Coldplay – We Never Change

General CommentIf you take a look a the entire album, you can see how the songs progress through different stages of emotions over a particular person.

To me, Shiver and Parachutes are both about liking someone who likes you only as a friend, but letting them know that you'll always be waiting for them if their feelings ever change ("I'll be waiting in line just to see if you care").

Yellow is a song of complete devotion for this one person (i go more in depth on that one in another post).

Sparks and Trouble are both about how things aren't the same once these emotions are out in the open. It's tough for friends to be the same when one has these emotions for the other, and both of these songs are about realizing that a little too late and just wanting to back to the way it was. ("if I ever caused you trouble,
I never meant to do you harm").

This song is about accepting the fact that it doesn't always work out. I want to be with you, and I also want to fly. But we never change so what's the point of hoping for something that is not going to happen. The uplifting aspect of the song is that despite all the things we want but can't have, there are still some good things out there that we can still have, like having friends and living where the sun comes out. Basically it's about not letting the unattainable things in life bring you down. Which leads perfectly into the last track on the album...

Everything's Not Lost is about realizing that you can be happy without getting everything you want. Sure you might have some heartbreaks but there is always a silver lining, and if you don't see it you're just not looking at the big picture.

Sorry to comment on the whole album in this post, I wanted to get it out there in one connected, coherent thought, so I figured I might as well post it under this song, since it's my favorite off the album. Also, this is simply my viewpoint of the album because I went through almost the exact same thing. Someone else might have gone through something completely different and could still connect really well with the album. And that's why Coldplay quickly became one of my favorite bands, because their lyrics seem to speak so well to so many different people.

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  @okteds
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  I've always felt pretty much exactly the same way, about the entire album. I never thought I would hear another person speak such similar feelings to mine about it, so that's really cool.
  
  this was the album that got me through and over one of the most difficult and awkward relationships I've ever had. It's for this reason that I'm convinced Coldplay haters are either ignorant of this album or else have no soul.

  Flag mittortzon February 13, 2010  

General CommentActually Tubesocks, I think the wooden house signifies simplicity.
I feel I can really relate to this song right now... my life has been complicated because I can't break old habits ("we never change do we?") and it's keeping me from living a simple life. If I could just change my mistakes I wouldn't be in so much trouble, and I could spend time with the friends I care so much about.

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  @b_l_i_t_z

General CommentDoes anyone think that he might be stuck in....2 states of mind - like, 'I want to be good to you...but i also want to live my life. I dont want to be cruel...but i really want to fly and never come down. Maybe he feels like in order to live the life he dreams of, he has to be selfish, but it sucks because he also wants to be a good person, not cruel to the ones he cares for. The wooden house seems like Chris's metaphoric answer to his unhappiness - a place he could go and live a simple life where he can just be him, be what he wants to be...where friends are welcome, but others who seek to impose life on him are not, if he wanted those people he would live in a glass house - exposing him to anyone. He feels like he has to be cruel to the others in his life in order live like this - free - but he doesnt want to be cruel. The song is about ambivalence.

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  @WhatHits

My InterpretationFirst off, love Coldplay with an undying passion. I just... I love it.

Well, that's why I'm here.

This song is about someone thinking about how he wants to live his life. The manner in which he wants to treat people, and how he wants to spend each day. So he starts off the song with this:

"I want to live life
Never be cruel
I want to live life
Be good to you"

These are all fairly simple ideals. He wants to be a nice person, someone a little more dependable.

"I want to fly
And never come down
And live my life
And have friends around"

With a more wistful tone, now he tells of what he wants to get - a happy life where he can stay in that one high place and never "come down," and to always have dependable people around.

But he chuckles to himself, and sings,

"We never change, do we?
We never learn, do we?"

He knows that in reality, he can't keep flying in one place where he'll never be brought down. He can't always be with friends. He can't even bring himself to hold back his temper. And no matter how much he realizes that it will never happen, his mind keeps floating back to the idea - hence, "we never change."
With a deep breath, he continues.

"So I want to live in a wooden house
I want to live life always be true
I want to live life and be good to you"

These are more of his idealistic hopes. When I read "wooden house," I thought of a small, cozy little house of wood built and breathed life into by your own hands. So again, idealistic. He lists other things.

