Bitter Sweet Symphony (feat. Richard Ashcroft) (Verve cover)

Well, I guess I'm the first comment.

I didn't even intend to comment on this song, but because I saw it in the list of songs by Coldplay, I decided I would.

I know that "Bittersweet Symphony" is originally by the Verve. Or at least that's what I've always believed. I've never heard Coldplay perform the song. I've always loved the instrumental as done by the Verve, so I'm curious to if that is consistant in Coldplay's rendition.

If anybody has heard this song (as performd by Coldplay), and would like to comment back, I'd appeciate it.

Anyways, as for the actual meaning. . . I love this song becasue it expresses so much emotion. I think that it's about somebody, conformed by society, wanting to change themself. They were obviously confronted by somebody who was an individual and made them question their own life. The artist claims "I can't change my mold. . . i'm a million different people from one day to the next", referring to how it's difficult to not reject what society considers acceptible, and how he often sees himself as "a million different people" just to satisfy those around him. "I'll take you down the only road I've ever been down, Have you ever been down?" That again supports my theory about him being a conformist to society and claiming that he knew no other way to live. He asks if he is alone in his belief. "You know the one that takes you to the places where all the veins meet yeah" I think that that verse is supposed to be taken sarcastically, as in "you know. . . the road that leads to everything" not meaning it in a literal sense. "I need to hear some sounds, that recognize the pain in me, now. I let the melody shine, let it cleanse my mind, I feel free now. But the airways are clean and there's nobody singing to me now" The person is free from conformity. . . he is pained, and now he wants everybody to realize that he is changed. . . "Let it cleanse my mind, I feel free now". . . 'it' referring to his individuality. "Tryin' to make ends meet, You're a slave to money then you die". . . Money, the universal cause of despare and sadness. . . How you slave your life to earn money, but in the end it means nothing, "cause then you die". This song is very liberating. . . The music, the lyrics, everything about it. . . You can sense the person's emotion, excitement and willingness to change. . . To change not for somebody else, but for himself. . . "It's a bittersweet symphony, this ilfe" meaning, there are good and bad in the world, and depending on how you choose to live your life, you may experience it's bitterness, sweetness, or both.

Music can be interpreted in many different ways. . . depending on who's listening to it, their life experiences, the effect the music has on them. . . Good artist's never truely state what a song means. . . and that's why music is amazing, because it doesn't have to be about one specific thing, but rather, can be about a million different things. . . It all depends on how interpret the song, it's lyrics, the instrumental. . . And my opinion towards the song is only one person's interpretation.

"It's a bittersweet symphony, this life."