Cold

A very bitter song, I think... A woman thought she found the man of her life, but, as time goes by, she gets absolutely tired of standing his apparent coldness. She put so much expectancies upon his shoulder... At a first sight, she thought his coldness was just a spiritual thing, but it was actually an incredible difficulty for being loved.

By his turn, he thought she could teach him how to be warmer on feeling her affection ("Don't you know that love is work"), but she was so disappointed about him that she betrayed him ("Your reputation lies not in your eyes, but those who dare / Will bite the hand that feeds when it don't meet your needs). And this total lack of communication&understanding between them has turned this relationship impossible ("no heat on the horizon guess I'm cold / There'll be no comprimising").

"The coldest shoulder cast in metal Frozen to the bone To rely on hook, line and sinker What a sinker Sinking like a stone You'd be better off alone"

Thus, she simply gets rid of him on 'killing' him (in a metaphorical way, I suppose) and he's convinced now his fate is to be eternally cold...

Note 1: According to a fan site, "Nockles is Nicky Holland, Roland's former songwriting partner.".

Note 2: Capricorn sign: "Individuals born under this sign are thought to have an ambitious, patient, responsible, stable, trustworthy, shrewd and persistent character but one which is also prone to COLDNESS, conservatism, materialism and dullness.".

I meant: "She put so MANY expectancies upon his shoulder...".

I meant: "And this total lack of communication&understanding between them has MADE this relationship impossible".

From the memoriesfade site: According to Roland in the Elemental EPK, this song is the account of an encounter with a photographer in Germany that was trying to take pictures of him while he was on-stage. She was trying to get Roland's attention, but he wasn't in the mood for photos and kept turning his face away and giving her the "cold shoulder", so to speak. He eventually received a note from her later on that said 'how can someone who makes such warm music be so cold?' Hence the title of the song.

my temperatures been rated and I'm cold. I think he is doing a sarcastic take on how others have this preconceived idea of you and expect you to actually fit in that. He is being sarcastic but he is also giving a true statement--it's so easy to judge others and expect them to act in a way you want them to---most especially celebrities or high profile personalities.

I saw in an interview around the time Elemental came out in which Roland explained that he had a fight with his wife and she said, for someone who writes such beautiful music, you are cold. Uoy can find the interview on You Tube, I found it while searching "Roland Orzabal interviews".

I’m friends with Roland’s brother Julian, who sings in this song and also helped write and produce it. I’ve met Roland. Roland is not a warm person. I was warned by Julian when I met Roland NOT to run up and hug him, for example... (he was actually quite kind and I think had I hugged him, it would have been fine). Anyway, a woman wrote Roland a letter, I can’t recall the contents but basically looking up to him in this letter as if he was a God to her or something, reference to “Buddha,” and he’s like, me? I haven’t got a clue.” So he responded to her in a way similar to what the song describes, kinda like ‘lady, I don’t know, leave me alone.’ The woman writes him back again and says “how can you be so cold?” to Roland. There’s your song. Nockles is also reference to Nikki Holland, a friend of his in the music biz.