“Music Monday”:Coldplay’s best songs of all time (Part 9)

This is “Music Monday” and I always look at a band with some of their best music. I am currently looking at Coldplay’s best songs. Here are a few followed by another person’s preference:

My son Hunter Hatcher   has picked “life in technicolor II” as his 12th favorite Coldplay song. He noted, “This song was perfect for my iraq video i made from my first deployment. Soft and then here comes the hard drive!”

The song “Life in Technicolor II” have some lyrics in it that I have written about before. Did you notice these words in the song: “Time came a creeping, Oh and time’s a loaded gun.” Take a look: 
 

Back in 2008 I wrote a paper on the spiritual themes of Coldplay’s album Viva La Vida and I predicted this spiritual search would continue in the future. Below is the second part of the paper, “Coldplay’s latest musical lyrics indicate a Spiritual Search for the Afterlife.”

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Death and the time cycle

Over and over in Coldplay’s latest music you see the theme of death and the time cycle brought up concerning the shortness of a person’s life. Earlier I quoted the song “42” that states “Life is so short” and in the song “Life in Technicolor II” (Prospekt March) : “Time came a creeping, Oh and time’s a loaded gun.”  Even more than this do you see death mentioned. The song “42” which I quoted earlier said, “Those who are dead” and the song “Poppyfields” (from Prospekt March) states, “People burying their dead” and later says, “I don’t wanna die on my own in a separate sky.” The song “Violet Hill” states, “When I’m dead and hit the ground” and in the song “Viva La Vida” “Revolutionaries wait for my head on a silver plate.” Needless to say I do not even have to mention that other songs like “Death and All his Friends”and “Cemeteries of London” also deal with death. Solomon had to grapple with the fact of his upcoming death.

Ecclesiastes 3:18-21

18 I also thought about the human condition—how God proves to people that they are like animals. 19 For people and animals share the same fate—both breathe^[a] and both must die. So people have no real advantage over the animals. How meaningless! 20 Both go to the same place—they came from dust and they return to dust. 21 For who can prove that the human spirit goes up and the spirit of animals goes down into the earth?

There is another rock group that looked at the logical conclusion of man in the light of death:

In 1978 I heard the song “Dust in the Wind” by Kansas.  That song told me that Kerry Livgren the writer of that song and a member of Kansas had come to the conclusion that life  without God in the picture was like dust in the wind which was exactly what Solomon said in Ecclesiastes when he talked about life “under the sun.”  In fact, in the verses I just listed (3:18-21) Solomon says we are all returning to the dust and there is no reason to think we are going any where else with God out of the picture. Take a look at what Kerry Livgren wrote back in 1978:

DUST IN THE WIND

I close my eyes
Only for a moment and the moment’s gone
All my dreams
Flash before my eyes of curiosity

Dust in the wind
All they are is dust in the wind

Same old song
Just a drop of water in an endless sea
All we do
Crumbles to the ground though we refuse to see

Dust in the wind
All we are is dust in the wind

Now
Don’t hang on
Nothing lasts forever but the Earth and Sky
It slips away
And all your money won’t another minute buy

Dust in the wind
All we are is dust in the wind
Dust in the wind
Everything is dust in the wind

(Dust in the Wind)

Power reigns in this life and the scales are not balanced.

Solomon comes to the realization that powers reigns in this life and the scales are not balanced.

Ecclesiastes 4:1   Again, I observed all the oppression that takes place under the sun. I saw the tears of the oppressed, with no one to comfort them. The oppressors have great power, and their victims are helpless.

Ecclesiastes 7:15

15 I have seen everything in this meaningless life, including the death of good young people and the long life of wicked people.

People that believe there is no afterlife must concede that Hitler will never face the due punishment for his acts. However, in the song “Viva La Vida” the evil king DID NOT MAKE IT TO HEAVEN. “I used to rule the world…Feel the fear in my enemy’s eyes…there was 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 windows and the sound of drums, People couldn’t believe what I’d become.”

Later in the song, “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.”

This last part indicates to me that Coldplay realizes that evil individuals will be judged in an afterlife.

