I know, it's been out for like 7 months now, has received critical acclaim and been featured in an iTunes promotion, but I just can't get enough of it. I even like the video. The way it's textured to look like an old oil painting is very cool. I like the bright colors and the vaguely staccato rhythm of the images.
I like the orchestration - the strings and the timpani and church bell. I love church bells.
I like that the song seems inspired from Eugene Delacroix's Liberty Leading the People, which is the abstract background floating around in the video. It's also depicted on the album cover art.
Some fans have speculated that the song is about King Louis XVI or maybe Napoleon Bonaparte. Someone even conjectured that the song was referencing our own George Bush. The band claims it's simply a story about a king who has lost his kingdom.
I like that it's about a person who has been humbled.
Viva La Vida
I used to rule the world
Seas would rise when I gave the word
Now in the morning I sleep alone
Sweep the streets I used to own
I used to roll the dice
Feel the fear in my enemy's eyes
Listen as the crowd would sing
"Now the old king is dead! Long live the king!"
One minute I held the key
Next the walls were closed on me
And I discovered that my castles stand
Upon pillars of salt and pillars of sand
I hear Jerusalem bells a ringing
Roman Calvary choirs are singing
Be my mirror, my sword and shield
My missionaries in a foreign field
For some reason I can't explain
Once you go there was never
Never an honest word
And that was when I ruled the world
It was the wicked and wild wind
Blew down the doors to let me in
Shattered window and the sound of drums
People couldn't believe what I'd become
Revolutionaries wait
For my head on a silver plate
Just a puppet on a lonely string
Oh who would ever want to be king?
I hear Jerusalem bells a ringing
Roman Calvary choirs are singing
Be my mirror, my sword and shield
My missionaries in a foreign field
For some reason I can't explain
I know Saint Peter won't call my name
Never an honest word
But that was when I ruled the world
3 comments:
Normally it ruins it for me when songs I like get used in commercials (for example, and for another example). I do dig this Coldplay song, though. Now I will dig it even more.
I am totally in agreement: This song has been absolutely haunting me in the best possible way for quite some time. It just crept up on me suddenly--I had heard it before then all of a sudden it was going through my head all the time. However, now that I have actually read the words on your blog they aren't what I thought they were, so I'm a little bummed about that!
Alison: Did that man pick up a stuffed octopus and hand it to the little kid (at the beginning of your second example)?
i love this song too, although i never really listened to the words. now that i see the words, i think i like it even more
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