Coldplay: The Scientist Meaning
Song Released: 2002
Covered By: Willie Nelson
The Scientist Lyrics
Tell you I'm sorry,
You don't know how lovely you are.
I had to find you,
Tell you I need you,
Tell you I set you apart.
Tell me your secrets,
Ask me your questions,
Oh, let's go back to the start....
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Its a song and therefore open to interpretation but this is how i interpret it . That line ' Questions of science , science and progress , donot speak as loud as my heart ' id the most haunting line ever written. The whole song has just one message that no matter how much we try to reason with ourselves our emotions (about anything or any person) always live. And all we can do is fight it or just let ourselves be free in our feelings..........Somehow i feel this song is about reason vs. emotions......and i feel that everyday.
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Having watched the video that accompanies this song I may have taken the meaning too literally - but I think it is about death and bereavement. His girlfriend has died in the car crash and he wants to go back and prevent this happening. Science can explain many things but there is no scientific way to explain how you feel when someone you love dies. Asking her to 'haunt' him is another desperate attempt not to lose the person he loves. If he goes back to the beginning he would stop her removing her seatbelt therefore preventing her death. I appreciate that this may be to literal a meaning for some.
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I do believe this song can go many ways, and, as mentioned, it all just depends on your personal experiences and point of view.
For me, I've always loved this song, and I cried the first time- the first FEW times, actually- I heard it. I never understood why. Something about the song just touched me deep, and I found myself breaking out into sobs.
The first time i looked at the lyrics, I thought that it was about a man who deeply loved a woman, but events in the relationship kept repeating themselves and there was no end to the cycle. He wishes he could just go back to the beginning, when it was simple and happy, before the complications and intricate loops woven into their relationship.
As I look at it again, for some reason, it feels like so much more. I've heard songs that had the same moral and such as above before, but none have really hit me as hard as this song.
Now, the song kind of reminds me of myself a bit. At the beginning, when I'll fall for someone, I'll just love them and care for them and I'll feel like they're different from everyone else. And when it progresses, I'll ask myself why it is that I like this person. Why is it that I fell so deep with them? What's so special about them? There are thousands upon thousand of people just like him in this world, so what makes him so great? Eventually, those questions will wear me out, and it won't solve the fact that I still DO really like this person a whole lot. And I just wish I could go back to the times without all this self-questioning and over-thinking. When I could feel those feelings without becoming scared.
Anyway, I actually think that it's best to not think about the lyrics- just let the pure emotion of the song reach you. -
To me it's pretty damn obvious. The guy loses his girlfriend in a car crash as in the video and he's a mess. Been there, done that and wore the T-shit. It reminds me of when I lost my 17 year old boyfriend in a car crash 21 years ago, you don't get much more final than that and no matter how hard I wish that the logical forward motion of time would just go away, I'll never, ever see him again :'(
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The song is about relationships in general. The first section is about the regret felt after a fight. He feels sorry about what happened and tells her that he stills loves her.
The second section is reaffirming how special she is to him and how he wants to be only her.
The third explains how he wants to go back to the start of relationship. A time when the feelings and energy was still between them. A time when they didn't have any baggage of past experiences. When you've been in a long relationship its tought for the two people to live in the moment. They often interpret the situation based on past experiences, often tainting what is really being said or felt. This negative energy often replaces the excitement and love you have for the other person.
The forth section is about how the love is still their but they are still allowing all the negative experiences control their actions and thoughts.
The chorus is talking about how difficult it really is to be in a relationship. at the end of the first chorus he is asking to go back to the start. He feels that it's something he can't control, but wants it anyway.
The sixth section is talking about how it stopped being about love and admiration. He started analyzing and labeling her actions to understand what made her tick. In the beginning we see the pure nature of someone and take only the good parts of someone. After a while though that changes and we begin to focus on the negative or irritating aspects and allow all the negative experiences control our feelings and thoughts.
The seventh section explains how we validate all those negative aspects about the person we love. We begin fighting whether we still love that person and the desire to be with them. He realizes though that his love is winning that battle.
The eighth section is asking her to see the relationship as he sees it. He wants her to be in agreement with him and disregard all the garbage and bad experiences. Let's start over and get back that feeling we had in the beginning. He still wants to be mesmerised by her.
The eight section is talking about how love is taking a hold of their relationship again and they are finally letting go of the crap. They are starting to fall in love again.
The final chorus is talking about how hard it is to be in a relationship, but now he is in control and is going back to the way it was in the beginning. They are both fighting for each other again and this is how he is solving loves riddle. We must keep fighting for each other and move through all the stupid crap we place at the center of our relationships. True love is when both people believe it and realize what is important-they are there for each other. -
It's about a relationship in the past. The guy is genuinely sorry for breaking the girl's heart. Like they say, "You don't know what you got till it's gone."
