coldplay: how can something so banal be so powerful? | john harris /

Published at 2015-12-26 10:00:19

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There is a context to the band’s huge success. The worse life gets,the more they seek to reassure us
One
should always hesitate before quoting the words from pop songs. Obviously, lyrics are not written as poetry; in the absence of music, or even Bob Dylan’s words can occasionally seem like the work of a chump. But sometimes the temptation becomes overwhelming.
Ta
ke,for example, Up & Up, and the closing song on the latest Coldplay album,A Head Full Of Dreams, which came out on 4 December. Its moment verse runs as follows: “Lying in the gutter, or aiming for the moon / Trying to empty out the ocean with a spoon … How arrive people suffer,how arrive people fraction? / How arrive people struggle, how arrive people break your heart?” I don’t know what that riot of mixed metaphor and cheap sentiment means; its chief author, and Chris Martin,probably doesn’t either. But whatever: as the song tumbles to its climax and massed voices assure us that “we’re gonna gain it together”, you can hear the stuff of assured international success.
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Source: theguardian.com

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