Coldplay - Clocks Song Meanings
Send "Clocks" ringtone to your cell
Lyrics:
Lights go out and I can't be saved
Tides that I tried to swim against
Have brought me down upon my knees
Oh I beg, I beg and plead singing...
See the rest of these lyrics
Clocks Lyrics on KOvideo
 Top Rated Interpretation
memphis10ec
August 26th, 2007 10:15AM
< Click a star to vote!
This song reminds me of my lost First True Love. We were SO in love, it was like the world kept spinning but we were still, staring in each other's eyes. I swear she was all I could see. But eventually we broke up, and she left me...not for another person, but just to go on with life. The problem with that is, it left me hoping that we could still get back together. Day after day, month after month, I harbored this ill-begotten hope. Over time it got better; clocks kept ticking, years went by. Finally I was able to love again, but my First Love will always be deep in my heart.
The lights go out and I can't be saved
Tides that I tried to swim against
Have brought me down upon my knees
Oh I beg, I beg and plead singing
Two interpretations here:
1. During the day I could distract myself, feel normal, not think about her....but at night, when I'd turn out the lights to go to sleep, not being beside her made me feel such anguish! It all came crashing down on me in the lonesome darkness of my bedroom. I would pray to God for some relief from being in love with someone who didn't love me anymore.
2. My first opportunity to have sex after we broke up, I couldn't do it. This is so embarrassing to remember! We were alone, clothes off, then the lights went out and I couldn't get aroused. It's like "she" was there. I was "begging and pleading" for myself to get aroused, to perform, but I ultimately had to beg and plead forgiveness. I told this girl I still loved my ex...and she said it was ok, but I never saw her again. Luckily I got over that (for the most part).
Come out of things unsaid
Shoot an apple off my head and a
Trouble that can't be named
A tiger's waiting to be tamed singing
When I started dating again, whenever we'd drive past places my ex and I went, I'd get these...feelings. However, no way was I going to be able to express them. The places and the memories had to remain "things unsaid", but I felt them. "Shoot an apple off my head" is kind of like the dread on a date of passing one of the places that we shared and going right back to the past in my head, thus ruining the date.
Also, I know anyone in a relationship has had one of these moments: we're just driving along going to wherever, and my date says, "What are you thinking?" Oh God, I'm in trouble now! I'm thinking about "her" but I can't say her name to my date! That is the trouble that can't be named. And since I can't control when I'm going to think about her, She is the tiger in my head that can't be tamed. (BTW, if your date asks you what you're thinking, just say "politics" LOL.)
You are
You are
This is sung to "her". Anywhere, any time, any place, no matter who I'm with, she is...
Confusion never stops
Closing walls and ticking clocks
Gonna come back and take you home
I could not stop that you now know singing
Like I said before, she didn't leave me for someone else. She just didn't need me, I guess. So, even to this day I'm left wondering. "Closing walls and ticking clocks" reminds me of time I spent sitting alone trying to figure this all out. It was a waste of time, because there was no explanation. After our breakup, we still saw each other, but she moved to a town 80 miles away. I visited her as often as I could, even breaking the car down and having to ask my parents to come get me one time. But every time I visited her, I felt like this time I was going to come back and take her home. Or, if she'd asked me, I would have moved in with her and made her home my home too. I was so co-dependent on her, I "could not stop that" behavior. I was out of control.
Come out upon my seas,
Cursed missed opportunities
Am I a part of the cure
Or am I part of the disease, singing
I'm asea, adrift without her. The first line invites the listener to come and feel what I feel, get in my "boat" for a moment. "Cursed missed opportunities" is self-explanatory, but here's an example. After we broke up, I went to visit her one time. I don't know exactly how it happened, but we ended up having sex (I don't say "making love" because we were broken up, after all). Anyhow, in the middle of the night, I had to leave to get back home. What I needed to come home for, I can't even remember now! Today, over and over in my mind, I think that if we'd woken up in each others arms that morning, we'd still be together today! Talk about a missed opportunity!
