My interpretation/meaning of Violet Hill

[Viva La Violet Hill]

I haven't seen that, I bet it was funny though I'm gonna have to look it up.

 

And he's definitely not as entertaining as O'Reilly but he can be funny. He's also pretty smart. I don't watch his show every night though, just a few times a week or so.

 

And I admit O'Reilly is great at what he does, still annoys me though ha

 

hahaha one of the funniest videos i've seen in awhile.

 

i'll try to check out Keith O sometime hehe.

 

and that's understandable lol.

[Bobby Dylan]

HAhah i just watched it that was great!

 

WE'LL DO IT LIVE! FUCK IT!... And here's Sting with a cut off his new album. LOL

[Viva La Violet Hill]

HAhah i just watched it that was great!

 

WE'LL DO IT LIVE! FUCK IT!... And here's Sting with a cut off his new album. LOL

 

HAHAHA, yes, that is why I watch him lol. I like him even more now....haha. :laugh3:

[Bobby Dylan]

You should make an official Bill O'Reilly thread lol. That video actually did make me like him more, I don't take him anymore seriously though. I forgot he was the host for inside edition ha.

 

I remember reading something where he kept claiming that he won Peabody awards for that show, and then all these people were like..'''uhh no you didn't, what the hell are you talking about?" lol

[JPB]

BOBBY DYLAN!!!!

 

 

I included O'Reilly in the same category as Stewart and Colbert!

 

Do you think I take him all that SERIOUSLY??!!:rolleyes:

 

Dude, c'mon man!

 

The blow up on his old show, Inside Edition was HILARIOUS.

 

"Play us out....? FUCK IT WE'LL DO IT LIVE" etc aw man please please please please please please pretty please read all that I write.

 

I get a completely balanced view of what happens in America every day.

 

Which I'm sure you get of my country when you watch Darby O'Gill & The Little People or, hell I don't know, Leprechaun Killers V: This Shit's Awful...I don't know, but please don't........................wait, I've lost my place, what the hell was I saying?:dozey:

[Bobby Dylan]

Hahaha sorry JPB, I thought you might but I wasn't sure. You mentioned Brian Williams too. Also, I don't watch crap like that. Darby O'Gill & The Little People, yes, but Leprechaun Killers V: This Shit's Awful. C'mon!!! lol

 

But good to hear you actually don't like him. I'll read everything from now on, it was a long thread though. And I barely watch tv for the record

[JPB]

Hahaha sorry JPB, I thought you might but I wasn't sure. You mentioned Brian Williams too. Also, I don't watch crap like that. Darby O'Gill & The Little People, yes, but Leprechaun Killers V: This Shit's Awful. C'mon!!! lol

 

But good to hear you actually don't like him. I'll read everything from now on, it was a long thread though. And I barely watch tv for the record

 

Then its all cool man:cool:

[Viva La Violet Hill]

consider this thread hi-jacked....lol sorry mods! haha

 

lol that's funny about the peabody awards tho hahaha papa bear.

[JPB]

consider this thread hi-jacked....lol sorry mods! haha

 

lol that's funny about the peabody awards tho hahaha papa bear.

 

:D

[Mobytoss]

On top of the modern-day applications, as with nearly all of the songs, I think the song has a strong historical romance about it. The idea of 'Violet Hill' itself makes me think of The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, with 'Sad Hill', a hillside of graves. I had a poke about, looking for the symbology of the violet, and found this -

The scent of violets was the favorite perfume of Josephine Bonaparte. When Napoleon returned from banishment in Elba, Josephine was dead. He picked a bouquet of violets for her grave before then being exiled to Elba. When Napoleon died, violets and a lock of Josephine’s hair were found in a locket.

 

Whether intentional or not, it has a nice French revolution air to it :) I'll see what else I can find

 

[Edit] I found some more!

 

To the ancient Romans, violets were the symbol of mourning and of affection for the dead. They decorated tombs with wreaths of violets on the Festival of the Dead, or “Feralia,” in February and at the "Violaria," or the Festival of Violets, at the end of March. These ceremonies guaranteed the peace of the deceased. In the Middle Ages, violets were the symbol of faithfulness in love. The tiny purple and white flowers were made into crowns for winners of poetry contests during this era of courtly love.

