Coldplay’s Viva La Vida is famous for its Band version music video that reminds you of a part of a grand mural. However, there is another version directed by a Dutch photographer Anton Corbijn. He is a reputable photographer and film director who mainly works with musicians for music magazines and album covers. In the production of the music video for Viva La Vida, it seems Corbijn focuses more on what the song says rather than the feeling it gives.
Personally, I always feel like I’m in the middle of a festival whenever I listen to this song. The lyrics convey a bittersweet message about the heart of a falling king. He once had the absolute authority that he could change the entire world but he has lost everything now. What has happened cannot be grasped but guessing from the lyrics, it is certain that the direction for everything has already changed. Even the crowd left him to hail a new king of a new generation.
For him, it is definitely a dire situation. Yet, the world always flows by the will of the world. As he is aware of the sin he has committed, he feels afraid that Saint Peter, the gatekeeper of heaven, would not let him in. No truth at all existed in the world he ruled and the castles he has built were eventually nothing more than the pillars of salt and sand. Such a world of falseness is collapsing in vanity. He feels bitterness as he realizes that he has been only a puppet even when he was against the will of the world and privileged with the wicked authority for a moment. In the end, all of the truth has been revealed and he should powerlessly vanish, pushed away from the vitality of the new world.
From the fact that the album cover was titled the same as the song (Viva La Vida) and the album cover picture called The 28th July: Liberty Leading the People by a famous French Romantic artist Delacroix, it can be guessed that the background for the song is ‘the July Revolution of France’ against Charles X. On the other hand, Guy Berryman, a member of Coldplay, mentioned ‘this song also tells a story of humans who die in the end after repeating mistakes every day.’ On one hand, how would it be if it was the end of the life as a bungling human and a beginning of the life as a complete human? Wouldn’t it be extremely wonderful? Although the lyrics and music video do the talking for the falling king’s heart, the title ‘Viva La Vida (Long Live Life)’ and the pleasant melodies that sound like singing for the joy of victory must represent the thrill and excitement about the new generation that has already started. This strangely paradoxical and charming song Viva La Vida is a song of new sensation to me – a song of celebrating the new world with gratefulness and joy.
Coldplay – Viva La Vida
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 enemies’ 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 the 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
But 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’s 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?
I hear Jerusalem bells a ringing
Roman Cavaly choirs are singing
Be my mirror, my sword and shield
My missionaries in a foreign field
For some reason I can’t explain
I know Saint Peter won’t call my name
Never an honest word
But that was when I ruled the world
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
I know Saint Peter won’t call my name
Never an honest word
But that was when I ruled the world