God reveals Himself in two Ways 

Lets take a look at the lyrics from the song “Cemeteries of London:”

God is in the houses
And God is in my head
And all the cemeteries of London
I see God come in my garden
But I don’t know what He said
For my heart, it wasn’t open
Not open

Romans chapter one clearly points out that God has revealed Himself through both the created world around us  and also in a God-given conscience that testifies to each person that God exists.
Notice in this song that the song writer notes, “I see God come in my garden” and “God is in my head.” These are the exact two places mentioned by the scripture.  Romans 1:18-20 (Amplified version)

18For God’s [holy] wrath and indignation are revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who in their wickedness repress and hinder the truth and make it inoperative.

19For that which is known about God is evident to them and made plain in their inner consciousness, because God [Himself] has shown it to them.

20For ever since the creation of the world His invisible nature and attributes, that is, His eternal power and divinity, have been made intelligible and clearly discernible in and through the things that have been made (His handiworks). So [men] are without excuse [altogether without any defense or justification],^(B)

I have shown what thought processes Solomon went through in Ecclesiastes and then compared them to the evident changes that are occurring with Coldplay. By the way, the final chapter of Ecclesiastes finishes with Solomon emphasizing that serving God is the only proper response of man. My prediction: I am hoping that Coldplay’s next album will also come to that same conclusion that Solomon came to in Ecclesiastes 12:13-14:
13 Now all has been heard;
here is the conclusion of the matter:
Fear God and keep his commandments,
for this is the whole duty of man.

14 For God will bring every deed into judgment,
including every hidden thing,
whether it is good or evil.

Kerry Livgren of Kansas found Christ eventually after first trying some Eastern Religions. I remember telling my friends in 1978 when “Dust in the Wind” was the number 6 song in the USA that Kansas had written a philosophical song that came to the same conclusion about humanistic man as Solomon did so long ago and I predicted that some members of that band would come to know the Christ of the Bible in a personal way. You can hear Kerry Livgren’s story from this youtube link:

(part 1 ten minutes)

(part 2 ten minutes)

Coldplay – Cemeteries of London ( FULL VIDEO)

The brilliant video for Cemeteries of London. It’s the perfect mix between music and image, Coldplay sold around 8 million albums with Viva La Vida.

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Coldplay is my favorite band and I hope to have many more posts in the next few days. Here are some posts I have done up till this point:

Well I might get flack for this list but I’m still a fan so they get a list. This list was tabulated off votes and ranking from Coldplaying.com. Posted on Aug 2008.

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	Coldplay Viva la vida (2008) [Single] 1) Viva la Vida 1765 points
	Coldplay Yellow (2000) [Single] 2) Yellow 1685 points
	Coldplay Clocks (2003) [Single] 3) Clocks 1635 points
	Coldplay A Rush of Blood to the Head (2002) 4) Politik 1565 points
	Coldplay The Scientist (2002) [Single] 5) The Scientist 1545 points
	Coldplay Fix You (2005) [Single] 6) Fix You 1485 points
	Coldplay A Rush of Blood to the Head (2002) 7) Amsterdam 1470 points
	Coldplay Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends (2008) 8) Strawberry Swing 1365 points
	Coldplay Violet Hill (2008) [Single] 9) Violet Hill 1275 points
	Coldplay Don’t Panic (2001) [Single] 10) Don’t Panic 1260 points
	Coldplay Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends (2008) 11) Death And All His Friends 1255 points
	Coldplay Shiver (2000) [Single] 12) Shiver 1165 points
	Coldplay Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends (2008) 13) Lovers In Japan 1165 points
	Coldplay A Rush of Blood to the Head (2002) 14) A Rush Of Blood To The Head 1150 points
	Coldplay A Rush of Blood to the Head (2002) 15) Warning Sign 1125 points
	Coldplay Trouble (2000) [Single] 16) Trouble 1095 points
	Coldplay X&Y (2005) 17) Square One 1075 points
	Coldplay God Put a Smile Upon Your Face (2003) [Single] 18) God Put a Smile Upon Your Face 1055 points
	Coldplay Speed of Sound (2005) [Single] 19) Speed Of Sound 1040 points
	Coldplay Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends (2008) 20) Lost 1035 points
	Coldplay Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends (2008) 21) Yes 1000 points
	Coldplay The Blue Room E.P. (1999) [EP] 22) See You Soon 975 points
	Coldplay Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends (2008) 23) Cemetaries Of London 955 points
	Coldplay In My Place (2002) [Single] 24) In My Place 940 points
	Coldplay Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends (2008) 25) Life in Technicolor 900 points