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...
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The speaker is someone who has really struggled in life and some of those mistakes have caused him to be kicked out by his wife or girlfriend. When the speaker uses the metaphor, "a tiger's waiting to be tamed," he's introducing his addiction to drugs. The tiger is like a beast inside him that makes him keep taking drugs and, if he were to tame the tiger he could quit the drugs. After being kicked out, he feels he is surrounded by "closing walls and ticking clocks." The walls symbolize him feeling trapped and running out of options, and the clocks are a reminder that he's running out of time to turn his life around. While he's working through his problems, he asks, "am I a part of the cure, or am I part of the disease." He can't decide if his girlfriend kicking him out will cause him to hit rock bottom and be "cured" by finally being able to quit, or if he just made things worse for himself. He could be part of his disease by being self-inflicting and taking drugs and sabotaging his relationship just to hurt himself more.
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In the song "Clocks" by Coldplay, you see how someone is trying to stop using drugs but can't because of an addiction. You can tell that this is a reasonable explanation because the speaker says things like "You've put me down upon my knees," which can be interperted into that the speaker wants to quit using drugs but doesn't know how because of the addiction. The speaker also mentions "ticking clocks," which can mean that time is running outm and he needs to get clean soon. "You are" is also used constantly in the song. This shows how the speaker wants to say something regarding the drugs but can't quite seem to figure out how to say it. This could also mean that the speaker is embarasses about his drug addiction. Overall, the song shows how the speaker wants to stop using drugs, but is having a difficult time figuring out how to do it.
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This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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In the song "Clocks" by Coldplay, there are many ways one can interpret the meaning. The way I see this song, the speaker is anyone going through a difficult or complicated time in his or her life. The author is writing about overcoming obstacles as he writes, "tides that I tried to swim against". The author, Chris Martin, conveys the thought that obstacles in life are like tring to swim against waves. You try to get your head above water, but the waves will bring you back under. He also writes about regret in life and the want to take back past actions. He says, "curse missed opportunities". The hard times people go through are sometimes filles with bad situations that we may later regret. Sometimes our obstacles also get in the way of us experiencing other things in life. I believe that altogether this song is describing the regret that may come with the choices we make. It tells of how a decision may lead to challenges and missed opportunities. The song states, "closing walls and ticking clocks". This explains how time is always going and doesn't stop for anyone. We can't let our obstacles bring us down. We must get back up so we do not miss out.
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In the song "Clocks" by Coldplay the speaker is a man who is on his deathbed. He says "Lights go out and I can't be saved." He made mistakes in his life and he's begging for forgiveness. The walls close in on him and he knows his time is soon. The speaker seems at a loss for words when he keeps saying "You are" repeatingly. He's trying to tell God something but isn't sure how to. When the speaker says, "nothing else compares" he is clearly talking about God because nothing compares to God. The whole beat of the piano and song resemble a clock or time passing by quickly. It shows how little time he has left. Toward the end of the song the speaker says, "home where I wanted to go (I went)" He's saying that he's always wanted to go to Heaven and he's finally made it there. :]
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"Clocks" by Coldplay is a love song that has a very deep meaning to it. Each verse explains a different part to the story. The speaker in "Clocks" is a boy who has deeply fallen in love with a girl and time is passing by really fast. He regrets his missed opportunities with the girls he likes. However, the girl finds out that he likes her and now they are together. each verse tells a new part to the story. In the first verse, the singer sings about how he cannot forget the girl. He sings, "A tiger is waiting to be tamed." This is a metaphor in which the speaker compares himself to a tiger. This lyric means that he wants to go out with her and no longer wants to be single. The second verse is all about how the boy is regretting how he lost the opportunities to go out with the girl. Also, the girl finds out that he likes her. The third verse says that no other girl is as perfect as her. The last verse is all about how the boy wanted the girl and he finally gets her. Tricky lines , such as "Lights go out and I can't be saved." and "Tides that I tried to swim against" back up the overall meaning of the song. Both of these lines mean that the boy tries as hard as he can to forget the girl, but it is too late because he is in love with her. Overall, "clocks" is a song with romantic and dreamy tone.
