Coldplay: The Scientist Meaning

Song Released: 2002

Covered By: Willie Nelson

The Scientist Lyrics

Come up to meet you,
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....

1. anonymous

   • 1
   • 2
   • 3
   • 4
   • 5

   click a star to vote

   Nov 9th 2009 !⃝

   My take on this song is that the singer has always been able to reason through all of his science with logic, but then love baffles him because love is illogical...I think the "shame for us to part" is about his parting of logic with his love life...His overthinking destroyed the relationship was trying to create, and after he blows it, he wishes he could just "take me back to the start"
   
   idk, just my take
   its a kickass song too
   very powerful
   
   Matt
2. anonymous

   • 1
   • 2
   • 3
   • 4
   • 5

   click a star to vote

   Sep 7th 2009 !⃝

   in an interview chris actually said the sientist is about a soccer team, playing and losing..about his team and how it makes him feel to see them lose, i know it sounds crazy, but if you know anything about soccer and relate the lyrics to a soccer game it makes sense
3. anonymous

   • 1
   • 2
   • 3
   • 4
   • 5

   click a star to vote

   Sep 2nd 2009 !⃝

   my teacher had us do a report about it relating to immigration and how eh never got to say what he wanted to the women he loved and didn't realize how important she was until she was gone and that he wishes he could bring it back to teh start and tell her how he really feels about it.
4. anonymous

   • 1
   • 2
   • 3
   • 4
   • 5

   click a star to vote

   Sep 2nd 2009 !⃝

   my teacher had us do a report about it relating to immigration and how eh never got to say what he wanted to the women he loved and didn't realize how important she was until she was gone and that he wishes he could bring it back to teh start and tell her how he really feels about it.
5. anonymous

   • 1
   • 2
   • 3
   • 4
   • 5

   click a star to vote

   Aug 11th 2009 !⃝

   Hello, Um, If you watch the Coldplay music video on YouTube, then it shows him in a car crash with a girl who scarily resembles Michael Jackson, and she looks to be dead whilst he is alive. He obviously looks to be confused and scared because he wonders why God took her, not him. He is trying to figure out how to talk to her, and how he can bring her back, but he knows he can't. But that's just my opinion. ;)
6. anonymous

   • 1
   • 2
   • 3
   • 4
   • 5

   click a star to vote

   Jun 9th 2009 !⃝

   This song is about a car accident of a couple .. look a the video clip
7. anonymous

   • 1
   • 2
   • 3
   • 4
   • 5

   click a star to vote

   May 31st 2009 !⃝

   Watch the music vid it's about the one he loves dying and he thinks he caused it by the car crash "come back and haunt me" it's really sad if you watch the video
8. aScientist

   • 1
   • 2
   • 3
   • 4
   • 5

   click a star to vote

   Apr 25th 2009 !⃝

   I interpret this song as the story of a guy who's been too busy with his work to spend time with the one he loves. Unfortunately for him, his lover eventually passes and he doesn't realize how much he regrets his decisions until it's already too late.
   
   "Come up to meet you
   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've set you apart"
   
   He wants to go up to heaven just to tell her how beautiful she is and that he's sorry for not spending more time with her.
   
   "Tell me your secrets
   And nurse me your questions
   Oh, let's go back to the start
   Running in circles
   Coming up tails
   Heads on the science apart"
   
   He wants to reminisce about back when their relationship first started. Back when they would disclose their deepest thoughts to each other that they would not ever tell anyone else. Back when they were both in love and chasing after each other, but playing the games that lovers play and not letting themselves be caught.
   
   "Nobody said it was easy
   It's such a shame for us to part
   Nobody said it was easy
   No one ever said it would be this hard
   Oh take me back to the start"
   
   It's hard living without her and he just wants to go back to their most beautiful moments rather than dwell on the pain of losing her.
   
   "I was just guessing
   At numbers and figures
   Pulling the puzzles apart
   Questions of science
   Science and progress
   Do not speak as loud as my heart"
   
   He's admitting that he's spent too much time working, trying to solve the conundrums of the world. He finally realizes that love is much more important.
   
   "Oh tell me you love me
   Come back and haunt me
   Oh and I rush to the start"
   
   He wants to know that his lover still cares for him, even after all the mistakes he's made. He just wants her back though he knows that is no longer possible.
9. anonymous

   • 1
   • 2
   • 3
   • 4
   • 5

   click a star to vote

   Apr 11th 2009 !⃝

   This song is a story (on the surface), from the perspective of a 'scientist'. It's about how he was so engrossed in his scientific endeavors that he neglected his relationship. The song sung at a time when the scientist realizes the error of his ways and wants to start fresh. He is telling her he's sorry, it's a shame for them to part, etc. Although presumably in the song it's just him realizing all the things he should have said to her, not that he is actually saying them.
   
   Now the real meaning behind the song.
   
   Coldplay uses the story of the scientist to convey general truths. In his question for the 'rational' (I was just guessing at numbers and figures, pulling the puzzle apart), he neglected his relationship.
   
