Song of the Day Redux, Day 30: Run Like Hell (Demo)

Run Like Hell - Acoustic Demo

Sorry, folks, it's not a Pink Floyd cover. This is one of the stolen IKSSE3 demo tracks, and is often lumped together with Blood Machine as a Prize Fighter Inferno demo. It sounds like it could go either way, but the lyrics don't stand out as being especially PFI to me. The riff over "I'll start killing when the dog starts asking to" and some of the other guitar stuff sounds a lot like PFI, so I'm not sure, but I'm leaning towards Coheed because of the lyrics.

The Content: A lyrical predecessor to Gravemakers & Gunslingers, this song has some seriously badass verses and a mean guitar to match. There's mention of "the rise and fall of man," a "city ablaze," a dog that may or may not ask someone to kill, a poorly informed love interest, gunshots, and Freekey Zekey. Okay, maybe that last one's not really part of the song, but he's mentioned afterwards!

The content of this song sounds more like a draft of the Coheed story than PFI, though it could have been cut from the PFI concept. My guess is that it's an early look at the "Gunslinger" character that surfaces in NWFT, but that the character got pushed to the next chapters, and the song dropped.

If that's the case, I'm definitely bummed that this didn't make the final cut – it would be better storytelling to introduce important characters earlier rather than in the final chapter. With that said, IKSSE3 already introduces Chase, Sizer and Ambellina, not to mention an entire narrative arc for Al the Killer. It's simply economical to keep the Gunslinger out. We won't find out anything about the Gunslinger until NWFT is done in comic form, so we can only speculate about how that'll go, and whether or not this song fits the Gunslinger's character, backstory, and motivation.

The other possibility is that this is an early conceptual look at Al the Killer, albeit closer to the space cowboy archetype than the demented racist killer ship pilot. A good argument could be made for that based on the bridge lyrics, "She said, 'you're the one for me,' and he said, 'baby I'm not who you thought I'd be.'" If that's the case, this could have been envisioned as part of the showdown at House Atlantic - a chase either before or after the events of AFHA.

The Music: A seriously badass song with some nice riffing. The intro riff is like the opposite of AFHA's intro riff, the chorus riffs are dark and heavy like Gravemakers and Gunslingers, the bridge and outro traditional Claudio chord progressions. The whole song has a solid sense of rhythm only Claudio could manage. This song also features some nearly spoken lyrics in the verses, reminding me of some of the stuff we get on Ascension.

The Part: The end of the bridge into the outro. Maybe I'm not who you thought I'd be! So RUN LIKE HELL!

I'm divided with decisions
I'll call you through the permanent
and carry the rise and fall of man
to stomach the stabs
I'll worry if I need to
a book I never get to open up
This city ablaze your body a flame
I'm set to put out

If I'm dead
Then you're alright
I'll start killing when the dog starts asking to
I'll start killing when the dog starts asking to

Your eyes bare curious
and I'll show it if the word is true
I'll chisel the ending skin and bone and toss a stone
I'm quicker than the cure
I'm sicker than the illness
I've buried the cautious foot of man through a hole in your hair

If I'm dead
Then I'm alright [?]
I'll start killing when the dog starts asking to
I'll start killing when the dog starts asking to

She said, you're the one for me
And he said, baby I'm not who you thought I'd be

She said, you're the one for me
And he said, maybe I'm not who you thought I'd be
Maybe I'm not who you thought I'd be

So run like hell, run like hell
I can't believe they're coming for me
run like hell, run like hell
your mouth's my host a gunshot smoking

Who shot Freekey Zekey?

Next up: Sister Christian (Acoustic Cover)