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Is Ghost Stories a love story?

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Well, judging by the song titles it could be. I mean, it looks like they are titles that refers to something you can do for someone:

 

Always in My Head (Think about someone all the time)

Magic (Feel something magic/special for someone)

Ink (Make a tattoo for someone, even with its name)

True Love (Do I have to say something about this one? Show all you have, I think it's clear)

Midnight (This would be like being with someone in a lovely moment of the day)

Another's Arms (Cheat someone, being cheated)

Oceans (Cross an ocean for someone)

A Sky Full of Stars (More or less like Midnight again, being in a place with lovely views, or maybe something you would "buy" for that person)

O (I don't know what to say about this one... Any guesses? I think that in fact this is a circle, so maybe being stuck in a relationship? Or lost... Maybe a hole? Or emptiness)

Coldplay has never had titles that straight up meant what the song was about. And I would really be surprised if they did another concept type album or even have an album with an overall "love story" theme.

The Ghost Stories album cover definitely suggests a love story between a guy who is still alive and a girl who passed away...I sense sad vibes coming our way :(

Ooh interesting idea, although I hope that isn't the case since there might not be as many upbeat songs.

Ooh interesting idea, although I hope that isn't the case since there might not be as many upbeat songs.

 

Well the top right part of the cover drawing has two angels with the frame of the girl between them, so it does suggest to me that she is dead? But then again on the lower right corner we see the girl with an oil lamp in front of her ("leave a light on"?), so I am sure that even if the story might be sad, it will have a happy ending :)

Seeing as "Magic" describes a moment where the couple has broken up, perhaps one of them dies before they can reconcile? The other is left to sort things out on their own... that would be an intense premise for a character to grow/transform!

  • Author

And maybe the dead character remains in this world for some reason. It is said that you become a ghost just if you have not finished something in this world when you were alive.

  • Author

^ Sorry! At first I was writing other thing and I changed it in the last moment, that's why I failed.

Wow, I love the ideas and the analysis of the artwork. The artist said she came up with the drawings based on the lyrics of the album.

I don't see them doing something conceptual again, at least not right after MX. But who knows? Some of those titles do lend themselves very well.

 

My theory is that the title "Ghost Stories," is how the collection of songs feels to the band, like a collection that exemplifies old ideas and projects that never fully came to fruition, or perhaps died.

 

Midnight has already given us something atmospheric, completely electronic and fresh, whilst Magic feels far more familiar, almost seeming to combine sounds from different eras (Parachutes, AROBTTH, MX). It seems to show they are going to push for a new flavour of music, but really go back to their atmospheric, darker/beautiful roots. Hopefully this means some old projects will come back to life that we never got to hear! Car Kids? Sounds from the many different styles of the Viva era? I always wanted to hear more like "A Spell A Rebel Yell," !!!!!!

 

Anyone else think this could be meaning of the title?

I don't see them doing something conceptual again, at least not right after MX. But who knows? Some of those titles do lend themselves very well.

 

My theory is that the title "Ghost Stories," is how the collection of songs feels to the band, like a collection that exemplifies old ideas and projects that never fully came to fruition, or perhaps died.

 

Midnight has already given us something atmospheric, completely electronic and fresh, whilst Magic feels far more familiar, almost seeming to combine sounds from different eras (Parachutes, AROBTTH, MX). It seems to show they are going to push for a new flavour of music, but really go back to their atmospheric, darker/beautiful roots. Hopefully this means some old projects will come back to life that we never got to hear! Car Kids? Sounds from the many different styles of the Viva era? I always wanted to hear more like "A Spell A Rebel Yell," !!!!!!

 

Anyone else think this could be meaning of the title?

 

Interesting idea. I read somewhere that Midnight is based on a 2003 track by Jon Hopkins - is that true? Perhaps all these songs then are diverse B-sides being brought back to life.

Interesting idea. I read somewhere that Midnight is based on a 2003 track by Jon Hopkins - is that true? Perhaps all these songs then are diverse B-sides being brought back to life.

 

Jon Hopkins confirmed it over Twitter, so it's true. So happy he's back with the band!

Interesting suggestion about Ghost Stories referring to the collection of songs. It might very well be, however for some reason I smell "conceptual album" once more, at least partly. Even X&Y was a sort of concept album and Viva was definitely a concept album...even though they did not have the full narrative flow like MX did. think Ghost Stories will continue the trend.