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“Clocks,” written by Chris Martin, is ultimately the lyrical illustration of a man’s frustration with time as his life passes before his eyes. However, the song also gives hints that the speaker, Martin, has made irreversible mistakes with his ex-girlfriend and wants her back because he still loves her.
Martin begins by saying, “The lights go out and I can’t be saved, Tides that I tried to swim against, Have brought me down upon my knees.” His and her relationship has ended (the “light” has gone out), and he can’t be “saved” from the pain and hurt this event has caused him. He’s attempted to not make mistakes by “swimming against the tide” but he’s failed. He’s on his knees begging to have her back.
He sings, “Oh I beg, I beg and plead (singing), Come out of things unsaid, shoot an apple off my head.” This line clearly shows how he has accepted his mistakes, through great grief, as he pleads for her forgiveness and returned love. The “things unsaid” he refers to can be easily interpreted as both his and her desires to be a couple again, because they both know what they had was special and irreplaceable; he wants these desires to “come out” and be said between them. “Shoot an apple off my head” shows how he’s readily willing to take a risk and chance with her again.
In the fourth stanza, Martin sings, “Confusion never stops, Closing walls and ticking clocks, Gonna come back and take you home, I could not stop that you now know singing,” he’s referring to a number of things. He holds confusion about whether his efforts to win her back would be worth it or not. He recognizes that time is wasting away and he feels trapped within the “walls” of his life because he knows in his heart nothing can compare to love with her. He wants to take her home for good now that she knows he still loves her.
Next, he says, “Come out upon my seas, Cursed and missed opportunities, Am I part of the cure?, or am I a part of the disease?” He invites her to take a chance with him since, after all, it is her choice now that he’s made up his mind. The “cursed and missed opportunities” represent his mistakes and how if he had not made them, their relationship could have been better and full of happiness. He wonders whether he’s able to cure the hurt he’s caused or if he’ll make the same mistakes once again.
“You are” adds on to his previous question: “Or am I part of the disease?” He’s expressing how she is essentially the “disease” because she’ll never be happy with their relationship… she’ll always find flaws and dwell on them, causing their downfall.
“And nothing else compares” blatantly shows how he’ll never feel the same way about another girl; nothing else compares.
“Home, home where I wanted to go” expresses how he had wanted a life with this girl. Yet, now he finds himself accepting the fact that they’ll never be together. He reflects on the times they did have in the past and the desires they did share. -
This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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Things are often simpler than what they appear to be.
I think this song is about a relationship with a woman who he is still in love with, but for unknown reasons to himself he has refused to acknowledge his feelings and act consequently.
#The 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 singing#
It is all over and yet I have a feeling that
I have done something wrong. I failed to accept the
wave of feelings I came against, and now they have
brought down my knees, begging for help, asking for an answer.
#Come out of things unsaid
Shoot an apple off my head and a
Trouble that can't be named
A tiger's waiting to be tamed singing#
I wanna stop thinking about what we could
have been together, I wanna forget about
our story, our love is like a wild animal
that is waiting to be domesticated and deprived
of all its passion.
#Confusion never stops
Closing walls and ticking clocks
Gonna come back and take you home
I could not stop that you now know singing#
I do not know what I feel and what I should do.
Our love is disappearing, time is ticking and
I feel walls of feelings and confusion are closing down on me. I will come back to you and take you home with me.
But what I did before, my own confusion commanded me to do.
# Come out upon my seas,
Cursed missed opportunities
Am I a part of the cure
Or am I part of the disease, singing#
Try to understand me (try so see things as I do),
I curse the opportunities that we missed and we will
miss not being together. Is is my fault or not?
Am I doing the right thing or not?
Overall I think that He is confused about his feelings toward a woman and he does not know what to do about it.
Shall He wait for this thoughts to go away and be replaced by thoughts about other women, or shall He make a decision, face his fears and go after her? -
Things are often simpler than what they appear to be.
I think this song is about a relationship with a woman who he is still in love with, but for unknown reasons to himself he has refused to acknowledge his feelings and act consequently.
#The 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 singing#
It is all over and yet I have a feeling that
I have done something wrong. I failed to accept the
wave of feelings I came against, and now they have
brought down my knees, begging for help, asking for an answer.
