Coldplay - Clocks Meaning
Song Released: 2003
Clocks Lyrics
Tides that I tried to swim against
Brought me down upon my knees
Oh I beg, I beg and plead
Singin’, come out if things aren’t said
Shoot an apple off my head
And a, trouble that can’t be named...
-
Like many of the other entries have stated, I also believe that he song is about death. But not the general death reference, but a specific account: during a night a car crashes off of an elevated roadway (sonic suggestion is from a flat tire), plunges head first into a body of water, and then sinks to the dark depths, carrying away the driver (protagonist) to his death as beings are welcoming in to the afterlife.
I will explain this as if it was a film by giving the linear story structure with sonic reference. Also, you need to understand that the narrative is split. Points #1-#5 are ocurring (in slow time mainly) while the man is already drowning. #6 goes back moments before (in real time mainly) and shows us the wreck. #7 runs through the actions we witnessed in #1-#5, but in real time, and then takes us to the end.
1. Piano intro - directly before first stanza: The screen opens with the view level with the roadway and drops view from the point the car ran off to the waters below. Time is real time.
2. First stanza - end of first chorus: Inside the drowning man's head in his water filled vehical. Time has slowed. Notice when the singing begins the music thins and there is a wavy/pulsating atmospheric sound while Chris sings. The atmosphere and thinning creates a sonic sense of being under water with time slowing. The lyrics are what the man in the car is experiencing and thinking. "Lights go out and I can't saved, (visual ref to the light of the night sky fading as he sinks, opens with an impending death ref) Tides that I tried to swim against, (first water ref). Next two lines and the following stanza seem to have little narrative meaning. Then the chorus "You are, you are." It's is beautiful in it's creepiness. In falsetto Chris is giving the first suggestion of another presence besides the drowning man. The first two stanzas are the drowning man thinking in first person. The chorus is in third person. Since the man is underwater he cannot hear. It's telepathic.Chris is characterizing the being that has arrived to assisst the protagonist through the spiritual transmigration. It serves many purposes besides charaterization. Always in lyrics, poetry, and narratives it is key to look for repetition. What is being repeated contains important info for the narrative (even if it is not known by the listener/viewer yet), adds structure and form to the work by acting like chapter breaks, and it usually manifests itself and it's true meaning at climax. Coldplay does that masterfully here. But for now it is the introduction of the beings presence.
3.Music up to the next stanza: Time is now again in real time. The music amplifies now and the wavy/pulsation ceases. We are now outside of his head. There is high anxiety and struggle in the sound as it races forward up to the start of the next stanza, suggesting the man is struggling for escape.
4. Fourth stanza - chorus: Just like the first stanza cycle, the music thins back down (time slowing) and the wavy/pulsation returns (water). "Confusion never stop," (ref to the confusion one feels only once; when we are caught in the dying process. It is one of only two unique guaranteed experiences that we will go through only once. Birth and death. I can only imagine the terror and confusion that is to be felt then.) "Closing walls (the water) and ticking clocks. Gonna come back and take you home," (a direct narrative reference to him traveling somewhere when the accident occured)" I could not stop but you now know." (Second ref to accident). Stanza 3 "Come out upon my seas," (another water ref). The next three lines have seemingly little narrative value. Then the spooky chorus again. Notice when you listen that the last "You are" turns away in sound and seems to creat a sinking/falling sensation.
5. Music up to "Nothing else compares...": Again the music amplifies and we return to real time. Much anxiety and panic. The struggle of a drowning man.
6. "And nothing else compares... - Piano solo: This is the meat of the song. As mentioned before, #1-#5 occurs while the man is submerged in the car. This part skips moments back to the wreck. Listen closely after Chris sings "and nothind else compares" the last time. It's the wreck. The car is traveling down the elevated roadway. Listen to the drums. They begin to create the sonic sugestion of a flat tire with their quickened beat. Then you hear the wah-wah-wah-wah-wah-wah/weh-weh-weh-weh-weh-weh/wah-wah-wah-wah-wah-wah/weh-weh-weh-weh-weh-weh (suggest oncoming traffic honking)and then crash (literally the crash of the drum suggesting the car vears off the road and crashed through the guard rail) and the piano solo. The most important point. Notice all of the high tempo, stressfull, anxiety sound dissappears as the piano solo begins. The piano solo is in a sonic arc-it represents the arc of the car as it falls from the cliff and crashes into the water. The end of the solo is met with another drum crash (sonic suggestion is the car crashinng into the water).
