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 Cavalry 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
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
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 Cavalry 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
Viva La Vida Lyric Review
How profound a pop song could be? Well, the answer might surprise you. The deep meaning of Viva la Vida, Coldplay’s famous pop song, could give you a brand new expression about pop songs. Through the skilful manipulation of sound and literary techniques, in this song, Chris Martin recreated a vivid and real feeling of kings that once powerful but lost everything. Instead of a powerful dictator, the king also has multiple characteristics.
Through almost the whole song Chris uses a rhyme scheme of AABBCCD. It is not that popular for songs to have rhyme nowadays, so I think Chris did it to create a general mood: to make the whole song contain a massive historical sense to help pull readers back to that period. However, there was an exception in the line of “for some reasons I can’t explain”. This sentence just stands out from whole song. Some people would think he just could not think of any word that rhythm, but I believe Chris used it in purpose. Firstly, this sentence repeats the most through the song, so if he just could not came up with the word that rhyme, he would not repeat it so that people will ignore it. Secondly, the whole song contains a heavy pop rhythm, but this sentence does not have rhythm at all which make this sentence emphasized. So I believe this sentence is very important. “For some reasons I can’t explain” is a sentence that describes the feeling of the narrator straightforwardly. So I think Chris wanted to emphasize this feeling of confusion and powerless of the narrator. There is also another sentence that is emphasized throughout the whole song: “Oh who would ever want to be king?” This sentence contains both alliteration of “w” and assonance of “u:”. The usage of two sound devices makes this sentence. Unlike the repetition of “For some reasons I can’t explain”, this sentence only appear once which make it castingly is phonic. This sentence is actually a rhetoric question which shows that the narrator really does not want to be the king like that. Unlike we used to believe, kings are also weak in emotion.
Sound helps to create a mood for the listener that somewhat contrasts the overall message of the song. Chris uses many literary devices that clearly communicate the meaning in Viva la Vida. Firstly, he used a lot of symbolizations through the lyric. “Pillars of salt and pillars of sand” is a symbol from Bible that symbolizes the weakness of the base of his country. “I hear Jerusalem bells ringing, Roman Catholic choirs are singing” are symbols of death from multi cultures which could show that the narrator know he was hated by many people and they all want him to die. Also Chris used allusions. “Seas would rise when I gave the word” is an allusion of Móshe parting the red sea from Bible to show how powerful the narrator used to be. “I know Saint Peter won't call my name” is an allusion of Saint Peter in charge of heaven in Bible to show the narrator has already known that he will be killed. He used lot examples from bible and culture to carve a sense of history and emphasize the time period that the story happened, and drag audience back to that time period so that audience can feel the feeling in a realer way. Also, by using those symbols and allusions to show the meaning instead of telling the audience with straightforward words, the lyrics provide a situation like puzzle to let listeners think about it. This makes the song more interesting.
There are arguments about who the song really talked about and every side picked up proof of their statement. Some people believe that the narrator should be Louis Χ Ⅵ since he was killed by revolutionaries. Others believe that the narrator should be Napoléon because he was the one who joined lots wars and won a lot. Instead of choosing a person, I believe that this song generally describe all the people that have similar experience. They were powerful and hailed once. But because of other reasons such as “revolutionaries”, they lose their power. Experiencing both the highest status of and the lowest status, they have a very versatile and mature acknowledged of the world. Than they knew the meaning of life better than before they did. They finally knew that all those power or status is just nothing. Just as they said before,” Oh who would ever want to be king?”, they would rather not to be kings. If they have such feeling before, they might just have a peaceful life. But they did not, and it is too late for them to realize that. There was no exact right or wrong at that moment, there was only based on how they look at the world.
This song really speaks to me, not only because of the beautiful melody, but also the complex but clear thoughts that the song contains. It contains a totally different point of view to look at the history. It is unacceptable to view them, but it is logical and real to view such people. So when we look back to the history, which sight should we use?