Coldplay: The Hardest Part Meaning

Song Released: 2006

The Hardest Part Lyrics

And the hardest part
Was letting go, not taking part
Was the hardest part

And the strangest thing
Was waiting for that bell to ring
It was the strangest start

I could feel it go down
Bittersweet, I could taste in my mouth
Silver...

1. 1TOP RATED

   #1 top rated interpretation:
   EmmaBee

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   Sep 4th 2009 !⃝

   Coldplay is all about interpretation. Nonetheless:
   To me this song, as most of coldplay's stuff, relates to a relationship or something in your life. It's dealing with someone else's letting you down.
   "And the hardest part
   Was letting go not taking part" Basically meaning the hardest part was talking yourself out of the relationship instead of taking a chance on it no matter what that chance could've cost or how must it would've hurt you. The bell, to me, refers to a wrestling bell. As in the hardest part was waiting for the bell to ring and the hurt to start "that was the strangest start"
   Then the chorus: I could feel it the moment I met you that there was something and I could taste it the moment it went bad. I found myself looking for a silver lining but I don't know how to fix this and plain and simply "I wish that I could work this out." Then the second verse kinda refers to how when you can't fix or have something you never had it really breaks you and you don't know what to do. The song writer's way of coping is usually singing...but this time he can't find anything to sing/say/do that works. Then sort of asking himself how did it all happen "what it's all about" like why didn't this work? Why can't I figure it out? Then basically realizing the hardest part really is the fact that he can't do anything to change the situation so that he could've be chosen or chosen the relationship. He learned when he was young relationships could be fixed and people changed and now everything he knows is wrong and the world is upside down and all that he's tried to do has come undone...he then decides THAT is actually the hardest part...not being able to do/have done anything about it. Not being able to be happy in a relationship because that's just how it was and there really was nothing he could do to change that...he's helpless and that's "the hardest part". KAy, done. :P

2. 2TOP RATED

   #2 top rated interpretation:
   Anuki

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   May 7th 2010 !⃝

   During the show in Argentina, Chris also said that the song was for his father.
   I believe that it refers to a difficult relationship between father and son, and how the son feels after the father dies. I think that the strangest thing is waiting for his call and then realizing that he will no longer call you again.
   So, the hardest part is accepting that you don't have time to work things out. I think it tries to express the mixed feeling of missing that person and trying to combine the positive things you lived with him and the negative ones that leave that kind of bittersweet taste...
3. anonymous

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   Dec 4th 2020 !⃝

   I feel like its about retiring from something you love like a champion test cricketer that has come to an age where thwy feel its time to go....
   That is the hardest part....
   Especially the line where he sings.....waiting for that bell to ring a metaphor for that last innings a viiter sweet taste in my mouth.....
   And the line the hardest part was letting go not taking part
   That line could be meaning sitting on the sidelines post retirement wondering how age plays a part in bringing an end to something you love.
   This song in so beautiful.
4. anonymous

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   Sep 24th 2020 !⃝

   Feels like a suicide to me. Like when you love someone but know that no matter how hard you try they will still succumb. And realizing you need to step back and allow nature to take its course. Either they sink or swim. It feels like reflecting on this. Realizing that you couldn’t ever save that person because it was their choice and theirs alone. And still being heartbroken by it regardless. It feels like the day my brother killed himself. And everything that came after.

   This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
5. anonymous

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   Oct 14th 2015 !⃝

   My boyfriend said this was our song. He says it's a beautiful song but I'm not sure WHY he picked this one. I've asked but he won't tell me. I'm not sure what to think or how to feel about it. I don't really know what it's about but I love the song itself.
6. anonymous

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   Mar 29th 2011 !⃝

   trying to find a purpose behind it all.
   things you cant always wrap your head around.But feel so strange in the middle of it all because its all changed and the world you onve called home is altered and you find out its bittersweet..
7. anonymous

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   Jan 29th 2011 !⃝

   i can think about this song and in my point of view this song is about a person that like or love someone and he lost her because he waits too much time to confess his love and at the moment he decides to tell her his feelings the woman was gone,leaving the man's heart broke and the hardest part for him was that....now he lamented about the lost but think it had could be worse...it had to happen that way.sometimes men and women wait for the other person to come,and it's like that how everything blow away!
8. anonymous

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   Dec 8th 2010 !⃝

   Personally, this song reminds me of a time where I seriously liked a friend of mine, but he started dating one of our other friends. I couldn't bear to be around the two of them and I felt so defeated. But at the same time, when I was around just him, I felt happy. It was bittersweet, because I couldn't be with someone that brought me such happiness. The confused feeling in this song matched very well with the confused feeling I had; what did she do that I didn't? things like that.
   
   So yes, like many Coldplay songs, this is one that you can relate to yourself personally, so it's different for everyone.
9. anonymous

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   May 21st 2010 !⃝

   "This song is about my father... a difficult time when he abandoned us."
10. anonymous

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    Mar 30th 2010 !⃝

    The Hardest Part is for Chris' father. He said it himself during a show in my town. I don't know, maybe he died or something. Such an awesome song. Love the way Coldplay get his thoughts and experiences into music.
11. anonymous

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    Jan 9th 2010 !⃝

    This song is about the birth of Chris' child. The "hardest part was not taking part" - when his wife (Gwyneth Paltrow) was being wheeling into the delivery room and he couldn't really take Part - it was her job to have the baby...
12. petraglyph

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    Dec 8th 2009 !⃝

    I've found hints on the Web that Chris Martin used to be Catholic, and I believe this song is about a crisis of faith--and more specifically about the painful loss of foregoing the sacrament of the Eucharist. For a Catholic, receiving the Lord in the Eucharist is deeply intimate and is central to the Catholic practice of faith. It is the Catholic understanding that Jesus is fully present in the Eucharistic host. "Taking part" is not only an intimate experience with the Lord, but is also an expression of unity with the Catholic community.
    
    I have a hunch that Chris encountered a crisis of faith and opted to part ways with the Church. He sings that the hardest part of letting go was not taking part (of the Eucharist). A bell is rung during the consecration of the bread and wine to indicate the instance that Christ becomes present in the bread and wine. If my theory is correct, he probably continued to go to Mass for awhile, but did not received the Eucharist. He sings that it was "strange waiting for the bell to ring," knowing he would not take part. It was the strangest start.
    
    He sings that his decision is bittersweet...he remembers how the Eucharist tasted in his mouth and how it felt to swallow. He is conflicted and wishes that he could work it out (his crisis of faith). Then he remembers why he is in crisis: "You (Jesus) really broke my heart." He tries to sing, but cannot. Then he remembers again, how he longs for Him and remembers the sweetness of the Eucharist in his mouth and how He (Jesus) is a silver lining in the clouds (a light in a dark world). He is perplexed about the strength of his longing for the Lord: "I wonder what it's all about." Then he returns to his crisis: "Everything I know is wrong. Everything I do, it just comes undone. And everything is torn apart." And that's the hardest part.
    
    As the saying goes, "Perception is reality," and it is possible for our hearts to be broken due to conclusions based on inaccurate perceptions. The lens through which we see the world and particular events can shape a conclusion and may not entirely be based on fact. On a personal note, I have experienced this. My heart has been broken by a misinterpretation of events, leading to a spiritual crisis. Later, I realized that God did not let me down--I was merely seeing the world through a particular lens that was clouded and distorted. I hope that Chris is able to "work out" his crisis of faith, be reconciled to his Lord, and "take part" in the most intimate of Catholic experiences once again.

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