7. The End: The climax. The music quickens again and we travel in real time through all we witnessed in #1-#5 and we catch back up to where we were when we left the drowning man in #6-#7. #1-#5 was mostly in slow time. We now travel through those moments in real time.
Now the reveal. The reason for the chorus and it's repetition. "Home...Home...is where I wanted to go, Home...Home...Is where I wanted to go, Home, ("Yooouuuu....)Home...is where I wanted to go ("arrrreeee"), Home...(Yoooouuu...)home...is where I wanted to go (arrreeee...). His last thoughts as he sinks to the bottom and dies is that he wants to be away ffrom here and in his panic thinks of his home/family, and the spooky/consoling being tells him that this is his home. The bottom of the waters and death. The spookiest point of all of this is that no matter what the man thought or tried, the telepathic comment the being gave him everytime was "you are." The being always knew what the final thought would be and spoke it in perfect timing through the song (though it sound slightly unbalanced earlier) so that it would occur precisely when the man mentioned home. We are left with the ghastly vision of the car passing from our view, the tailights fading in the murky depths, as the being howls a final "yooouuuuu...arrreeeee....."
I know that when you read this in the form I present it may not have the right feel, but I suggest taking these points and imagining them as you listen to the song. Carry that storyline in your mind. Also, too many people get caught up in a word for word, literal interpetation of music. The lyrics are usually only suggestions, the lines, and the music is the actor. Lyrics are typically much more general and music carries the narrative through its sonic qualities. -
Addiction!!
Am I Apart of the cure?
Or am I apart of the disease.
Addiction is a disease of the mind.
When your apart of the cure your sober
And when your apart of the disease your using.
So many missed opportunitys.
Being high all the time
When you die you go home
your so discusted with yourself
you want just die!!
Im almost 6 years sober now and apart of the cure.
Hearing this song helps me to stay sober -
This is a reference to Pink Floyd in a sense.
It is a tribute to the song Time by Pink Floyd.
The song opens with many ringing clocks, hence the title.
When the song is ending it seems he starts singing about home just like Pink Floyd's time.
..."Home, home again, I like the be here when I can"
Coldplay has been know to take inspiration on other peoples work.
The lyrics to this song are so metaphorical to mee it is almost impossible to pinpoint. I like the addiction interpretation and Life and Death definitely have a good amount of back up as well -
I believe this song is about time and life itself.
-
this translates true love. no matter how many. and 'you are, home home where i wanted to be.' means he's at peace with his one and only love. no matter what life throws. this whole song implies to true love in any form. this song is on top of my true love song list. it's great. the title refers to life ticking by. you have to grab it and hold on tightly to the moment.
-
I think this song is about being a teenager. More specifically, being a confused teenager who doesn't know what to do.
"Lights go out and I can't be saved"
means trying to find your way in the dark. You don't know which way to turn and when people try to save you, you only end up more confused.
"Tide that I tried to swim against"
means fighting the urge to go along with the status quo. Blending in with the crowd can feel like drowning sometimes, but you can't break free as an individual or "swim against" the tide.
"Brought me down upon my knees
Oh, I beg, I beg and plead"
means feeling forced down by the weight of new responsibilities and choices and essentially the weight of living your own life.
"If things aren't said"
means that you're afraid to speak your mind, but you feel bad about keeping quiet afterward. I remember once watching a kid get picked on in junior high and I wanted to say something about it, but I didn't. Then my guilt ate at me for a day and a half.
"Shoot an apple off my head"
means feeling like your life is in the hands of another and whether you live or die is up to them. I was head over heels for my first boyfriend. I felt like without him, I couldn't live and my fate was for him to decide. I completely trusted him not to break my heart, which he eventually did anyway.
"A trouble that can't be named"
means having problems that you can't quite place, like knowing something is wrong but not knowing what it is.
"Tigers waiting to be tamed"
means your unruly feelings as a teenager waiting for you to sort them out. Feeling can be just as daunting as tigers, and taming them can be difficult, but you have to do it eventually.
"Confusion never stops
Closing walls and ticking clocks"
means that the world is closing in around you and forcing you to decide who you're going to be. The clock is ticking, you don't have much more time before you're thrown out into the real world, and you have to make a choice. But you don't know enough yet, even though you constantly hear that clock ticking.