   It's about the realization that 'love' is of a higher order than all the science and progress that's out there that we are pursuing. It's more REAL than science and progress, even though it's irrational. You can see science/progress, but in the end 'love' is more 'REAL' than that. It's something he didn't realize until it was too late ('questions of science, science and progress, do not speak as loud as my heart'). And now he wants to 'go back to the start'.
   
   Relationships are not easy (nobody said it was easy, no one ever said it'd be so hard), and now he wants to go back to the start and undo what he has done.
   
   One shouldn't forget to tell others how valued they are. He starts by telling his lover all the things he should have told her before she was gone (i'm sorry, you don't know how lovely you are, tell you I need you, I set you apart).
10. playitlouder

    • 1
    • 2
    • 3
    • 4
    • 5

    click a star to vote

    Mar 26th 2009 !⃝

    The song is about losing the person you are in love with. "Come back and haunt me" implies that the person the character is in love with has maybe passed away. This loss makes him realise that life is short ("take me back to the start") and we must make the most of it because u never know when u might lose the most important person in ur life. And when u lose that person, what u feel inside is inexplicable. Feelings nobody can describe ("nobody said it was easy, noone ever sait it would be so hard". Once love is at stake, u realise that all the fights don't matter anymore ("tell u i'm sorry"), the only thing that matters is being with the person u love because u never know what u have until it's gone. We have a heart and all these feelings, but we were never told how to manage them. Love is the one feeling every single living person in the world is feeling at the same time, love is universal. Love is what everyone has in common. It's everywhere and yet nobody and nothing can define it, not even science.
11. anonymous

    • 1
    • 2
    • 3
    • 4
    • 5

    click a star to vote

    Mar 25th 2009 !⃝

    Personally I think that this song, through its choice of words and the structure of its phrases, tries to give an image to the turmoil that one experiences before and after a breakup.
    
    How does he do this?
    
    During a breakup everybody tries to find reasons explanations which are easy to interpret, such as Science experiment. However, these interpretations never really clarify true feelings. All he can do as he tries to explain his needs and troubles during the breakup is in reality just giving the listener a brief silhouette of his feelings towards this person; thus maintaining in this feeling of uncertainty...
    
    Pd: As I said this is a personal interpretation and it might not be the same for everybody.
12. anonymous

    • 1
    • 2
    • 3
    • 4
    • 5

    click a star to vote

    Mar 23rd 2009 !⃝

    The song is about him and his girlfriend/lover being separated.
13. anonymous

    • 1
    • 2
    • 3
    • 4
    • 5

    click a star to vote

    Feb 24th 2009 !⃝

    my 14 year old son was singing this on the bus in the way home from school. an hour later he was hit by a car. he died the next morning never waking up from his coma. sooo...
    
    whatever it's intended meaning, it means this to me:
    
    i want him to come and see me again. i want to hear everything he has to say and all his guestions.
    
    the science part is the ICU. watching the numbers on the moniter, willing them to be the desired numbers. my heart was begging, screaming for him to please wake up.
    
    it was a terrible shame for a mother and child to part. i want him to come back and haunt me, and i desperately want to go back to the start. to the day he was born and have every second back!
14. Correct

    • 1
    • 2
    • 3
    • 4
    • 5

    click a star to vote

    Feb 14th 2009 !⃝

    Music is personal...and no one can tell you what a song means...because yes a song will be based on a particular happening, but every song with meaningful lyrics has an individual interpretation attached for each individual! And that is a fact! Some people look at music and just think its a beat...but those who truly love music for what it is, will understand this! The only thing that I can say to totally disagree with what some people have said is that most of the time especially coldplay's lyrics is not meant to be seen witha clear meaning, there are often metaphors attached to help you understand that nothing is what it is! Nothing is ever clear cut...and thats why I love coldplay and just music in general! X x
15. anonymous

    • 1
    • 2
    • 3
    • 4
    • 5

    click a star to vote

    Jan 29th 2009 !⃝

    The song is quite literally and simply about a real scientist. He screwed up and broke his girlfriends heart
    " Come up to meet you , tell you I'm sorry......I had to find you , tell you I need you........"
    
    His work is not enough to mask the pain he feels, nor any discussions of science or anything else..." Questions, of science, science and progress.....do not speak as loud as my heart......"
    
    Hes going back to the start, mainly in a metaphorical sense, as when he first met her...sort of like another chance, and in this alternate chance,knowing what he does now, he vows he wouldnt make the same mistake.......

Latest Articles

• 
  A new era for Millennial favorite, Linkin Park
• 
  Anime to watch for the soundtracks… and other reasons you’re undateable
• 
  Dolly, we need you
• 
  The Stranger Things Effect: How new media is drawing Gen Z and Alpha's attention to aging media
• 
  The most underrated soundtrack of the early 2000s
• 
  Buy the Soundtrack, Skip the Movie: Brainscan (1994)