Someone told me one time that the only one who could get me over her was me. Not her (she wasn't even around any more). So, I had to stop thinking about her and get on with my life. MY thinking about her, obsessing, was part of the disease. MY stopping thinking about her, getting back out there with a social life, taking chances, kissing someone else, etc., that was part of the cure.
You are, you are, you are
You are, you are, you are
And nothing else compares
And nothing else compares
And nothing else compares
I eventually got married, and so did she. She has two kids now, and is happy. I saw her for the first time in like 20 years, and we had lunch. Now we both know we can't go back, but we agreed no other relationship was like that one we had back then. Nothing else compares. (Oh, and about that confusion I mentioned earlier: I did ask her what the hell happened back then to make her leave me. Her answer: "I don't know". Can you believe it?! I have to laugh...or else I have to cry.
You are
You are
Home, home where I wanted to go
Home, home where I wanted to go
Home, home where I wanted to go
Home, home where I wanted to go
We never made a home together, but we did get engaged and we talked about having four kids and even what their names would be and everything! "Home" was where I wanted to go, but in the end it was not where she wanted to go.
Anyhow, CLOCKS keep ticking, and hopefully time heals all wounds.
Apologies to Coldplay if this is not what you meant.
anonymous
February 14th, 2006 11:47AM
< Click a star to vote!
I think this song is about addiction...
The lights go out and I can't be saved
Tides that I tried to swim against
Have brought me down upon my knees
Oh I beg, I beg and plead singing
(I try to fight my addiction, but it beats me down.)
Come out of things unsaid
Shoot an apple off my head and a
Trouble that can't be named
A tiger's waiting to be tamed singing
(If the problem is addressed, it must be named and therefore faced.)
You are
You are
(Addiction--to alcohol, etc--is...)
Confusion never stops
Closing walls and ticking clocks
Gonna come back and take you home
I could not stop that you now know singing
(I could not stop--nuff said. I feel like the world closes in on me and confusion descends because of my addiction.)
Come out upon my seas,
Cursed missed opportunities
Am I a part of the cure
Or am I part of the disease, singing
(Am I a slave to my addiction, or do I choose to recover? How much have my life have I lost to my addiction?)
You are, you are, you are
You are, you are, you are
And nothing else compares
And nothing else compares
And nothing else compares
(Slaves to addiction know that nothing else compares to our high.)
You are
You are
Home, home where I wanted to go
Home, home where I wanted to go
Home, home where I wanted to go
Home, home where I wanted to go
(All I wanted in addiction was to go home, back to the days before I felt so hopeless; I also wanted my future to have a home in which I felt safe)
anonymous
September 26th, 2006 02:45AM
< Click a star to vote!
Wow, it's about a man's fight against time. Time is eating his life away. This is why it is called clocks, because clocks keep time.
anonymous
November 11th, 2006 02:41PM
< Click a star to vote!
I agree with the interpretation that this song is about the inability of man to stop time from continuing...
"the lights go out and I can't be saved
tides that I tried to swim against
have brought me down upon my knees
oh I beg, I beg and plead singing "
the lights go out - death
tides that I tried to swim against - he tried to stop time, but failed..Now at his death he realizes his mistake
"cursed missed opportunities "
- things he wished he had done, but didn't because he believed he had more time
anonymous
November 30th, 2006 02:00PM
< Click a star to vote!
i think this song is about a man's race against time which carries an inevitable separation with the one he loves. The separation could be death,trouble,or whatsoever,but it is definitely inevitable.this song is his plea, reflecting his hopelessness of fighting the inevitable to come by each passing seconds.
anonymous
May 23rd, 2007 09:59PM
< Click a star to vote!
I think this is about someone who never really felt accepted in his own home and even as time went by, he still went through all this stuff and rebelled and stuff although all he wanted was to belong.
anonymous
June 30th, 2007 07:57PM
< Click a star to vote!
It's not about death it is about self-acceptance.
anonymous
August 5th, 2007 11:11PM
< Click a star to vote!
