Coma White - Song

Song

The song is considerably gentler than much of the album it concludes, "Mechanical Animals." It starts with an acoustic guitar-sounding riff played mostly on the B string; after the riff is concluded once, a simplistic drum pattern and very minimalist bass line supports it, and the lyrics begin after the riff is played a second time. The last repeat of the verse section includes a few distorted guitar overlays that build to the chorus, a straight-up set of power chords that follows the previous bass line (which now plays something completely different). There is an accompanying keyboard effect playing during this section. After this a bridge plays consisting of one guitar playing an extrapolation from the chorus, with a second overlayed guitar playing the bass notes of each chords at a very high pitch. The verse then repeats, although there is now considerably more keyboard effects that do not feel "musical" so much as ambient sound. The chorus then plays twice, followed by the bridge. It is played once with just the rhythm guitar on the very left of the soundscape, a second time adding the high guitar on the far right, and a third with the full band and lyrics repeated from the verses. The rhythm section then plays the first half of the chorus before the guitar kicks in to finish it, then the chorus plays three more times. The last time it is played, another layered guitar bit based on the G string is added; this progression continues after the rest of the chorus ends, looping itself until it, and the album, fades from perception.

Referring to "Coma White" and "Great Big White World" Manson told the Los Angeles Times, "The color white comes up a lot. It kind of represents to me the numbness I had. That numbness is manifested in drugs...in all the people who want to suck the life out of you when you become a rock star." One analysis held that the song "describes a girl that Manson loved and compares the girl to a drug, so the singer isn't sure what he's on or whom he's in love with." While originally intended by Marilyn and his superiors at Interscope Records to be the fourth and final single from the Mechanical Animals album, its release in such a format—including radio airplay—was pulled following the untimely JFK Jr. controversy which involved more relevantly, the video. The manufacturing of the CD-format of this single was underway when the release was scrapped. All copies by then produced were destroyed and collectors have found none surfacing since. Supposedly, the four-track bonus disc featuring two renditions of "Coma White" and two B-sides of the Mechanical Animals album that comes with the limited edition of the 1999 live album The Last Tour on Earth is the product of this scrapped single.

The track is presently also available on the Japanese version of the band's compilation album, Lest We Forget