#Come out of things unsaid
Shoot an apple off my head and a
Trouble that can't be named
A tiger's waiting to be tamed singing#
I wanna stop thinking about what we could
have been together, I wanna forget about
our story, our love is like a wild animal
that is waiting to be domesticated and deprived
of all its passion.
#Confusion never stops
Closing walls and ticking clocks
Gonna come back and take you home
I could not stop that you now know singing#
I do not know what I feel and what I should do.
Our love is disappearing, time is ticking and
I feel walls of feelings and confusion are closing down on me. I will come back to you and take you home with me.
But what I did before, my own confusion commanded me to do.
# Come out upon my seas,
Cursed missed opportunities
Am I a part of the cure
Or am I part of the disease, singing#
Try to understand me (try so see things as I do),
I curse the opportunities that we missed and we will
miss not being together. Is is my fault or not?
Am I doing the right thing or not?
Overall I think that He is confused about his feelings toward a woman and he does not know what to do about it.
Shall He wait for this thoughts to go away and be replaced by thoughts about other women, or shall He make a decision, face his fears and go after her? -
This is a message to memphis10ec - I read your version of the song and I have to agree with you! Everything you said makes sense!
Thanks also for sharing your story! Even if you never read this I have had an experience just like you and as I read the words I was reading on hoping to find out what happened in the end to see what is ahead of me. To think it ended with her just saying she didn't know made me really think about how silly people are about love.
Thanks for sharing and your experience has really helped me as I thought I was going mad in love with somebody in the same way.
David
trendboy at gmail dot com -
This song really reminds me of when I was struggling with my sexuality and coming out to my mom. I remember that nights were horrible because I had no escape from horrible thoughts...I really hated myself... "lights go out and I can't be saved, tides that I tried to swim against brought me down upon my knees, oh I beg I beg and plead". Then " come out of things unsaid shoot an apple off my head... Trouble that can't be named.. Tigers waiting to be tamed... Singing you are you are". If you think about the lyrics in context it totally fits... Probably not the intention but it still works. " confusion that never stops, closing walls and ticking clocks, gonna come back and take you home, I could not stop what you now know... Singing come out upon my seas, curse missed opportunities, am I a part of the cure or am I part of the disease?". If you think about it you can apply almost all of the lines into context... I really like this song, I really connect to it.
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Wow the interpretations by others are amazing. It's great that everyone seems to have their only, but the only way to really know what it means is to hear it from the one who wrote these great lyrics. Everyone has their own interpretation. I did agree with the person who said it was tied to an addiction". That one made a lot of sense. But mine is a lot like others.
"the lights go out can't be saved
-- means that this is it, the moment is gone.can't do nothing to change that matter
"Walls/clocks"
Time is running out and craving in.
And in the end,
"Home, home is where I want to go"
Which means,sometimes the things we spend so much time running away from, turn out to be the place we crave and lust for the most in the end,when it is Far gone, and no other options
Everything basically ties down to wasted time,
But addiction does suit the interuptation better, whatever they're referring to, wasting time is apart of it, that is clear and obvious. -
in my opinion, the song is definitely about time running out and eventual death, however, no one dies in the traditional sense because we are all one, therefore WE ARE! the world is a temporary place likegoing away from home, but whether we like it or not we all die and go HOME, "Home where i wanted to go" because YOU ARE the Oneness, and the oneness is HOME, where you go when you die
its actually very clear,"lights go out and i cant be saved, tides that i tried to swim against", "closing walls and ticking clocks gonna come back and take you home", "cursed missed opportunities", death comes and you have all these opportunities that you think you have missed in life, but the clock keeps on ticking, and everybody leaves the temporary life and goes back home,to the You Are, in singular, I AM, another word for God, I am that I am,. and we are ONE, going back home to the oneness, to God
"confusion never stops" the conflict is in thinking this world is all there is, that why he talks about "cursed missed oportunities", oh i beg i beg and plead", holding on to life, but then "when nothing compares to home" which means death isnt the bad thing we have imagined, but we are all confused by the illusion of life, "am i part of the cure, or am i part of the disease"
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