"I could not stop
that you now know"
Sometimes you lose your way and do things you know you shouldn't. Then you find that it helps for a while, and it grows into a vicious cycle that makes you unable to stop your bad habits. For example, I started shouting at an annoying girl in my English class, every day. She wasn't really all that bad, I realized later, and I said some thing I wish I could take back. But it was a way to vent my negative feelings and I couldn't stop for the longest time.
"Curse missed opportunities"
means cursing yourself for not taking the opportunity to break out of your shell or stand up for yourself. Any of those opportunities could be a way out of your confusion, but you didn't take them and they're gone.
"Am I a part of the cure
Or am I part of the disease"
means wondering if you're doing the right thing, wondering if you're part of the problem or the solution. Often, as a teenager, you don't know what's right and what's wrong. You really don't want to be one of the bad kids, but you don't know how to fit in with the good kids. Or, you don't know if it's better to stnad up for yourself or to forgive and forget. You're learning that the world isn't as black and white as you thought and you're not sure anymore if you're part of the problem or the solution.
"You are, you are..."
when you're a teenager, you feel like you are supposed to be so many things that you can't be yourself. You are ____. Nothing fills in that space permanently. You are nothing of your own.
"Nothing else compares"
you thought you could feel things before, but none of your feelings compared to the emotional overload you're experiencing now. You're astonished by how much you're going through, and can't find something to compare it to for some familiar ground.
"Home, where I wanted to go"
means wanting to return to the days when you felt safe and happy, or going forward to the days when you think you might feel safe again. Or it could mean that at the end of every day you come home from school or from your new job or your first date or sports practice, and you just want to shut yourself in your room and rest for a long, long time. -
My interpretation is less general because I tend to relate songs with what is currently going on in my life, and oddly, this song fits perfectly because it fits into context with my day to day thoughts:
"Lights go out and I can't be saved."
After I go to sleep, my thoughts haunt me and I can't be saved from my own ideas and plans and thoughts.
"Tides that I tried to swim against."
Recently, very recently in fact, I had to move and I really fought with my family trying to let me stay where I wanted to stay but in the end I didn't succeed. Tides represent the problems I tried to face and handle.
"You've put me down upon my knees, oh I beg/plead"
I practically pleaded with my family to let me stay in India because I loved it there, I had a great life there and it felt like home which ties in greatly with the last line of the poem.
"Come out of things unsaid"
Stop being silent and fight for what you want. Some days I wouldn't want to fight and I'd just feel like not caring about where I went or lived anymore, because I've moved so many times.
"Shoot an apple off my head."
Take a risk because if you hit the apple wrong it might pierce you too. (? bit shaky on this one)
"You are...You are"
Before I moved there was so many things I never got to say to people and now Im not sure when Im going back.Its like an unfinished sentence, starting to say something and never getting to actually tell someone.
"Confusion never stops"
Self explanatory I think.
"Closing walls and ticking clocks"
Theres not much time left. Bit obvious.
"Gonna come back and take you home
I could not stop that we now know singing"
Me hoping someone would take me back home to where I belong. I couldnt stop thinking and hoping that I would get to stay "home" instead of move away from my comfort zone again.
"Come out upon my seas,
Curse missed opportunities"
Reflecting on the things you never got to say or do before you left. Perhaps even meaning leave this world, as in not getting to have those "opportunities" before death.
"Am I a part of the cure
Or am I part of the disease, singing"
Am I part of the problem or the solution? I love this line, but I can't quite explain in words right now how much it says and how much I feel when I hear these 2 phrases in the song cuz they carry so much baggage and theres a lot of room for interpretation.
"Nothing else compares"
After going to the best school Ive ever been in of all the 7 Ive gone to and felt like I really fit in and had so many friends good times, and learnt so many lessons, nothing else even compares to the home I formed living there. And nothing else compares to this place I made home of all the places I've ever moved. I made special connections with people and places there but now that's all being taken away.
"Home, Home, where I wanted to go"
Pretty much the icing on the cake in my lyrical interpretation. I really wanted to just go back but I'm stuck somewhere else and home was where I felt happy and surrounded by people and happiness in general.
I love this song and its helping me through a pretty hard time. I think my interpretation works well on a personal level but basically the song in general I think, is about time and how you don't get a second chance to live your life. =D -
Its a song about tigers in a room with clocks inside a boat in sea and their trying to balance the apples while they try to reach home hoping they dont die on the way. Poor tigers.... Chuck Norris!