This song does so much more than man and man or man and substance, but it taps into the simple comparison of man and time. From what I've gathered, "lights go out I can't be saved/ tides that I tried to swim against" (and so one) simply shows a man that may have tried to beat time by seeking a way to go into the past and eventually got "washed up" by the reality that you CANNOT CHEAT TIME.
I mean, it is kind of strange that the song mentions water and the colossal bodies of it and then is entitled "Clocks." If anything, water is most known for being [one of] nature's most tranquil or nature's most destructive forces besides wind and earth, and thus it is identified with or as nature's most unchangable force: Time. And it makes sense that man, by the end of the song, would eventually be overwhelmingly baffled by its mysteriousness and greatness and finally submit to it ("And nothing else compares" "You are")
iheartmusic
June 27th, 2008 08:54PM
< Click a star to vote!
To me, this song is about death. but more specifically crossing over to the point where you stop regretting your life and find bliss in heaven. I think the music and lyrics almost contrast with each other, the music representing the bliss you find in heaven and lyrics voicing ones concerns they feel when they just realized they died or are dying. but this is only my interpretation and I think it means something different to everyone.
Heres what I think
Lights go out and I can't be saved
Tides that I tried to swim against
You've put me down upon my knees
Oh I beg, I beg and please, singin'
This verse is about a man's fight to stay alive but how he just can't overcome death or time
Come out of things unsaid
Shoot, an apple off my head.
And the
Trouble that can't be named
The tiger's waiting to be tamed singin'
This is about everything unfinished in his life, the trouble that can't be named representing problems he will never even know he had and the tiger symbolizing the problems that he had that he will never be able to solve
You are
You are
These lines just represent how is life was unfinished, like saying to someone "You are ______", maybe he never got to tell someone he thought they were amazing
Confusion never stops
Closing walls and ticking clocks
Gonna come back and take you home
I could not stop but you now know, singin'
This is about the downward spiral into death and how time will always win the the end. Home in this line means heaven or the place where you go to die. "I could not stop but you now know" meaning I couldn't beat this but you know that now since I am dead.
Come out upon my seas,
Curse missed opportunities
Am I a part of the cure
Or am I part of the disease, singin'
The first two lines of this verse are representative of your life flashing before your eyes when you die. you see all that you have and haven't done. The last 2 lines I think mean can I still escape death or is this who I have become and always will be?
You are, you are
You are, you are
You are, you are
these lines still represent the unfinished business
Nothing else compares.
Oh, no nothing else compares
Oh, no nothing else compares
These line connect music and lyrics because the person is just beginning to realize what a great place heaven is and that they are dead and will stay dead forever. nothing compares to their current state
You are
You are
Home, home where I wanted to go
Home, home where I wanted to go
Home, home where I wanted to go
Home, home where I wanted to go
these last lines could mean heaven (home) was the place he always wanted to go bu never knew it or right before he died all he wanted was to go home
and that's basically it. but what this song really means to coldplay, the people who actually wrote it, we will never know because that's the way they intended it to be.
anonymous
July 10th, 2008 08:54AM
< Click a star to vote!
I think this song is about an impossible love and all the pain and disorientation that follow especially when the loved person is not really ready or fail to feel the same for the time being ...still there is hope that that person will let you in someday ;-)
anonymous
July 28th, 2008 02:29PM
< Click a star to vote!
This song is about men submitting to God. He is singing "you are" because God said his name is I am. And nothing else compares is another definition for God in the old testament. So who can be called you are that nothing else compares?
1018
September 12th, 2008 05:49PM
< Click a star to vote!
I think this song is about how time never waits for anyone ...it just keeps going and going without mercy of what is going on therefore one shall take action as soon as they can to whatever it is they want to do before its too late.
anonymous
October 25th, 2008 09:12PM
< Click a star to vote!
This song has special meaning to me and I know its not the "correct" interpretation but my own warped idea but who cares. I think a song's meaning should be whatever the listener wants to make it so here goes.
