Sunday 6 July 2008

What do Coldplay's lyrics tell us about Chris Martin?

Apparently Chris Martin does not relish the opportunity to communicate to his fans through interviews. Evidently Martin wants to his work to speak for itself - for a man of such obvious artistic integrity I feel that this should be applauded.

So what exactly are Coldplay’s songs meant to convey? What do they tell us about the man behind their success? What are the hidden meanings buried deep within Martin's abstruse, multi-layered lyrics?

----

“Trouble”, from Parachutes

"Oh no what's this?
A spider web, and I'm caught in the middle"

Martin is likening himself to a fly. Small, insignificant and often a carrier of diseases such as typhoid, cholera and dysentery.

----

“42”, off Viva La Vida, or Death and All His Friends

"Those who are dead are not dead,
They're just living in my head"

Hell is contained within Chris Martin’s head. In Hell you have to listen to his thought processes for eternity as he struggles to write songs and chats bollocks about yoga, veganism and ridiculous children’s names with Gwyneth Paltrow. Damn all those dead people in there for taking up the space where his songwriting faculties should be.

----

“Strawberry Swing”, from Viva la Vida, or Death and All His Friends

"They were sitting,
They were sitting on the strawberry swing"

This is a common pitfall for lyricists. They think that you can use this songwriting equation: "fruit + inanimate object = classic song." Well it worked for Prince (“Raspberry Beret”) didn’t it?

----

“Violet Hill”, from Viva la Vida, or Death and All His Friends

"Priests clutched onto bibles,
Hollowed out to fit their rifles"

Martin is actually revealing a little known detail about his health. He has suffered from strabismus all his life - a condition which adversely affects depth perception. He therefore is not aware that a rifle could not fit in a bible. It's a sensitive issue so his band members do not point out the regular mistakes he makes because of his condition. In the past he has reportedly bought a tiny child's hat for himself without realising it would not fit him and when he tries to kiss his wife Gwyneth he often ends up headbutting her - such is the severity of his condition.

----

“Speed of Sound”, from X&Y

"Some things you have to believe,
But others are puzzles, puzzling me"

Martin has stumbled on something incredibly profound here: puzzles are inherently puzzling.

----


JAMES MORGAN

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

excuse me? I cant believe you would actually have the nerve to say such things about such a moving,inspiring,and all together sensational songwriter. in violet hill the song is obviously about war and love, but the part you are reffering to is he meant they hide their bibles in their rifles. The song 42 makes perfect sense to those who actually understand situations and have been through experiences relating to that. Aparently, you've been through none whatsoever. Also, you have only selected one or two lines from each song, which means you do not have the right to judge a song based on a few lines compared to many. I think you should seriously stop listening to the other things careless fools may tell you about songwriters and seriously, before you even think about writing another review, get some respect please!

Anonymous said...

I'm a coldplay fan. But Sydney, you can't take this so seriously. Its just humor.

David said...

The Church of Chris Martin.

Anonymous said...

sydney you are a douche.

it's obviously tongue-in-cheek, and pretty funny for it. the writer probably likes coldplay, he's certainly spent enough time analyzing the lyrics!

Anonymous said...

Cris Martin is a shit stained ball bag.

Anonymous said...

Funny. I still like the songs.

Anonymous said...

You write very well.

Anonymous said...

hey hey hey! what would you know?
it's a song!
so whatever!

Unknown said...

This blogger is inherently ignorant. Chris Martin is a very profound song and lyric writer and for you to paint him as some sort of new age buffoon simply shows your lack of understanding.

Never-the-less there exists hope for the clueless like "Cultural Wasteland." Come visit the website: The Church of Chris Martin and we will show you just how Holy & prophetic Chris Martin really is. Viva!

Anonymous said...

Chris Martin is a prophet of the first order. You making fun of him and his musical omnipotence is just your lack of intelligence and spiritual understanding defiling you among men.

Someday Chris Martin's words will ring as blessed as those of other apostles and saints. Bow down now and ask for forgiveness for your pathetic attempts at humor that fall utterly as flat as Gwyneth's bosom.

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