for better or worse- um mostly worse- Chris Martin'slyrics are singled out a lot. 15 is a lot but, let's try it!

 

15 Best

 

(no order)

 

Brothers and Sisters

simple and beautiful. to write this kind of thing when signed to a minor label shows Chris was never trying to be cool and "indie". unfortunately most of his songs since then are a lot sadder. which is nice, but it's hard to write good inspiring lyrics. of course it would never work without the incredible music.

 

Don't Panic

not as much a fan of this song as some people, it's more easy to admire than get excited about. but its greatest strength is subtlety. I have to give credit for the simple and poetic lyrics. to begin with such depressing statements and then make the chorus "we live in a beautiful world". it's like a big anthem completely decomposed. just naked honesty here.

 

Spies

fragments again. what is going on? the one Coldplay song I have no idea what the fuck it's about. this is a very good thing. I drift off in a complete other world with this, which is about the last reason most people would think of listening to a Coldplay album. The Chinese government thought it was about them and banned it. ha... kinda insulting themselves there.

 

Yellow

possibly still his best lyrics. this beautiful anthemic statement, but just slightly OFF, you know what I mean? what does "yellow" mean? "swam across" what? where is the water in the rest of the song? I wonder, is it the same water the "spies" came out of? the lyrics feel like they were written in 5 minutes off the cuff when the man's heart was at its fullest, all the mixed metaphors no one bothered to go back to make perfect and rhyming. it doesn't make literal sense but it makes emotional sense. that's why it's a classic pop song, like Wonderwall was, but actually a lot better.

 

Trouble

anotehr heartfelt and disturbing sketch of a song. "spiderweb and it's me in the middle". the repetition in both the music and lyrics of this song is quite hypnotic. I think I could really argue Chris' lack of lyrical "proficiency" contributes greatly to the emotions of their first album.

 

We Never Change

an even better example of that. this song seems practically like it was written by a kid. a heart connected to a mind that can't quite understand and express what it's going through, or is just opting to withdraw from everything. it is really quite brave to write this type of bare lyrics for public consumption and this song never fails to be moving.

 

God Put a Smile on Your Face

This song gets slagged off a lot for its lyrics, many people see it as Christian. I've never been sure- the title shocked me but I think it's great for its awkward directness. the song however is highly ambiguous, and has many great lines which sound bitter when taken out of context.

 

The Scientist

This song always reminded me of some of Brian Wilson's songs, in terms of lyrics. It is so damn saccharine, I wanted to laugh it off when I first heard it, but it got under my skin. It is impossible to separate the lyrics from the transcendent music of course... I just want to turn out the lights and curl up in a ball when I hear it. The worst song ever to be played in malls.

 

Clocks

Chris wrestles with self doubt, the first of many "good" lyrics he would write. Usually these "good" lyrics with catchy lines actually suck a lot more than his "bad" lyrics because they come off forced. This one doesn't. "Home, home, where I wanted to go"... a heartbreaking vague statement for the end. This song is very 80s pop/post-punk, Cure-like darkness/vagueness, that's what's good about it.

 

A Rush of Blood to the Head

this gets in there for the barely understandable chorus of "all the movements are starting to break". the verses are forced. a disturbing little narrative about buying guns and burning houses that never feels anything close to desperate and bleak enough, but the chorus has this tragic abandon which felt very 2002. needless to say it's also one of Coldplay's best and most underrated songs musically.

 

Square One

Another contender for the best lyrics Chris Martin has written (which admittedly isn't saying all that much). also very self-absorbed, but unlike What If, which is affecting yet impossible to sympathize with, he makes it universal instead of wallowing in it. It's a remake of Politik, same message (I think) and similar sound. This time truer, more desperate. "is there anybody out there who / is lost and hurt and lonely too" god. why do I shiver at that instead of laughing?