I associate this song with my 8 year old daughter who has autism ("Trouble that can't be named") who gives us daily challenges, heartache, and happiness. She is very bright and observant but her speech is still poor but improving ("Come out of things unsaid") and she has behavior issues ("A tigers waiting to be tamed") and she does love tigers. "Confusion never stops" because there are times when we try to do something like eat in a restaurant or go to a show with her and she can really make it challenging. Sometimes we yell at her or punish her but its not her fault but its very stressful and I feel guilty later for yelling at her ("am I part of the disease"). But she is our child and our home and I wouldn't have it any other way!
"Clocks" is a metaphor for our short time on earth and the challenges we face in life and how we live day to day....
dashing
December 10th, 2008 03:05AM
< Click a star to vote!
in my opinion, the song is definitely about time running out and eventual death, however, no one dies in the traditional sense because we are all one, therefore WE ARE! the world is a temporary place likegoing away from home, but whether we like it or not we all die and go HOME, "Home where i wanted to go" because YOU ARE the Oneness, and the oneness is HOME, where you go when you die
its actually very clear,"lights go out and i cant be saved, tides that i tried to swim against", "closing walls and ticking clocks gonna come back and take you home", "cursed missed opportunities", death comes and you have all these opportunities that you think you have missed in life, but the clock keeps on ticking, and everybody leaves the temporary life and goes back home,to the You Are, in singular, I AM, another word for God, I am that I am,. and we are ONE, going back home to the oneness, to God
"confusion never stops" the conflict is in thinking this world is all there is, that why he talks about "cursed missed oportunities", oh i beg i beg and plead", holding on to life, but then "when nothing compares to home" which means death isnt the bad thing we have imagined, but we are all confused by the illusion of life, "am i part of the cure, or am i part of the disease"
anonymous
July 24th, 2009 02:13AM
< Click a star to vote!
This song really reminds me of when I was struggling with my sexuality and coming out to my mom. I remember that nights were horrible because I had no escape from horrible thoughts...I really hated myself... "lights go out and I can't be saved, tides that I tried to swim against brought me down upon my knees, oh I beg I beg and plead". Then " come out of things unsaid shoot an apple off my head... Trouble that can't be named.. Tigers waiting to be tamed... Singing you are you are". If you think about the lyrics in context it totally fits... Probably not the intention but it still works. " confusion that never stops, closing walls and ticking clocks, gonna come back and take you home, I could not stop what you now know... Singing come out upon my seas, curse missed opportunities, am I a part of the cure or am I part of the disease?". If you think about it you can apply almost all of the lines into context... I really like this song, I really connect to it.
anonymous
July 30th, 2009 07:23AM
< Click a star to vote!
This is a message to memphis10ec - I read your version of the song and I have to agree with you! Everything you said makes sense!
Thanks also for sharing your story! Even if you never read this I have had an experience just like you and as I read the words I was reading on hoping to find out what happened in the end to see what is ahead of me. To think it ended with her just saying she didn't know made me really think about how silly people are about love.
Thanks for sharing and your experience has really helped me as I thought I was going mad in love with somebody in the same way.
David
trendboy at gmail dot com
malaus
August 27th, 2009 07:18AM
< Click a star to vote!
Things are often simpler than what they appear to be.
I think this song is about a relationship with a woman who he is still in love with, but for unknown reasons to himself he has refused to acknowledge his feelings and act consequently.
#The lights go out and I can't be saved
Tides that I tried to swim against
Have brought me down upon my knees
Oh I beg, I beg and plead singing#
It is all over and yet I have a feeling that
I have done something wrong. I failed to accept the
wave of feelings I came against, and now they have
brought down my knees, begging for help, asking for an answer.
#Come out of things unsaid
Shoot an apple off my head and a
Trouble that can't be named
A tiger's waiting to be tamed singing#
I wanna stop thinking about what we could
have been together, I wanna forget about
our story, our love is like a wild animal
that is waiting to be domesticated and deprived
of all its passion.
#Confusion never stops
Closing walls and ticking clocks
Gonna come back and take you home
I could not stop that you now know singing#
I do not know what I feel and what I should do.
Our love is disappearing, time is ticking and
I feel walls of feelings and confusion are closing down on me. I will come back to you and take you home with me.