 

In Christian art, the violet symbolizes the Virgin Mary’s humility. One ancient tale states that violets were in fact white until Mary was filled with anguish from watching her son, Christ, suffer upon the Cross. At this moment all the white violets turned purple to echo her mourning. Perhaps this is a reason why purple remains a color associated with mourning. In Renaissance paintings, Mary, while holding the baby Jesus, is often depicted with violets to symbolize her humility or perhaps as a premonition of Jesus’ death, as in this early painting “Madonna Benois," or "Madonna and Child with Flowers” (c. 1475-1478) by Leonardo da Vinci. And the viewer can make out tiny violets in the foreground of this painting by Sienese artist Giovanni Paolo aptly named “Madonna of Humility” (1435).

 

So according to these two origins, violets are a "symbol of mourning and of affection for the dead", and we have a nice fine art painting reference at the end to accompany it :>

[rastelin]

good

PEACE

[rastelin]

great

[JohnTitor]

Violet Hill Meaning (and the reason for the Album)

 

http://www.coldplaying.com/forum/showthread.php?t=47505

[elena20]

ya i think its about the world and the government......and how the government(meaning BUSH,ETC.) are..............yes u guessed it .............FUCKEN UP THIS WORLD AND THE PEOPLE IN IT!!.........

 

THANK YOU........THANK YOU........

[chuck kottke]

Liberty or Death!

 

It has meanings on many different levels. But, aside from some of the specifics (not just Rupert's Empire, but the whole media went along with it), basically I had similar feelings..

cc: Ron Paul and the Libertarians - I do agree we have disregarded the Constitution, and have violated many of the basic rights protected by it; created a virtual king in the office of the President, and limited the ability to check concentrated power here in the US, as well as reigning in the power of the multinationals. However, the US Government's role as a safety net, as an arbiter of fair play, and as a stimulator of basic research, and as a project manager for public works, as well as protector of the commons should not be overlooked, nor be diminished. To promote the Blessings of Liberty is to promote works that enhance our common well-being, and protect the Liberties of the Individual from being trampled on by the powerful few.

Consider what are those rights thus enumerated, and why must they be protected? They are safeguards from the abuses of power, whether that power be from a majority that wishes to disenfranchise a minority, or whether that power be from individuals who would use coercive means to force others to conform to their wishes.

So the lyrics speak volumes about the sentiment of our times, and an echo of past times as well..

[jubes]

I would just add to the original post that there is no response from the loved one, and I feel that the person is a bit abandoned in his own love life as well, meaning that some people are abandoned and abused from all sides and in times of need (ie people are selfish).

[gabby.]

Wow, I think you may be right..

This totally changed what I think about this song..

wow.

 

 

& to the red & white make pink comment..not really..

dry blood and white makes a violet color..

haha.

[ccsg]

I think the entire song is political and yes, has to do with the soldiers who are in and are dying in the war. I think the question, "if you love me, won't you let me know" is directed at the government (UK and US). Basically, you're supposed to love us, to guide and protect us, but you're doing nothing for us. I think Chris ties in the soldiers off to war theme in as well.

 

Also, perhaps no one has been on this thread in a while, but the line is

AND A FOX, BECAME GOD.

As told in the RS article, Chris is referring to Fox News.

[bobbyd]

everything sound about right. but you say "and the fog became god". but if you listen carefully i hear "and fox's became god". meaning that the fox news corporation had become big because of the "war" and people listen to them as if they were "god".

[larissa CP]

''confusion never stops''

 

''A sign that I couldn't read

Or the light that I couldn't see

Some things you have to believe

But others are puzzles, puzzling me''

 

:confused: well I guess it's about some kind of war or domination

[chuck kottke]

It's about Violet and her hill. That, and more.

[Jettelag]

I don't know if it's because I'm hearing wrong, but I always thought the line was, "I don't want to be a soldier, that the captain of some sinking ship would stow down below." As in, I don't want to be imprisoned in the bottom of a sinking ship. Meaning, I don't want to be stuck in an organization (be it war, a family, or anything else) where everyone who doesn't get out gets hurt in the end.

[Syn]

Here`s my interpretation of Violet Hill. It follows the lyrics closely.

 

An Ode to Civilization, here goes,

 

“Suffering oh, as I close my eyes

I lie restless under this light, purple sky

Not warm, but cold, like the night

In dreams I see the world overturned

I dream now of my past, I saw the source

A past dead, I think of home, now

Food on the burner, its been cold

Where my heart would sink, ’d labour not

My love spurned, the castle’d let me rot

Love, let us escape, into our hearts

O Spirit, we come for your blessings

Where there is nothing, yet everything”

[The Shining Wizard]

My interpretation:

 

It was a long and dark December

From the rooftops I remember

There was snow, white snow

 

Here, he is a soldier, probably in some war, probably on the border, during December, the snow covering the roads and buildings...