-
This is, for me, without a doubt one of the most innovative and creative songs from Coldplay. I think it's supposed to have loads of different interpretations and there's no right or wrong one.
The reason I think this is because of my interpretation.
I think this song is all about the confusion of life as a whole. This song is about everything. Everything that surronds us, everything that is us, is life. Overall, life is a mystery. There are moments we genuinely can't describe and judgements we make on people before really knowing them. So I think this song is all about the confusion of life. The philosophies that we try to call a fact.
Some parts of the lyrics remind me of childhood. Some parts of the lyrics make me think of death, but I think it's generally about life and our struggles to understand our purpose. But in everything. Even little things that we sometimes ponder over and are intrigued about, and there so many things that it's all just confusion.
So that's why this song is supposed to have different interpretations- because we're all confused about it and are making explanations on what we don't know, so no answer is right or wrong. -
"Am I a part of the cure?Or am I part of the disease?"
Time can be a cure, and the disease depending on the moment we're living. If we're going through a bad period of our life, we're having an unpleasant experience time is the cure to all that. As it pases away, and days become months and months become years, we won't remember it any more, and hopefully we'll forget it forever. But when we're living the best moments ever time is the disease, that takes away our happiness, is the one that makes all these beautiful moments become only memories, it's the worst disease ever in this case.
So I think this is all about the time, which no one can control. It can't be forward or rewind, it doesn't hear our begging and pleads. " Oh I beg, beg and plead "
It has her own beating that everyone should follow. -
I don't care what anybody says but this song makes me think about humanity, of the time when we as people are always struggling to do the right things. A fight between good and evil...you know how the speaker well actually the singer in this case says rather asks "Am I part of the cure?" "Or am I part of the disease." To me this line right here is everything. You know how as human beings we are capable of destruction as well as good...well unless Mr. Martain himself tells me otherwise this is how I see it.
-
To sum this one up in a sentence, this song is about times changing. Now let me go into the whole long complex part of it.
Lights go out and I can't be saved
Tides that I tried to swim against
Have brought me down upon my knees
Oh I beg, I beg and plead
This is saying how he can't keep up with everything changing so fast.
singing
Come out of things unsaid
Shoot an apple off my head and a
Trouble that cant be named
Tigers waiting to be tamed
He's asking for help.
Confusion never stops
Closing walls and ticking clocks
Gonna come back and take you home
I could not stop that she now know
Saying how he has no control over what's going on.
The rest is pretty much along the lines of these verses.
-
To me, it is clearly about the author's finding God. It seemed so obvious, yet I see that it means so many things to different people - we are so broken in so many ways and we need to know that someone understands what we go through. "Tides that I swam against brought me to my knees" is a beautiful way of saying that we all take on challenges in life, and they are put there for us to ultimately find out how much we need God. Finding God is the reason we are here: to find out how much we need Him and to learn to love Him. We will never know true peace until we are home with the ultimate Father who loves us in a way we have never known. Beautiful song.
-
to me, this song reminds me of the ecstasy of childhood. we grow old in life and realize that our great years of playing on warm summer days have come and gone. we try and try to relive what those days felt like. the wanting of a simpler time sleighs us as we are burdened with complicated life. we regret our mistakes and "curse our missed opportunities". we aren't sure if we had done even the smallest thing different, that we would even be where we are today, "a part of the cure".
the recurring synthesizer chords in this song (most notable in the last 30 seconds as the song fades out) give the feeling of peace and tranquility. as does the last 30 seconds as a whole, the piano and guitar riff on top of the recurring chords serves as something that would go with a childhood dream of flying through the clouds.
next time you have to take the kids to the park to play, turn on this song on your music player and just watch them. see if you it don't agree with everything that is above... -
Coldplay's "Clocks" describes a relationship gone wrong. The speaker is A man has cheated on his girlfriend has kicked him out of not only thier home together but completely out of her life. He feels hopeless and ashamed of what he has done he begs and pleads for her to take him back but he doesn't know if he is " the cure or a disease" to her or if he is helping or hurting her by trying to fix things between them. The speaker is confused and just wants to go home, but he can't. The song also says " I could not stop, now you know" This is saying how he couldn't help himself from cheating. He has " cursed missed opertunities" of where he could have been able to stop himself from cheating on her . He could have still been in a relationship and not have to regret all of the things he has dont to ruin their relationship . If he had not cheated he would be able to go home.
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