| Number City | |
|---|---|
| |
| Appears On | The Afterman: Descension |
| Track | 4 |
| Length | 3:52 |
| Written By | Claudio Sanchez |
| Produced By | Coheed And Cambria Michael Birnbaum Chris Bittner |
| Preceded By | "The Hard Sell" |
| Followed By | "Gravity's Union" |
Number City is the fourth song on the 2013 album The Afterman: Descension.
Lyrics[]
Attention, we have got a medical emergency
The patient’s condition is critical and fading
Oh, I’ve got this under control, but there's no guarantee
Now should you question this professional opinion, its time we’ll spend wasting
And oh if you want to see
Go on and tear it out of me
This case is possibly the worst that I have ever seen
I see how vulnerable we as a people can truly be
And oh if you want to see
Go on and tear it out of me
Honey, release my heart, if you
Honey, release my heart, you let me go
Release my heart, if you, Honey
Do not let me
Do not let me go
Defibrillate, Defibrillate
A radio transmission sent to get the heart to listen
This is love from a gurney
Believe in Number City
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9
Meaning[]
In the coffee-table book published with some of the Special Editions, Claudio gave insight into how he came up with each track on the album. For this track, he wrote:
"This song was something I created on an old 1960s hollow body bass. The youngest song on the record, it is probably the most conceptual. It's about paramedics responding to the scene of a car crash. In its original version, Number City's lyrics were delivered as crazy dialogue from one of the EMT's perspectives, almost like a musical. They were so off-the-wall that Travis stepped up and voiced his opinion on the approach. He thought is sucked, ha, so I slightly tweaked the lyrics to be less singular and more about the group of medics. Also, instead of using a deeper bass voice delivery, I brightened the vocal back up. It was definitely for the better."
"I envisioned Number City as a stripped down, simplistic arrangement, but as things usually do in the studio, it became much more elaborate by the end. The sound grew into something incredibly full and loaded with instrumentation. We also got a chance to explore the inclusion of a brass section in the band. By the end of the recording, everyone was dancing around the room to the horns."