As you may remember (and you should, otherwise you’re either too stressed out or don’t own something commonly referred to as “long-term memory”), in yesterday’s posting I wrote about bones.
As the rules of coincidence command, today in the morning I listened to this song by Coldplay named “Fix you”. You may not see the connection just yet, but bear with me please. I think it’s a rather good song, but there are a few lines in the lyrics I just can’t make any sense of.
First of all, the title: “Fix you”. Last time I checked, fixing something that isn’t a machine or some sort of process had a negative connotation. Take for example that reference in “The Great Gatsby”, where someone is referred to as the guy who “fixed the World’s Series”. Clearly Chris Martin doesn’t hold Fitzgerald in high esteem, otherwise he wouldn’t have contradicted Fitzgerald’s usage in such a blatant way. Because as it seems, in the song the word “fix” is not used in the sense of corrupting, but in the sense of correcting. Which again opens yet another bag of questions. For example, is the song in reality just one big ad for anti-depressants? Let’s find that one out, shall we? Here are some lyrics:
When you try your best but you don’t succeed
When you get what you want but not what you need
When you feel so tired but you can’t sleep
Stuck in reverseAnd the tears come streaming down your face
When you lose something you can’t replace
When you love someone but it goes to waste
Could it be worse?
Now, I’ve done some research (meaning I’ve used Google), and here are some symptoms of a clinical depression (source is here):
* You feel miserable and sad.
* You feel exhausted a lot of the time with no energy.
* You sometimes feel that life isn’t worth living.
* You feel you have no confidence.
* You have difficulty sleeping or wake up very early in the morning and can’t sleep again.
Now, I won’t go through the lines one by one, because you can do that yourself, but isn’t it strange how these all fit together? As if Martin checked that very site I’m quoting before writing that song. Please note that it’s a website based in the UK. And where’s Chris Martin from? EXACTLY! Let’s move on to the chorus:
Lights will guide you home
And ignite your bones
And I will try to fix you
Now, I don’t even know where to start: what about those lights? Is that Chris Martin? With a shiny box of Zoloft? And where and what is that home? Shouldn’t you avoid being holed up at home when you’re depressed?
And now, in case you still remember my opening paragraph, what in depression’s name is “ignite your bones” supposed to mean? Why would anyone want Chris Martin to set fire to their bones. Seriously, what was Martin thinking (or popping, for that matter) when he wrote that? And it’s even more mind-boggling when you start wondering how he’s going to do that? How do you ignite bones without setting a person totally ablaze? Especially when your original mission was to “fix” their depression! I really can’t see any merit in that, can you?
Oh well, at least I’ve now had the opportunity to write about human bones twice in a row.

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Here’s my take:
“Lights will guide you home” - people lost at sea need lights to guide them home, the line is not about “holing up” it’s about getting back to where you need to be.
“ignite your bones” - more like getting a spark going, energizing the body, lifting it out of its lethargy.
“And I will try to fix you” - here’s where the Coldplay guy shows a lack of life experience. He should have written “And I will deplete my life and energy in the futile exercise of trying to make you happy”
Hmm, looks quite sensible to me. Although I’m not totally convinced by the “lights” part, mainly because there are no other references to a nautic theme in the whole song. But that could be neglect on Coldplay’s side.
oh lord.. Person #1, your analysis reminds me of a person with their head stuck so far up their ass that they don’t realize how stupid they sound while trying to seem like some sort of an intellectual. Person #2, I agree with the “person out at sea” connection and I don’t think that more refferances to such a thing are necessary.
ughh..I hate it when people criticize others just because they don’t “get” what is being said. Instead of putting Chris Martin down, why not put a little effort into really figuring out what he is saying. (or just leave alone things that are too complex for your little brain. even though I can’t fathom how anyone could find this song complex.)
Jehateyou, very well put. You must be a poet yourself.
Hmmm, may my response is a bit late, almost a year after the last response, but when I think of ignition, spaceships pop up in mind. Ignition costs a lot of energy, but as soon as ignition is complete, the audience is extremely excited. So the parallel here, assuming that this song is about depression, could be that by investing a lot of energy in a depressed person might cause him/her to be cheerful again
Gietje, I love me some comments, even when they come a bit late. Your explanations sounds interesting as well…I might have to ask Chris Martin in person about it