 

Also if the cover´s drawings were inspired by the songs, then I must conclude the songs are all part of a single narrative, because the drawings seem to depict the same couple in various situations...

O is obviously for the O face. When the couple are back together and have amazing sex. There is your happy ending (pun intended) :lol:

^ :lol:

 

Pure speculation, but taking the ideas from this thread, I could imagine something like this:

 

Always Inside My Head: A couple are having problems. She's "always inside" his head, being controlling, or something of that sort. But the double meaning is that he's always thinking about her, he still loves her.

 

Magic: This is relatively simple, just a love song showing he still loves her. He's trying to make things better between them.

 

Ink: Thinking this will be a darker, rockier song, the guy has tried to make it better, but then they have a big fight. Then they break up. She leaves (the house, apartment, whatever) angry. No idea why the title would have anything to do with that though :D

 

True Love Melancholic song, he still loves her, but he knows shes gone, he's lost his true love.

 

Midnight: And then the unthinkable happens, she dies. Gets in a car crash, the other driver dosent have his lights on in the dark (leave a light on), its rainy, there's a storm. Near the end of the song the guy is wishing she could come back so he can say sorry

 

Anothers Arms: Here he goes to someone for comfort, but he feels guilty even talking to someone about her.

 

Oceans: He would do anything to get her back. (He would swim across all the oceans)

 

A Sky Full of Stars: He's looking up at the stars, remembering her, and he's angry that he lost her, and then sad, and then he realizes that he needs to move on with his life....

 

O: He finally reaches closure.. He can move on now (Well say the o stands for the first initial of the girl)

 

This is almost definetly complete bullcrap though :lol:

I like the idea that these are songs that were resurrected. I recall before mx came out they tried an acoustic album that didn't work. I wonder if some of these tracks came as a result of that. I love how they get us speculating on so much. For mx I followed all the interviews and felt like it all made sense when the final album was released. They seem to be keeping quiet or maybe I have some more googling to do. ;) Chris seemed so vulnerable last night!! But with midnight he really got into it and seemed more comfortable.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

  • 2 weeks later...
  • Author

Oh my God... After knowing some of the new lyrics and the separation of Chris and Gwyneth, does that mean that I guessed almost everything? (More or less)

This album will be about lost love and trying to repair it.

^ :lol:

 

Pure speculation, but taking the ideas from this thread, I could imagine something like this:

 

Always Inside My Head: A couple are having problems. She's "always inside" his head, being controlling, or something of that sort. But the double meaning is that he's always thinking about her, he still loves her.

 

Magic: This is relatively simple, just a love song showing he still loves her. He's trying to make things better between them.

 

Ink: Thinking this will be a darker, rockier song, the guy has tried to make it better, but then they have a big fight. Then they break up. She leaves (the house, apartment, whatever) angry. No idea why the title would have anything to do with that though :D

 

True Love Melancholic song, he still loves her, but he knows shes gone, he's lost his true love.

 

Midnight: And then the unthinkable happens, she dies. Gets in a car crash, the other driver dosent have his lights on in the dark (leave a light on), its rainy, there's a storm. Near the end of the song the guy is wishing she could come back so he can say sorry

 

Anothers Arms: Here he goes to someone for comfort, but he feels guilty even talking to someone about her.

 

Oceans: He would do anything to get her back. (He would swim across all the oceans)

 

A Sky Full of Stars: He's looking up at the stars, remembering her, and he's angry that he lost her, and then sad, and then he realizes that he needs to move on with his life....

 

O: He finally reaches closure.. He can move on now (Well say the o stands for the first initial of the girl)

 

This is almost definetly complete bullcrap though :lol:

 

This theory was posted in a Peruvian fan site. It is alike the one I am quoting.

 

Always In My head

He is very much in love with her

Magic

He feels there is Magic in their relationship

Ink

He immortalizes her name in his skin

True Love

Love between him and her is real.

Midnight

Like in any couple, night time comes.

Another's Arms

She sets out to find love in another's arms.

Oceans

He cries her "oceans"

A Sky Full Of Stars

He realizes that the sky is full of stars (life is not over, there are plenty of ladies around the world)

O

O = zero. It refers to starting back again from scratch.

 

What do you think?

It may very well be a love story. It may be a collection of memories both happy and sad about Chris's (and don't forget the others') relationship(s) and his life. The very title seems to me that whatever these songs, these "memories" are about, is in the past. They are genuine stories, good and bad, of a real relationship, but they are stories that have already happened and are finished. They're just ghost stories

 

 

cK

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