 Coldplay
Viva la Vida
Brit pop/rock
by Russ Breimeier | posted 6/30/2008
 1 of 3
"I hear Jerusalem bells a ringing
Roman cavalry choirs are singing
Be my mirror, my sword, my 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."
– from "Viva La Vida"
Once again, Coldplay proves a pillar in Brit pop/rock with a genre-defining sound swimming in texture and ambience. Once again, they've yielded a hit album, selling more than 720,000 copies of Viva La Vida in its first week of release. Once again, it's an album rife with spiritual themes, packed with more explicit biblical imagery than 2002's A Rush of Blood to the Head and 2005's X&Y combined. And once again, many are expressing some frustration over Coldplay's lyricism. The band is consistent, if nothing else.
Considering that many classic bands have reveled in the cryptic (Radiohead), the abstract (U2), and the nonsensical (The Beatles), it's odd that some critics would be so quick to dismiss Coldplay's songwriting as meaningless. Most all the band members in previous interviews have openly shared a belief in God and some understanding of the Christian religion, so with all the consistent spiritual references on this album, is it really all pointless babble to hang their stylish sound on? Coldplay has also indicated that the song sequencing is important to their work, making >Viva La Vida worth exploring track by track.
After establishing a hopeful U2-ish mood with the short instrumental opener "Life in Technicolor," Coldplay immediately shifts gears with the comparatively somber "Cemeteries of London," which plays like an old English folk song gone alternative-pop. Chris Martin's words suggest a kind of ghost story that leaves us to wonder who "they" are: "At night they would go walking 'till the breaking of the day … Through the dark streets they go searching to see God in their own way." The most important lyric comes later, as Martin depicts religion without a relationship, belief compromised by a lack of faith:
God is in the houses and God is in my head
And all the cemeteries in London
I see God come in my garden, but I don't know what he said
For my heart it wasn't open
Why this spiritual dryness? That answer may become clearer later at "Violet Hill," but the underlying theme of "Lost!" is that those who are astray or damaged are not unreachable. There's a strangely pessimistic hope that permeates the song, with ambience established by organ and rhythm.
From there, "42" opens with a melancholic piano ballad similar to John Lennon's "Imagine" while pondering the afterlife: "Time is short and I'm sure there must be something more." The song soon makes a jarring segue into alt-rock reminiscent of Radiohead while noting, "You didn't get to heaven but you made it close." What's the significance of the number? Well, besides the product of 7 times 6, 42 was also the comical answer to life, the universe, and everything in the satirical sci-fi novel The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. It seems more than coincidental that Coldplay would use a number associated with such an existential question in a song so focused on the nature of the afterlife.
The album returns to more hope-filled music and lyrics in "Lovers in Japan," a lively pop song that recalls St. Paul's encouragement (in 1 Corinthians 9) to persevere in spite of hardship: "Lovers, keep on the road you're on/Runners, until the race is run." Yes, that means continuing onward even when faced with an ethical dilemma like war: "Soldiers, you've got to solider on/Sometimes even the right is wrong." Because through all things, we look ahead with hope: "But I have no doubt/One day we are gonna get out … One day the sun will come out." The song bleeds into a tranquil coda called "Reign of Love," returning to the pessimistic hope heard in "Lost!" earlier:
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