 

White Shadows

I love hypocrisy songs from people like Bono and Bono and Bono.. oh sorry did I just repeat that? Well he has written several, and they are always his most interesting lyrics- "I must be an acrobat to talk like this and act like that" (so did Cobain of course, and Thom Yorke). Chris Martin will never be such a world conquering figure that he needs Bono levels of guilt, nor an anti-rock-star who is crushed by his own success. But obviously he feels terrible, and not just cause Gwynnie might leave him. In fact I really don't know what this song is about, but "all the space I'm taking up" frightens me. Yeah, I wish you and your band would take up a bit less space. But this song is where X&Y finally earns its dodgy "scientist" sort of theme. Just think of the physical, environmental, economic space we are all taking up... perhaps all us "white" people. Or the white shadows are those things in the past that.. well you know the rest. When I heard this I wanted to congratulate Coldplay for finally managing to create music and lyrics that were truly claustrophobic, yet oddly bloodless at the same time... and then of course it opens up like a sunrise/trance hit at the end. Actually the end reminds me of a certain Peter Gabriel song.

 

Speed of Sound

Hmm, this song is actually the most forced thing Chris Martin has ever written, yet oddly the song is saved by its lyrics. If you think about them a bit, they actually become coherent. Yet, this IS a Christian song, or a religious one at least. That's how I think of it. I don't believe in God. I don't think we can "see how it all began" by looking at some birds out a plane window (how low is he flying anyway??) and I'm sure the Chinese are very angry about being lumped with a certain other nationality as if they are the same! BUT... minor concerns really. Listen to the song it sounds blah... till the guitars of the climax where it redeems itself. The lyrics actually "say something" though, that might be a first.

 

A Message

Ok, Chris loves cliches! But Chris obviously also loves the recipient of this song. to say it's "cheesy", would be missing the point. Now I can't really stand Til Kingdom Come, that is just insincere sounding. This one's more like the nice "Green Eyes", a needed "honest" moment in the Rush of Blood/Parachutes tradition after the vague atmospheric wannabe epics of the previous tracks. It's not a classic (how many Coldplay songs are.. though??) and I haven't always liked it, but after a few plays I realized this kind of song is forever going to be what this band excels at most, because other bands did the other kind of songs Coldplay excels at better or first. Oh yeah also, the lyric is not as lame as all that: "my song is love" goes on, it's "my song is love, unknown." I think he stole it off some Christians or something, but I try not to think about that. U2 wishes they could still write this kinda brilliant pap.

 

Low

I love these lyrics, can't really say why. the thing about the balloon creeps me out, very Ian McEwan. Dark and European in sound, certainly in lyrics as well, it's like a reimagining/pastiche of U2's "New Years Day", "Ultraviolet" and David Bowie's Low. Dense.

 

Swallowed in teh Sea

oh god I love bad Chris Martin lyrics. really, just compare this with The Hardest Part and you see why bad CHris Martin lyrics beat good Chris Martin lyrics hands down. The man can express nothingness no well. there's something so domestic about this song. so literally MIDDLE OF THE ROAD (I see the road, and it's "a thousand miles long", Chris endlessly going down the middle). It's a cinematic song with all these ridiculous rhymes, but so unpretentious, sounds like something a bar band would bash out in the smallest and most remote and most poor town of the British Isles. good. kinda like what the Doves did on Some Ciites.

 

 

So in sum Chris Martin often writes quite good lyrics. We are not talking about a Morrissey or Bob Dylan here, but the lack of wit in his lyrics, the awkwardness, helps to express... the inexpressible. Ironically I was thinking it's much the same as Radiohead's Kid A, which did this by cutting up a person's voice. Chris didn't need to do that because his style of thinking is already so simplistic and fragmented it's practically brain damaged at times. his "heart" is not damaged and that also comes through.

 

interesting how none of my three favorite actual songs on Rush of Blood- Politik, Warning Sign, Amsterdam- got picked.

 

 

oh yeah and now the worst

 

not quite sure how this became a "standout" b-side. it's quite a pure ripoff of Radiohead b-sides circa OK Computer isn't it? lyric are self pitying drivel.

 

Shiver

cocky shit. "just you try and stop me"?? the thing about this song is it's about 200 times as stalker-ish as Every Breath You Take, yet no one points this out. nevertheless, it is very easy to relate to and Chris' amazing, showy vocal performance (not to mention the fucking perfect guitar part) totally sells this bastard.

 

Parachutes

I still cannot even remember what this song sounds like, nor its lyrics. I think it's one of those "informal" ones, but perhaps a bit too informal, y'know.

