“Classics” Reflection – “Clocks” by Coldplay

                 Coldplay to me screams of a band that is essentially an iconic and well known symbol of great music in the alternative rock/rock scene. Coldplay’s mellow tunes and heart-wrenching lyrics speak dearly to a lot of human sadness as well as love and triumph. One song in particular by the this band that I feel strongly is a “classic” is Clocks. I remember distinctly the first time this song played on the radio. It was on ride to my first day of middle school and the song’s infectious piano melody and strong vocals were etched into my brain the entire day. The song sounded hopeful like one could defeat all the odds just by listening to the song.

                To me a “classic” song should be something of a timeless nature that evokes a sense of nostalgia and stands the test of time. “Classic” songs should have a story that is relevant to may situations and over time can still be be relatable.  Clocks I think is a primer example of a “classic” in that it’s lyrics tell a story of human life and living life to the fullest which is intertwined with an absolutely memorable piano melody that is hard to forget.

              To delve deeper in to the meaning of Clocks by Coldplay. It is important to note that the song is first person and the speaker is singing about himself. However, I think the song is meant to be sung and thought about as if you are the first person in order to full grasp what the artist wanted to portray about human life and taking full advantage of that life. The two central themes within this story is living life to the fullest and time. The song title clocks even evokes the structured and limited time we have as humans to live.

           The song begins with the lyrics “lights go out and I can’t be saved”, which means he recognizes that one day he will die and there is no escaping it. This begins the speaker’s/artist’s recognition that he is mortal and has limited time. It is seen that the speaker/artist struggles with the concept of death with the lyric “tides that I tried to swim against”.  He/she is trying so hard fight this overcoming reality as if they were trying to swim against heavy tides in the sea.  However, despite this raw realization of his/her own death it drives him/her to try and achieve amazing thing in this one life as seen in the lyric “the tiger’s waiting to be tamed”.

           As the song progresses into the second stanza the speaker/artist continues to speak about how it’s only a matter of seconds, hours, days, or years before the walls “close in” on us referring to death and “take us back home” referring to some form of after life. The line “I could not stop that you now know” in my opinion is a bit ambiguous and hard to define. In one way, he.she could be returning to the fact that you cannot stop living your life because you know that one day you will die. In addition, he/she could be returning to the fact that he/she couldn’t just end the song without fully explain him/herself. The last two lines of the stanza are significant and ring me as, he/she wonders if this story will be good for people because now they will want to live to the fullest knowing that the walls are always closing in, “part of the cure” or if it will deeply discourage them because nothing we do can change the fact we will die, “part of the disease”. That to me is why this song is a “classic” because the main goal is create a story of a nameless, gender-less individual who has a choice whether to live life knowing death with one day occur or let the idea of death ruin their chances of living life to the fullest.

         The song “Clocks” is off their album “A Rush of Blood to the Head” many of their songs in this album or absolutely powerful and genius. The general feel of the album is very uplifting with hints of stories that are sad and bits of stories about falling in love. If you are a fan of rock/alternative rock this album is great to relax to or just ponder on various situations in your life. To me however, the song Clocks is the most “classic” song on the album and in my life in general because to me I feel that in two years or even two hundred that this song’s story and it’s message with inspire someone to live life to fullest with no regrets and no fear of death. Little seventh grade me listening to this song to college me now can say that message along with “hums to the piano melody” is something that will stick with me for my entire life.

Works Cited

                      Martin, Chris. By Guy Berryman, Will Champion, Johnny Buckland, and Chris Martin. Clocks. Coldplay. Ken Nelson, 2002. CD.

Lyrics: http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/coldplay/clocks.html