I'll take you apart "Viva La Vida" and be a friend of "Death and All His Friends"

My mom was complaining for awhile and asking me questions regarding the lyrics of all the Coldplay songs from the album "Prospekt's March" and "Viva La Vida and Death and All His Friends." She couldn't hear the lyrics through the smooth, soothing British bumbling of the Coldplay's vocalist, Chris Martin. Personally, I had to agree with her. Slightly. I love so many of their songs:

The Scientist
Viva La Vida
Violet Hill
Life in Technicolor (original) and the one with lyrics
Letters from Faraway
Prospekt's March
Glass of Water
Trouble
In My Place
Easy to Please

....

Yeah the list goes on. Although, right now I'm more into...Papa Roach, Muse, Shiny Toy Guns, The 88, Cobra Starship, Fall Out Boy and The Brilliant Green. Oh yeah, Katy Perry and Pink. Well, it depends on my mood, but since it's usually darker...I'd have to go with Muse, Papa Roach and Linkin Park. Moooostly.

Anyway, I had never really understood or heard most of the lyrics in the song "Viva La Vida", so I looked them up. It's quite a beautiful song. Even if it's being disputed right now. I don't care. It's still beautiful. I love the drums and the violins. The words are great. It tells the story of a fallen king. It's not really religious though it refers to the what I think of as the French Revolution or the Crusades:

I used to rule the world
Seas would rise when I gave the word
Now in the morning I sleep alone
Sweep the streets I used to own I used to roll the dice
Feel the fear in my enemy's eyes
Listen as the crowd would sing "Now the old king is dead! Long live the king!"

One minute I held the key
Next the walls were closed on me
And I discovered that my castles stand
Upon pillars of salt and pillars of sand

I hear Jerusalem bells a ringing
Roman Cavalry choirs are singing
Be my mirror, my sword and shield
My missionaries in a foreign field

For some reason I can't explain
Once you go there was never
Never an honest word And that was when I ruled the world

It was the wicked and wild wind
Blew down the doors to let me in
Shattered windows and the sound of drums
People couldn't believe what I'd become
Revolutionaries wait
For my head on a silver plate
Just a puppet on a lonely string
Oh who would ever want to be king?

Copyright to Coldplay

It really is a touching story. Bittersweet, naturally. A dethroned king acknowleding his former status and his current status. He is reviled by the memories of former glory and knows for his sins (wrong doings, rather), he cannot be restored to his throne. He must live life as an outsider on the outskirts of the kingdom, looking in behind bars, rather than out at the kingdom from a castle.

I love the lines: "I used to roll the dice/Feel the fear my enemy's eyes"

(I wonder if it was just one enemy or a stupid typo on the website and they meant "enemies." It would make more sense if it were plural. A kingdom usually had multiple enemies. That's just me though.)

I love it. I love everything about the song "Viva La Vida." It makes me think of myself, the old me and the new me. I have so much disdain for the new me and miss the old me like hell. I can relate to this song very much. I'm not royalty and certainly can never be a KING, but figuratively, creatively...I am a fallen king without a throne.