 

 

Clearly I remember

From the windows they were watching

While we froze down below

 

The "higher ups," so to speak, the captains or whatever, they were watching the soldiers freezing "down below." The soldiers assigned to keep watch on the surroundings, he is one of them.

 

 

When the future's architectured

By a carnival of idiots on show

You'd better lie low

 

He's talking about how he's been forced into this war (an Iraq reference, maybe?), because if your future is controlled by idiots, what can you do? That's the question he asks, when he says "you'd better lie low."

 

 

If you love me, won't you let me know?

 

Away from his love, in the freezing December snow, forced into the middle of a war by idiots who run the country, and yet, his love doesn't express her feelings for him. Why? Why won't you let him know how much you love him? What are you waiting for?

 

 

Was a long and dark December

When the banks became cathedrals

And a fox became God

 

It was a long and dark December... staying there in that enemy territory, freezing in the cold, away from their faiths, away from their Churches and Temples.. riverbanks became the soldiers' cathedrals, and instead of idols of Jesus or whichever God they worship, foxes became their God as they would worship it. (Just a metaphor, doesn't mean they literally resorted to the prehistoric times when Man would worship trees and stones and animals).

 

 

Priests clutched onto bibles

Hollowed out to fit their rifles

And a cross held aloft

 

"Priests," in essence, the soldiers now resorting to performing prayers, prayers for their safe return home when their duty is over, when whatever dangerous situation they're in is solved. Bibles "hollowed out to fit their rifles," and crosses held aloft. I don't think these lines need any explanation, they're pretty self-explanatory.

 

 

Bury me in armour

When I'm dead and hit the ground

My nerves are poles that unfroze

 

He talks about how, if and when he dies during battle, he should be buried in armour, with his pride. He talks about how, when he's dead, his nerves finally unfreeze. (Remember the first line, talking about freezing in the battlegrounds, in the "long and dark December.")

 

 

And if you love me, won't you let me know?

 

So, again, he's asking his love, all this could or has happened, and you still won't let him know that you love him?

 

 

I don't want to be a soldier

Who the captain of some sinking ship

Would stow, far below.

 

He's already a soldier on such a "ship," (not an actual ship, of course, just a metaphor for his "battalion" or whatever), and he doesn't want to be there. (Refer to the "you'd better lie low" verse.)

 

 

So if you love me, why d'you let me go?

 

You can interpret this line in two ways: Number one, he has already died in battle, the ship he was stowed on sank "far below," and he's asking his love now, if you loved him, why did you let him go without ever letting him know how much you loved him? Or did you ever love him AT ALL?

 

Or, he hasn't died, but he's pretty sure now he's about to (look at what he's talking about in the previous verse), and hence he's changed his question, from wanting to know why his love didn't tell him she loves him, to why she let him go.

 

 

I took my love down to violet hill

There we sat in snow

All that time she was silent still

Said if you love me, won't you let me know?

If you love me, won't you let me know?

 

This verse, from what I can deduce, is about what he did before going to war. He took his love down to "violet hill," where they sat in the snow. She was silent all the time, didn't tell him a word. So he said, "If you love me, won't you let me know?" Of course, she didn't let him know, and he went on into the battle without ever finding out.

 

 

Overall, this is a tragic song, filled with loneliness. It's about the soldier, who is in battle, he may or may not make it out, and he's wondering two things: If he makes it out alive, and can go back home safely, will his love be there, waiting to welcome him with open arms? Or if he dies, will his love be there to cry for him?

[KirstenEO]

I love the way Coldplay take you through a whole range of emotions - fear, and desperation, and acceptance, and all the darkness of the song. And yet, when it's all over, the lyric that you go around supconciously muttering in the supermarket checkout line or wherever is "If you love me, won't you let me know?"

 

Very cool way to remind us what really matters.

 

I don't know if the 'Love' on Violet Hill is really a girl as such, though.. To me, it's the false ideals, hopes and dreams that got him into the mess in the first place and then abandoned him to the future. He realizes they're empty - they won't speak to him - and now he's just looking for someone, anyone else to love him, accept him, and give his life some reason.

 

It's great how the song is so subjective - sure, there were white lies all over the place, it was dark, the politicians and media were manipulatings us, and everything was covered in snow, but hey, I have a clear memory of this - "Clearly I remember". The singes is just as doubtful and manipulated as everyone else - it really is the story of the end of the world told from the point of veiw of an ordinary person.