in the visuals of the video; the swirling camera effect. It was a new place I'd never been. A feeling I'd never felt. I knew I needed more. When I realized what band I was experiencing, I tried to feel the disgust that had been imprinted upon me, but it was unreachable. As Claudio sang the AHOH AHOH A WHOA AOH, I fell in love. For lack of better term, I felt free.

The Fiction- It sounds like someone escaping from hell. I really don't know much about this. The Engineer line recurring from Hearshot... What's that about?

The Real- I'm not sure. It's clearly about freedom, feeling like you can go anywhere and do anything. This song was originally not written for the Amory Wars, but instead as a theme song for Transformers. It was replaced by Linkin Park. Claudio is mostly happy in his personal life. He's successful and happy with his woman. He can do anything.

The Part- Forever and always, it will be that guitar lick.

Thank you, The Running Free, you changed my life.