 

Everything's Not Lost

"sing out, yeaaaaaaaah" the first of many such outbursts from Mr Martin. if you want us to sing out write a better anthem!

 

In My Place

luv the song, lyrics are brilliantly awful

 

Daylight

this one's just funny, but again I love the song. nothing original about it, should be retitled "token eastern song". brilliant. it's the age of pastiche after all.

 

What if?

Are these lyrics so bad they're good, or so good they're bad? I'll go with the second one. The brutal simplistic honesty of Chris Martin fails to be affecting anymore when #1 he's one of the richest people in the world #2 happily married by his own account with kids (not to mention with who) #3 indulging in pointless fantasies of the destruction of it all. Furthermore this is an example of two facts that remain true: #1 Coldplay doesn't make proper pop music because they whine and drone on (the guitarwork in this song is great however, hardly pleasant) #2 Coldplay doesn't whine about anything more significant than Chris Martin's selfish insecurities #3 Coldplay is too bland for their whinyness to be "interesting". "ooooooooooh that's right. Just go listen to Black Box Recorder hits already and stop bedwetting. Now IF all the things in this song were to actually happen, I might feel a twinge of grief for Chris, but honestly I think his music would suddenly "fix" itself at that point and he'd possibly even make a Blood on the Tracks. This is still a key track of Coldplay's career. You could never bother to listen to X&Y and then skip it.

 

Talk

hmm. a true low point of modern music in all respects. the lyrics of the original (with about two lines) say much more than this. horrid. nothing pretending to be something.

 

X&Y

oh god.

 

The Hardest Part

And the Kmart fart was listing this invalid art, haven't they heard arvo paaaaart

the farthest thing from listening to britpop kings, it was the lamest in the chaaaart

Fill the ears of the crowds

We can hear

those with taste, close them now

Piano dying of gout

sounds like Keane, age 80, still around

Someone's looping the sound

At the end, but it still wears us out

Silver lining the prow

of the yacht that Chris bought, and the house

oooooooooooooooooooooh

you wonder what it's all about

 

 

Twisted Logic

failed political statement. it would be better w/out the line "computers looking for life" that just makes me laugh every time. oh yeah also it would have been better with a "proper choon"! although the loud guitars are nice.

 

Til Kingdom Come

yeah yeah. too bad Cash died, but this woulda sounded like shit with him singing it as well. go back to the British music, it's all you can handle!

The lyrics in Till Kingdom Come are fucking tender, sincere and beautiful...how anyone can knock such a passionate song is beyond me...

If you read the thing you would see i'm not seriously knocking anything, I accept Chris for his limitations and ultimately lyrics have almost no effect on which Coldplay songs I like and dislike, because he is very good at putting emotion into even the bad lyrics. The exception is a few lyrics like Talk, Twisted Logic and Til Kingdome. These songs I feel he is trying way too hard to fit the lyrics into some preconceived idea or framework, and trying to be an intellectual is the last thing Chris Martin should do. I really don't give Til Kingdom Come a second thought though, till I had to find more songs for this list. I don't usually listen to it (for that matter, I rarely listen to X&Y since I initially got it) as it's just a bonus track with minimal connection to the previous song or the album, heartfelt as it might be. But see it doesn't feel heartfelt because Chris is trying to use the Johnny Cash idiom and this is not an effective way for him to convey what HE feels. Green Eyes was kinda similar and a million times better, I like that track a lot.

 

What's special about Johnny Cash anyway is his own style and performance. Ring of Fire is a pretty anonymous song in the first place apart from being done by him and June Carter. Covering Ring of Fire or writing a song in Johnny Cash style but not having him sing it.. well that's just pointless. I admit I haven't heard Coldplay's version of Ring of Fire.

Damn you think a lot about each song...

 

I just listen to what I like...songs are pleasing for different reasons...who cares if they are too like something else or don't "fit" in some way.

i don't tell his worst...because he is a great lyricist ever..living...

:rolleyes: but whatever song he writes its like a masterpiece for me

and i love all songs that he wrote in 'the parachutes'..

Are you a language analyst? Or a habitual rambler?