Song of the Day Redux, Day 59: Mother Superior (Live Acoustic, First Recording)

Mother Superior (Live Acoustic)

Sorry for the brief several-day hiatus between posts. I'm falling behind lately on a lot of things I should be doing, including this.

Here we have a recording of the first time Claudio and Travis played Mother Superior live. I'm not sure when, specifically, but I remember being back on Cobalt when it happened and how excited everyone got about it. And for good reason; this song is one of Coheed's best. I believe this was included on the NWFT special edition DVD somewhere, but I might be wrong about that.

"This next one's actually a new one, we're kind of throwing caution to the wind right now, you know, we were in the hotel room, we figured, let's give it a shot, so, this is kind of the first time Travis and I have played it live. Some of the lyrics I'll probably mess up, but it's for fun, so…"

The Content: It's the same song we all know, but for several interesting differences. It's Probably the most interesting change is that instead of going into the "your answer is in there, just stare down the barrel" after the first verse and pre-chorus, he goes into the "mother superior" section, as another pre-chorus to the "your answer is in there." It's a lot less effective than saving the "mother superior" line for the climax of the song, which Claudio does later. What if he had kept the song this way?

Then Claudio delivers on his promise to mess up the lyrics, in the second verse. "Near, far, and wherever you are…" Claudio hilariously sings, presumably before realizing he's singing the song from Titanic. Then he goes through nonsense lyrics as he tries to figure out whatever the hell he's singing. He stumbles through it and gets back to the pre-chorus. The outro and everything is more or less the same, though a fair bit shorter.

The Music: It's acoustic Mother Superior, and that didn't change. It's always a treat to see the first time anything is played, though, and the song's original structure is interesting indeed.

The Part: For me, "when you're sick to the stomach, just pull out the knife" is one of the best parts of the song in general. So much emotion behind what he's singing, considering what it's about.

Next up: Davenport? Feathers Glitch Mob? The Trooper? I dunno. We'll see. Stay tuned.