Category: Music

This is an old post that was first published some six years ago that keeps surfacing every now and again.  This time, it is the just deposed Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich that brings it back to the fore!

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This post was first published in my private blog on Friday, September 26, 2008.  I publish it here today because I heard this song on the radio this morning.  And because it embodies the spirit of this blog: the show must go on!  And also because I have had the pleasure of watching Coldplay perform this very song live in concert. 

Oh, and also because I can’t help draw parallels to this and the current Egyptian crisis a la Hosni Mubarak.  Original post follows:

This new Coldplay song is evidently one of the most popular ones on the radio these days, and just today I’ve heard it three times already.  I’ve always been in the habit of listening to the lyrics, but today, I listened even more carefully.  And for good measure, I looked them up as well.  If the huge swell of the orchestral sounds of the brass and the strings don’t get your blood pumping, then at least Chris Martin’s lovely voice and cryptic lyrics should do something for you! 

I don’t really know who the protagonist of these lines might be, but I’ll take a stab at it.  Could it perhaps be Louis XVI, the last monarch of France, or perhaps it might be Aurangzeb, the last Mughal emperor of India, both looking out from their prison windows, reflecting on their days of glory and power.  How harsh the winds of change can be!  One day, you’re ruling the world, and the next day, you’re sweeping the streets.  One day, you’re holding the keys, and the next day, the walls are closing in on you.  

Such is life.  Never the same.  The ups and downs are what make it what it is.  May it be that we find the courage to face each moment with elan and dignity, even if it is the end that we might be facing.  Death, I am told, is not the worst of evils. 

May it be that like these kings of yore, we too might make a name for ourselves in our life.  And when death beckons, may it be that we bow out gracefully.

Here’s the song for you.  As well as the lyrics.  Oh, and the lovely images of the two need no further identification, I’m sure.

I used to rule the world

Seas would rise when I gave the word

Now in the morning I sleep alone

Sweep the streets I used to own

 

I used to roll the dice

Feel the fear in my enemies eyes

Listen as the crowd would sing:

“Now the old king is dead! Long live the king!”

 

One minute I held the key

Next the walls were closed on me

And I discovered that my castles stand

Upon pillars of salt, and pillars of sand

 

I hear Jerusalem bells a-ringing

Roman Calvalry choirs are singing

Be my mirror, my sword and shield

My missionaries in a foreign field

 

For some reason I can’t explain

Once you go there was never

Never an honest word

And that was when I ruled the world

 

It was the wicked and wild wind

Blew down the doors to let me in

Shattered windows and the sound of drums

People couldn’t believe what I’d become

 

Revolutionaries wait

For my head on a silver plate

Just a puppet on a lonely string

Oh, who would ever want to be king?

 

For some reason I can’t explain

I know Saint Peter won’t call my name

Never an honest word

But that was when I ruled the world