He ends the song with not "We never change," but repeating what he has always wished for. This is so much more impactual than the former; it is exemplifying the point that he was making in the entire song - that "We never change."

I love this song.

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  @Headphoneb
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  @Headphoneb love what you have posted!! I've always heard this song exactly as you describe it. Definitely one of my favorites. It's always the one I turn to when I am feeling down. I am reminded, because he uses "we" instead of "I" that I am not the only one feeling these things and thinking these thoughts. It also reminds me that it's okay to think idealistically sometimes to cheer yourself up (I've always been such a realist). The ideal thoughts are the ones that motivate you to keep moving forward, even if your true self never changes. Thank you for posting such a beautiful explanation of this song!

  Flag Brii1233on April 06, 2017  

General CommentA touching song about living a life of simple existance and pleasure. It is about stripping out all the unessenital things in life to focus on what is truly important - having good friends around, being kind, and enjoying nature. The question is asked how can we do this, how can we change our lives? The answer to all this is bizarre - Chris Martin of Coldplay writes "So, I wanna live in a wooden and making more friends would be easy." Although it's a nonsensical conclusion - how does a wooden house make life easier - it doesn't ruin the message for me: never lose sight of what is important in your life.

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  @tubesocks
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  Thanks for the post.
  
  I have the same feeling too, as what Chris McCandless wants to do, it's just too good he had the courage to do it...but not me.
  
  so, I have the same question now...how am I going to do that?

  Flag bear_hug20on May 03, 2009  

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  It occurs to me that WANTING to live in a wooden house is the opposite of HAVING to live in a glass house.. With the inference being a self-criticism of the common malady that unfortunately manifests in our lives better known as making mistakes, errors in judgement, and engaging in general malfeasance.
  
  simple & good ='s serene & happy

  Flag oljw00on March 09, 2012  

General Commentthe first time i heard this song i didnt really think much of it, but when i listened to it a second time, i listened to the words, and the whole meaning of it just hit me. it would be so wonderful if everyone would accept eachothers differences no matter what, and it would be so wonderful if making friends was simple, and it would be wonderful if everything was simple, and nothing was a problem. i can realate to this song on so many levels, i love how it can mean so many different things to different people for different situations. this song leaves me speechless. and at the same time leaves me with so many emotions. i think its because of how it ends. it stops sort of abruptly, with "i wanna live where the sun comes out" but at the same time it's perfect for the song.

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  @*seven*stripes*

General Commentarnt the lyrics wrong? i believe its "oh and i dont have a soul to save... yes and i sin every single day..."

makes more sense to me.

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  @themrschasez

General CommentI believe that I have a completely different interpretation of this song from everyone else, that it actually might seem bogus as it does not go along with any other themes on coldplays cd. Yes, In a way, I do believe that when he speaks of “I wanna live ina wooden house” that he wants to live simply. If any of you have studied Thoreau, he was a man who took simplicity to the extremes and left a materialistic life and lived in a wooden house. But this wooden house can also be interpreted a completely different way. Eveyone rmembers the saying of the glass house, correct? That friends can “shatter” this unsupposrtive place – your feelings, your soul etc. But living in a wooden house would block out all the people who have hurt you and only let in your “true” friends, no matter how little there are. What this does is helps one live in happiness, “live where the sun comes up”. Furthermore, to say “we never change, do we? No no. We never learn, do we?” is to give up changing who you are, which is what many people do. TO be your true self – to qit trying to change, is happiness as you accept fully who you are. As you accept who you are, you do not change for anyone, so your true friends are revealed in your eyes. So, if you were your true self, seeing only your true friends, living in a wooden house where only the true come, makes sense to me. “I wanna live life and always be true”.

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  @mascardo
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  You have addressed something deeper that deals with the sadness in the song much better - we get in our own way, by faking it with people.
  I really like your insight :)

  Flag katietulipon January 02, 2009  

General CommentThis song is all about knowing all along what you want - a simple life. Love, friends, and all of the other things mentioned. And yet every chance you get, every tempting offer, you get swayed away and only get further from the simple life.

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  @figure

General Commenti think its about the beauty of simplicty... love, friendship, and being content with life. its one of the most beautiful songs i have ever heard and leaves me with so many emotions every single time i listen to it

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  @razz