Reign of Love: Lyric Analysis

[masterkraig]

Figure I'd post this!

 

My girlfriend's dad was looking into the meaning of Reign of Love and although I'm far from qualifying as an expert lyrical analyst, I did it anyway!

 

Let me know what you think and where it could be improved! Thanks in advance.

 

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Reign of Love Lyrical Analysis masterkraig

 

Although I think Viva la Vida or Death and All of His Friends, as an album whole, could mean contrasting life vs. death, but I think it's really a reflection, a journey, showing every part of life from birth(Life in Technicolor) through death(The Escapist).

 

Lovers in Japan to me (put shortly) represents that exact feeling of finding a new love and just having so much fun together.

 

My best interpretation of Reign of Love is that the previous fun did not work out and it reflects and explains the emotion behind the break-up.

 

Reign of love

Addressing the previous lover, or love as a whole

I can't let go

 

Him/her finding it hard to let go of their previous love

To the sea I offer

 

The "sea" as in an endless expanse, or where memories of times past can drift away from him/her

This heavy load

The memories and love that he/she is trying to move on from

 

Locusts will

Lift me up

 

Nothing* can lift me up (but with a small belief that something could**)

I'm just a prisoner

 

I'm just stuck

In a Reign of Love

 

in this feeling of losing a previous love

 

Locusts will

Let us stop

 

Nothing* will allow him/her to stop thinking of the previous love (but with a small belief that something could**)

I wish I'd spoken

To the Reign of Love

 

He/she wishes they could go back and win their love back

Reign of Love

Previous love,

By the church, we're waiting

 

He/she will wait for them

Reign of love

Previous love,

My knees go praying

He/she prays/hopes their come back

 

How I wish

I'd spoken up

 

He/she wished they did more to not lose their love

Or we'd be carried

In the Reign of Love

 

Otherwise he/she would be still be in love.

 

*Locusts are defined in the bible as symbols of insignificance (Numbers 13:33; Ecclesiastes 12:5; Isaiah 40:22; 2 Esdras 4:24).

** Locusts are also known in the bible as one of the "four things which are little upon the earth, but .... are exceeding wise" (Proverbs 30:27), leading me to believe that he/she still knows that something will help things get better.Locust infos didn't come out my ass, it came from http://www.internationalstandardbible.com/L/locust.html

 

 

[coppelia2000]

Meaning of 2nd half of song --- Reign of love

 

Here's what I think of the lyrics:

 

Reign of love

I can’t let go

To the sea I offer

This heavy load

 

The person who's saying this can't let go of his past love and so to the sea of time, he offers his heavy load of grief (since he really doesn't know how to deal with his lost love)

 

Locusts will

Lift me up

I’m just a prisoner

In a reign of love

 

Locusts, in a figurative sense, were considered to be representative of god's wrath/punishment; in reality, they can ravage entire fields of crops, but interestingly, clouds of locusts can be selective and often, fields beside the ravaged fields are left completely untouched. I think the person in this song feels he's being punished and feels somewhat alone in his grief.

 

Locusts will

Let us stop

I wish I’d spoken

To the reign of love

 

This loneliness and grief over his past love might stop if he says something.

 

Reign of love

By the church, we’re waiting

Reign of love

My knees I go praying

 

The church is the traditional place to get married, so there the singer is waiting, while he prays.

 

How I wish I'd spoken up

Or we'd been carried

To the Reign of love

 

The singer wishes he had spoken up because if he had, he and his love would be together right now.