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Reign of love, by the church we're waiting
Reign of love, my knees go praying
How I wish I'd spoken up
Or we'd be carried in the reign of love.

That leads to "Yes," the darkest track of the album, with Martin embracing a newfound bass range counter to his familiar tenor and falsetto. Intertwined with exotic strings, he sings of the temptations of the world that lead us astray:

When it started we were alright
But night makes a fool of us in the daylight
Then we were dying of frustration
Saying "Lord, lead me not into temptation"
But it's not easy when she turns you on
Sin, stay gone …
God only God knows I'm trying my best
But I'm just so tired of this loneliness.

Again the song segues into another coda, this time the mostly instrumental "Chinese Sleep Chant"—am I the only one who thinks there are faint echoes of a prayer resembling "save us" and "soon" in Martin's heavily reverberated voice?

Coldplay's beautifully textured pop single "Viva La Vida" takes its name from Frida Kahlo's final painting (of melons) before her death. But the lyrics never reference the title (or melons), inspired, like the album cover, by the French Revolution, depicting a mighty ruler lamenting the end of his reign. But there's more to revolutionaries and paintings with a Spanish title that translates to "Long Live Life!" or "Live the Life." Could it be that the song is more personal than historical, recognition that we are not masters of our lives? Or perhaps the song is more inspired by Jesus' words about gaining the world at the cost of our soul in Matthew 16?

The title track leads to "Violet Hill," a dark, Pink Floyd-styled rocker about a soldier voicing his misgivings over a misguided holy crusade. Indeed, it certainly plays into misgivings over strife in the Middle East, with both sides using religion to justify their actions. This could well be the source of the spiritual dryness cited earlier, and for a more detailed explanation of the song, check out the excellent lyrical dissection posted here

The dream-like "Strawberry Swing" is the simplest song on the album, and that's likely intentional. In contrast to war and death, these lyrics celebrate life as a precious gift, empty without love. It's such a sweetly picturesque song that you might even think of it as heavenly.

Which brings us to the closer "Death and All His Friends," which also happens to be the alternate title to >Viva La Vida, and thus probably shouldn't be interpreted in a negative way. It might better be understood as a song about the inevitability of death, or more importantly, one about embracing death without fear or contributing to it in this life: "No I don't wanna battle from beginning to end/I don't want a cycle of recycled revenge." The album then concludes with a hidden track, stating, "We lie awake, and we dream of making our escape." Escaping to what exactly, the next life?

What does it all mean? With so many questions posed, a single interpretation of this album is virtually impossible—but then that's often true of good art. As with other classic bands in rock history, the lyrics are cryptic, abstract, nonsensical, and yes, even meaningless at times. It could well be that Coldplay simply feels the sequencing of the album's songs is important to the musical flow, not some grand lyrical message.

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