Coldplay – Viva la Vida
Coldplay is back, and with their second single – though seems like they released this and Violet Hill at the same time – with an English royals based violin tune and the insistent bang of the bass drum, we are taken into the world of a fallen king who has lost all and simply looking back at all he’s done, with the words, “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,” and with whatever he’s done, knows, “St. Peter won’t call my name.”
The entire mood of the song is carried by the violins, which are usually standouts in their ability to take listeners through a usually somber corridor. Coldplay utilize the strings and the old church bell banging ever so slightly in the background to evoke the spine behind the lyrics.
Although the lyrics speak about a fallen monarch, there still exists and air of pomp and ceremony. The backing elements of the song seem to come from instruments used when announcing the former king before his people, as he walked one last time through them with his chest held up high.
April 5, 2009 at 5:23 pm
And the night over London rang…
The Coldplay – Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends has, as for now, been the number-one-selling album in 36 countries. In the United States, it sold 316,000 albums in its first day, and 720,000 in its first week. In the UK, the album sold 302,074…