Coldplay: Yellow Meaning

Song Released: 2000

Yellow Lyrics

Look at the stars,
Look how they shine for you,
And everything you do,
Yeah, they were all yellow.
I came along,
I wrote a song for you,
And all the things you do,
And it was called yellow.
So then I took my turn,
Oh what a thing to have...

1. iheartsparklyvampire

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   Oct 27th 2008 !⃝

   Most of you are wrong...no offense. The band has said that it is about an anorexic girl. So the lines "Yeah you're skin and bones..." might help persuade you. Even though the girl is anorexic the guy still loves her. And the star represents him (the guy who loves her).
2. anonymous

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   Oct 27th 2008 !⃝

   I don't know what this song is about, but if I were dying from liver failure, I wouldn't want my son to write a song about my sick liver-failureish skin color.
3. precioustiger

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   Oct 23rd 2008 !⃝

   This is what someone else told me I guess you could go about it either way
   
   
   "First of all, this will help my explanation of my opinion, I always thought it was, "your skin, yeah, oh yeah your skin and bones, turn into something beautiful, do you know do you know i'd bleed myself dry"
   It is a love song, a man is in love with this dead girl and he is willing to kill himself for her, her body is yellow and the man is obsessed with her, so everything is yellow and he misses her so much, he is just engulfed by her, women can manipulate men, eevn when they are dead.
   this guy was seriously in love with this chick, then she died and he can't get over her death, it became an obsession, it kinda makes me think of a necrophiliac ."
4. precioustiger

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   Oct 23rd 2008 !⃝

   It's about unconditional love the guy has for his lover. I don't think this is a song about a drug addiction. 'Yellow' is presents a symbolic meaning of loneliness.
5. anonymous

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   Oct 20th 2008 !⃝

   Of all the interpretations I read the most appropriate is derived from the lines of the book rigveda (Indian mythology)...which starts with the line ..I AM THE SUN...
   which means everything in the world is derived from the Sun(yellow)...in the song ...first line is... 'look how the stars ....how they shine for you...'... The Sun is infact a star(hence the reference yellow)....everything on this earth is derived from the Sun...whether its the trees, stones, even us, our feelings and the energy circulating in the earth)....
   The reference to I AM THE SUN is actually meant to instill a feeling of confidence, pride and joy in the reader as to say he is the part of the mighty sun and he is as powerful as the sun....
   the song is set in the same mood...
   
   do correct me if you find the explanation absurd...
   :-)
6. anonymous

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   Oct 18th 2008 !⃝

   Yellow in Shakespearian era and before was the color of death (Yeah I know it's ironic compared to the hippy movement). The song is about a person who is singing about a loved one who is dying. The singer is trying to cheer the person up "look how the stars shine for you" has been trying to save the loved one "I swam across, I jumped across for you" and will do anything to save the loved one "I'll bleed myself dry"
7. anonymous

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   Sep 24th 2008 !⃝

   It's just about love and devotion, he needed a word, he saw the YELLOW pages. They were star gazing during a break at the recording studio one night and it just came to them. It's not about disease or anything else like that.
8. elohnroc

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   Aug 29th 2008 !⃝

   This song is about love. Not boy/girl love, but a pure, unconditional love.
   And for me, it is the love of a father to a daughter.
   
   Look at the stars,
   Look how they shine for you,
   And everything you do,
   Yeah they were all yellow,
   
   (picture a star filled sky,every star existing for her,
   shining for her and only her and all that she does. She is that special.)
   
   
   I came along
   I wrote a song for you
   And all the things you do
   And it was called yellow
   
   (Like a song, my life has many lyrics, lines and chapters.
   I wrote a song(life) for her. My life has been for her.)
   
   
   So then I took my turn
   Oh what a thing to have done
   And it was all yellow
   
   (I changed myself (or you changed me). My life changed when you
   came along. I took my turn/best shot at loving you.)
   
   Your skin
   Oh yeah your skin and bones
   Turned into something beautiful
   D'you know you know I love you so
   You know I love you so
   
   (yes, your skin and bones - YOU grew up - turned into
   something beautiful and you know I love you so. And you
   are so special, every star in the universe is there for you)
   
   
   I swam across
   I jumped across for you
   Oh what a things to do
   Cause you were all yellow
   
   (I gave all I could. I sacraficed. I swam, jumped for you, so you could shine)
   
   I drew a line
   I drew a line for you
   Oh what a thing to do
   And it was all yellow
   
   (I built a life,set goals, worked, built a future for you)
   
   Your skin
   Oh yeah your skin and bones
   Turn into something beautiful
   D'you know for you I bleed myself dry
   For you I bleed myself dry
   
   (I would give my life for you, my last drop of blood for you)
   
   Its true look how they shine for you
   look how they shine for you
   look how they shine for you
   look how they shine for you
   look how they shine for you
   look how they shine
   look at the stars look how they shine for you
   
   (it's true, look, look how they shine for you - you're that special)
   
   (the song is never about what he gets from her - but about always
   giving to her with no regret)
   
   (about the yellow I don't know. A blue light or flame is the hottest, but wouldn't work
   in the song, i.e, blue=sad. A yellow light or flame, however, is a more perfect mix of
   oxygen and fuel and holds more heat potential - a reach I know. Or maybe it is as simple
   as I read on the internet; that he looked at a phone book while writing this song and called
   it yellow)
9. anonymous

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   Aug 23rd 2008 !⃝

   In an interview, Chris Martin said that he had started the song but needed a word to finish it up. The first thing he looked at were the yellow pages, and said that luckily the first thing he looked at wasn't playboy!
   
   
   If you want to watch the interview here's the link:
   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w54ZdoXHWW0
10. anonymous

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    Aug 14th 2008 !⃝

    Chris was flipping through the yellow pages one day, trying to find something. and it dawned on him, I'm gonna make a song about the yellow pages, honest to god truth.
    
    No member of the band does drugs, they made a pact back when they first started that anyone doing drugs would be fired from the band, so scratch that idea. Also the song was created before him and Gweneth got together, so I couldn't possibly be about her, nor could it be about his daughter apple martin, she was born 5 months after Chris and Gweneth were married.
    
    So pretty much all these interpretations are wrong. but you have the right to think what you want and that's cool, as long as we all love Coldplay. The great thing a bout a song is, you can pertain it to anything.
11. anonymous

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    Aug 13th 2008 !⃝

    For me - This song is about loving someone and being willing to do anything for them, but having to let them go because they are having drug problems and you "draw a line for them" and letting them go but telling them that the stars shine for them before you let them go because you love them so much you want them to get better you have to leave them because they won't get better while you are enabling them to continue their drug habit.

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

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    Jul 23rd 2008 !⃝

    HEROIN! That is the girl...
13. anonymous

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    Jul 20th 2008 !⃝

    This song is about a man and a woman on an awesome date, frolicking in the moonlight; thus, everything looks "yellow." They are near the water, and at one point, perhaps in a drunken stupor, he "swam across" to impress the lovely new lady in his life.
14. anonymous

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    Jul 10th 2008 !⃝

    I think that it can mean anything to anyone. To me, its brotherly love. Rather sisterly love. This song goes directly to everything that happened in the last few months for me. "look at the stars.." makes me think that no matter what happens, those stars are there for you. even though it does say skin and bones it does have purpose.
15. anonymous

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    Jul 1st 2008 !⃝

    "yellow" is a color that symbolizes happiness, joy, and beauty. for this reason, he is trying to say that everything related to this girl he loves is yellow. He loves and adores this girl so much that he thinks that the idea of him and her being together is unrealistic and he thinks she deserves someone much better than him.

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