“Violet Hill” lyric interpretation
Again taking “inspiration” from Radiohead, Coldplay released their new single free on the internet on Tuesday. Violet Hill is the first track to be released from Viva La Vida, and the first fruit of their sessions produced by Brian Eno, mastermind of U2’s Joshua Tree.
Musically, they’ve turned up the guitar and stuck 30 seconds of ambience on the front to make it long enough to be a single. This now means they are OFFICIALLY EDGY AND EXPERIMENTAL and NOT COMMERCIAL ANYMORE.
The key to understanding this song is to remember Jesus’s words upon the cross (according to Matthew and Mark, at least) - My Father, my Father, why have you forsaken me? As he dies upon the cross, Jesus asks God why he is being allowed to suffer. Likewise, in Violet Hill, Chris asks God why He still allows suffering in the world.
Violet Hill
Was a long and dark December
The long night of the soul, the darkness that has come upon the modern world.
From the rooftops I remember
As ever, Chris is looking down from on high, surveying the world. (See Gravity, Daylight.)
There was snow
White snow
Even in England, snow is ALWAYS white. Chris knows this (his parents are teachers). ITS A METAPHOR!
Clearly i remember
From the windows they were watching
While we froze down below
When the future’s architectured
By a carnival of idiots on show
You’d better lie low
The powers-that-be, a circus of idiots who control the world, watch us through CCTV, the internet etc. We are hiding below, powerless to change anything, frozen.
Don’t think there’s such a word as “architectured”, however.
If you love me
Won’t you let me know?
The song is a plea from Chris to God, asking for a sign. In X&Y, he recieved his vision from God, but in the four years inbetween, nothing has changed. Poverty is not History, AIDS is still rife, and Noel Edmunds is STILL on TV.
Was a long and dark December
A reference to Chris’s fave painter, Thomas Kinkade.
When the banks became cathedrals
And the fog
Became God
In the previous Dark Age, the Catholic Church grew to be the greatest single power in the Medieval World. Many within the Vatican saw its primary purpose to be the raising of wealth, not the glory of God.
This is Chris’s second direct mention of God in his lyrics. The first, God Put a Smile Upon Your Face, shows a man who has just realised the spiritual power of the universe. Violet Hill suggests a far more jaded point of view. He must be fighting with his wife or something.
Priests clutched onto bibles
And went out to fit their rifles
And the cross was held aloft
Millions were killed during the crusades. The Vatican was silent on the Holocaust. Noel Edmunds is STILL on the TV.
Bury me in honor
When i’m dead and hit the ground
A love back home unfolds
No idea.
If you love me
Won’t you let me know?
I don’t want to be a soldier
With the captain of some sinking ship
With snow, far below
In this incredibly layered metaphor, Chris says he will think for himself, refusing to adopt the values of CORRUPT LEADERS like George Bush who are like the Captains of a failing civilisation, as long as the people remain emotionally frozen subconsciously. You don’t get shit like that from Keane, do you?
So if you love me
Why’d you let me go?
I took my love down to Violet Hill
Violet Hill is a metaphor for the perfect world Chris has glimpsed in his visions. He tries to show us (”his love”) this world, what Jesus would have called “The Kingdom of Heaven”.
There we sat in snow
All that time she was silent still
The world is not ready. EXCEPT FOR THE CHURCH OF CHRIS MARTIN!
So if you love me
Won’t you let me know?
If you love me,
Won’t you let me know?
May 01 2008 01:48 am | Doctrine and interpretation and news