But what I did before, my own confusion commanded me to do.
# Come out upon my seas,
Cursed missed opportunities
Am I a part of the cure
Or am I part of the disease, singing#
Try to understand me (try so see things as I do),
I curse the opportunities that we missed and we will
miss not being together. Is is my fault or not?
Am I doing the right thing or not?
Overall I think that He is confused about his feelings toward a woman and he does not know what to do about it.
Shall He wait for this thoughts to go away and be replaced by thoughts about other women, or shall He make a decision, face his fears and go after her?
malaus
August 27th, 2009 07:22AM
< Click a star to vote!
Things are often simpler than what they appear to be.
I think this song is about a relationship with a woman who he is still in love with, but for unknown reasons to himself he has refused to acknowledge his feelings and act consequently.
#The lights go out and I can't be saved
Tides that I tried to swim against
Have brought me down upon my knees
Oh I beg, I beg and plead singing#
It is all over and yet I have a feeling that
I have done something wrong. I failed to accept the
wave of feelings I came against, and now they have
brought down my knees, begging for help, asking for an answer.
#Come out of things unsaid
Shoot an apple off my head and a
Trouble that can't be named
A tiger's waiting to be tamed singing#
I wanna stop thinking about what we could
have been together, I wanna forget about
our story, our love is like a wild animal
that is waiting to be domesticated and deprived
of all its passion.
#Confusion never stops
Closing walls and ticking clocks
Gonna come back and take you home
I could not stop that you now know singing#
I do not know what I feel and what I should do.
Our love is disappearing, time is ticking and
I feel walls of feelings and confusion are closing down on me. I will come back to you and take you home with me.
But what I did before, my own confusion commanded me to do.
# Come out upon my seas,
Cursed missed opportunities
Am I a part of the cure
Or am I part of the disease, singing#
Try to understand me (try so see things as I do),
I curse the opportunities that we missed and we will
miss not being together. Is is my fault or not?
Am I doing the right thing or not?
Overall I think that He is confused about his feelings toward a woman and he does not know what to do about it.
Shall He wait for this thoughts to go away and be replaced by thoughts about other women, or shall He make a decision, face his fears and go after her?
anonymous
September 21st, 2009 04:14PM
< Click a star to vote!
I know my interpretation might not be as meaningful as the others but here it goes.
Judging by the last part of the song.
"Home, Home, where I wanted to go."
I think this is a song about someone who is far away from home and faces many hardships in order to return to the place where he/she wanted to be.
anonymous
November 11th, 2009 04:51PM
< Click a star to vote!
This song seems to describe my life.
"Lights go out and I can't be saved,
Tide that I try to swim against."
On some nights I usually cry about the things that have gone wrong in my life.
"Have brought me down upon my knees,
Oh I beg, I beg and plead singing."
How my social life was crushed when I moved to Scotland.
"Come out of things unsaid,
Shoot an apple of my head and a."
When someone finds out about a certain difficulty I keep under cover, I feel that I've been shot (but it helped me in the end)
"Trouble that can't be named,
and tigers waiting to be tamed singing."
From the hidden turmoils, to come to terms with the bullies at school.
"You are,
You are."
"Confusion never stops,
closing walls and ticking clocks."
How I can't break the habit since day 1, and I'm still facing it.
"Gonna come back to take you home,
I could not stop that she now know singing."
How my family (especially mum) are constantly nagging at me stop the habit.
"Come out upon my seas,
Cursed missed opportunities."
How new problems arise, and the missed opertunities to solve them.
"Am I part of the cure,
or am I part of the disease."
The people that have helped me, and the people that have hindered me in my life.
...
"And nothing else compares,
and nothing else compares,
and nothing else compares."
There are some things that are really important to me that outweigh the odds.
*Music*
Making my decision.
"Home, Home, where I wanted to go."
Back home, in Lincoln, where I was truly happy and now far more mature to face the world.
Submit your interpretation
More Coldplay Song Meanings
Email me when this band is updated
Discuss this group in the Coldplay forum
Home
| 
