Fix You by Coldplay

“Thanks for supporting us through thick and thin and taking all the “shi**” for being a Coldplay fan.”

LOL

At the close of a concert in Toronto, Chris Martin, lead singer of Coldplay thanked the audience for their support and acknowledge the fact that like Coldplay has a certain stigma.

Through first hand experience, I know how much fun it is to make fun of Coldplay fans. I spent years mocking them. When a band reaches the popularity and has the cultural impact that Coldplay has there is bound to be backlash. And really once you marry someone like Gwyneth Paltrow, a beautiful and talented actress, it’s hard to buy Chris Marin singing about longing and loneliness.

Then came “Viva La Vida.”



In this earlier post, I discussed the power of this song, the incredible instrumentation and inventive lyrics. This song tells the story of a king who had lost his kingdom, and incredibly, Coldplay was about to make this story relate to our own memories and dreams.

As I’ve explored the world of Coldplay, I’ve found that many of their songs exist in the world of fantasy exploring different realities and dimensions, exploring science fictions stories, using metaphors and symbolism to reflect the human experience whether it be “Clocks” or “The Speed Of Sound.”



One of Coldplay’s most interesting and loved songs in “fix You,” which is perhaps their most direct and intimate song. In contrast to songs like “Viva La Vida,” “Fix You” doesn’t tell a story and isn’t self-reflective, instead, it’s a direct message of friendship of love.

In the first two verses, Martin sings about trying and painful situations. The first line, “ when you try your best and you don’t succeed,” speaks to the loss of idealism, the realization that what you’ve been told as a child is not true. Other lines speak to the pain, the tears, and asks “could it be worse?”

The chorus replies that “light will guide you home, and ignite your bones and I will try to fix you.” The beauty in this statement is that Martin is reassuring us that something somewhere, a light, a power or force will help us out and fill us up with energy, with hope. Through all of this, a friend will try to help us out. The reality of a situation is that sometimes our friends can’t fix our lives for us, but it’s a powerful statement of devotion when they promise that they will try.

As the song builds up out of the simple organ accompaniment relating us back to the intimacy and safety of church, there is a celebratory glory behind the words “tears stream down your face, when you lose something you cannot replace.” Instead of shying away from bad feeling and pain, Coldplay embraces these feelings reflecting something that Coldplay expresses in their music: an understanding of the beauty of emotion not only in the happiness but in the entire spectrum of the human experience.



At the end of the song, Chris Martin, drops from his falsetto, down an octave into his chest voice. In this moment, he changes from a rock superstar to a friend. This promise isn’t being sung to a stadium of fans but directly to us. In the depth of his voice, this final reiteration of support is venerable, honest, daring and true.

“Fix You” is what we need to hear other people say to us to get through the challenges in life and it is also what we would like to promise to the people we love in our lives. It is everything we need. It's everything we long to be. And it's simply one of the greatest rock songs in recent memory.

Coldplay fans, you were right. You don't deserve all the crap you've gotten through the years. I apologize.

Now if someone could explain Chris Martin's fascination with colored electric tape. I mean, seriously man, what's up with that?