Based on my story, my ex boyfriend told me to listen to this song and he quoted the lyrics, "it's such a shame for us to part." I guess he wanted to get back together but I was in a relationship at that time so we didn't. I love him so much and it would mean the world to me that he would take me back again now.
Christian, you're my scientist. I love you. -
I think this song is, quite literally, about a scientist. A man who becomes so obsessed with trying to understand the universe, and it's infinite beauty and complexity. Such frustration is evident with the line "running in circles, chasing tails" and "come back and haunt me." He can't avoid these rampant curiosities any longer with ignorance.
He is talking directly to the universe (could imply a 'god,' though not in the sense of Yahweh, Allah etc.)
Throught the song, Chris Martin shows a childlike fascination with every element, and a toddler-esque anger; "No-one ever said it would be so hard."
I believe the meaning is deliberately vague to reflect the character's anger. At the end, it is revealed that the protagonist is "goin' back to the start."
Whether that means a re-evaluation of his current unhealthy infatuation, an admission that he will never understand the universe, or a "divine insight" that
has been granted is unclear. Such a meaning would also be consistent with Chris Martin's theological ideology. -
It is about someone that he loved. This person that he loved died.
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The "Scientist" is used as a medium by the poet to describe a person who unknowingly is distracted from his relationship due to many reasons (like here, its because of the scientist's involvement in science and nothing else)
Once you have this view in the mind (as the poet himself), every other line makes sense, the meaning is easy then.
The concluding verses suggest that the scientist is willing to change (rush to the start) and love (her) more than ever with even more dedication. -
I think this song is about a man (the scientist)telling his ex-girlfriend that he finally realized what went wrong in his relationship with her: he was seeing it as something scientific ("I was just guessing, at numbers and figures, pulling the puzzles apart") following settled parameters and assuming that was all he needed to do for a good relationship, instead of just following what his AND HER HEART says (thats why he says then "Tell me your secrets and ask me your questions"), which is what matters because love is no a science, there is no formula for it! But, since he feels THERE IS LOVE between them ("Oh, it's such a shame for us to part"), he fights for it and go back to her. ("Come up to meet you, tell you I'm sorry, you don't know how lovely you are [...] I'm goin' back to the start")
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Say what you want , but this song is explained in really short lines. It's about a guy(apparently a scientist) who neglects relationships and any reference thereof .But now he obviously wants to change that and get back to relationships. A simple song with a simple yet beautiful meaning.
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We are all scientists and life is our experiment..
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I personally think the song is about life. It's not easy and sometimes you wish you could start over. You begin your life thinking you have all the answers and that everything is concrete but when you look back you see where you made mistakes and wish you could go back. This is true of religion, love, and everything life has to offer. The song is about everything you question when you look back at your life.
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I just lost my daughter of nearly eleven years. When I heard this song, it reminded me of the great struggle I'm going through. I believed so hard for a miracle from God and showed great faith, but it wasn't to be the way I petitioned for. I thought I understood God and His work more, but now my faith is struggling. So I sit and try to rationalize things that I'm not sure can ever be rationalized at all. I debate inwardly between science and the love and emotion in my heart. I feel as if I want to go back to the beginning of her life and do everything to defeat the cancer that took her life. I want to go back to when she first became ill and do things differently instead of relying on medical science. I just want to go back. So I welcome her to come back and haunt me. I want to come up to meet her, and I want to meet God and ask Him why. I want to tell her I'm sorry for ever scolding her or doing something that might have hurt her when I didn't mean or want to. I want her to know all that she is to me and how she was always set apart in life and the after-life. I'm confused, and this song fits perfectly. As with all songs, the art is to have more than one meaning that can apply, but a lost love never had me asking the questions that this song references. It hurts so much, and now I don't know what to do. I want me belief to be strong again, but my faith was rocked so hard. I feel like resolution is tough and that I just keep going in circles in my thoughts. I wonder if anyone can understand why this song is so meaningful for people who lose a loved one.
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its about someone who died. "Come up to meet you" he wants to see her again. "Tell me your secrets,And ask me your questions,
Oh, let's go back to the start." He regrets not appreciating her and listening to what she had to say, he took he for granted and wishes he could start all over.
"Heads on a science apart.I was just guessing,At numbers and figures,Pulling the puzzles apart." He doesn't understand why she had to leave him, he doesn't want to believe shes gone."Questions of science,Science and progress,could not speak as loud as my heart."Hes confused and wants to figure it out, but he cant accept it all he knows is that he loved her."Nobody said it was easy,No one ever said it would hard." He's having a hard time coping with her loss. "Tell me you love me,Come back and haunt me." Hes telling her to come back no matter how she has to do (haunt=ghost) just come back to him to let him know she still loves him.
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