anonymous December 31st, 2005 08:35PM  

My daughter passed away soon after this song came out and I saw it as very comforting to me. It almost felt like she was saying the words to me through Chris Martin's voice. We also played this song at her funeral.

anonymous January 17th, 2006 06:34PM  

This was the song we used for my fathers funeral and evertime I hear it now I remember him. He was an alcoholic and all of the lyrics apply to his life. It was the perfect song to describe everything that I was feeling.

anonymous January 20th, 2006 09:31PM  

I think the thing about Gwyneths father is true, but maybe the song can also just be seen in a way that says everyone needs fixing in some way, nobody's slate is ever clean. So maybe it's a song about a relationship that's struggling and how, despite how many mistakes we make in life that hurt the ones we love, the people you love fix you.

I know that was mega cheese but.....

anonymous March 13th, 2006 07:04AM  

I know that this song is meant to be about Chris Martin's wife (Paltrow) losing her father, but for me at the moment it seems to represent what I am going through. Specifically the transition from highschool to university, feeling as if, although I have achieved everything I wanted I feel strangely empty and alone. More broadly I think this song can be interpreted as the affect, such as a death or a major lifestyle change or any kind of loss, can have on someone. As was said in another interpretation, everyone needs fixing at some point in their life when something has happened to them and set them off course... just ideas.

anonymous March 14th, 2006 04:28AM  

I think the previous interpretation was very interesting, as just started college too. especially with "when you try your best but you don't succeed and get what you want but not what you need", etc. I definitely felt the struggles with the expectations to do well. It all goes to show how this and all of their music is so universal and meaningful, whether it's school, a broken heart, bereavement, loss of virginity, or whatever! that's why they're my favorite band of all time...

anonymous March 28th, 2006 01:29AM  

I've been reading everyone's responses to the song, and it seems that it fits in a number of different aspects of life. Of course, life has many ups and downs. This song seems to be about the downs, and is quite sad, until the AMAZING guitar solo near the end of the song, which seems to say "Everything is going to be okay." It's almost reassuring. The song is melancholy, yet uplifting. I can't do it mercy with describing it... But I never realized how deep down it really hits until I heard them playing it live in concert... One word can describe: Wow.
It actually had me crying, right there in the seat.
Great band, they give us something to relate to. Because when something can sum up your feelings, it's comforting.

anonymous April 17th, 2006 04:29AM  

The line "When you love someone and it goes to waste" can pull at anyone's heartstrings.

anonymous May 11th, 2006 12:09PM  

I, too, beleive it was written after Gwyneth's father passed. But I found my own personal interpretation...the first time I heard this song there was a lot going on in my life.... a life-long friendship of mine was going down the drain, one of my boyfriend's best friend passed away and work was not going the way I wanted it to. But despite all the things going wrong, my boyfriend and I still had a trip planned to go to Disney World with his parents. To my surprise, when I got there he proposed to me in the top the Cinderella Castle. We took this CD with us on the trip and and the more we listened to this song, the more we knew it was going to be our "First Dance" song at our wedding. We've had people ask why we would want such a sad song played for our first dance but we don't feel that it's a sad song. We feel like it's a great representation of how we always want to be with one another - any time we " love someone but it goes to waste", "lose something you can't replace", or "try your best but you don't succeed" - we will be there to fix each other! This song is just so simple yet so powerful!

anonymous August 19th, 2006 12:40AM  

It's really awesome how songs can have such different interpretations from person to person, but also individually from time to time.

When I first heard this song, it was during the time my boyfriend and I broke up. The lyric that really hit home was "when you're too in love to let it go; if you never try you'll never know; just what you're worth"

After my mother passed after fighting a long and hard battle, this song took a completely different meaning. My mother absolutely love lighthouses - it's weird how the one of the final lines in the song is "lights with guide you home"

This song is amazing on so many levels.

anonymous October 6th, 2006 04:28PM  

Fan into flame the gift of life has given you.
It's a knock-down, put it together kind of kit.
The pieces aree all there----but you are the glue!

God can heal a broken heart but he has to have all the pieces.

If you've tried but are stuck in reverse, coldplay will fix you.

sunshineflower October 11th, 2006 06:39PM  

At first I thought that it was about when apple was born and chris martin was contemplating the huge responsibility of being a dad, but after reading other peoples thoughts I agree that it is about when gwyneths father died.

soccer101 October 17th, 2006 06:42PM  

We are all in this together we can all relate to feeling pain and needing comfort. If its a lost love or a death of someone dear to you we all have our downs. In sadness there is light we can find comfort somewhere, in a song or a friend anything really. Not all wounds were meant to be healed most never will be, but I think all wounds will get better over time they won`t disappear but they will slowly get better. Life will throw you into a loop sometimes but there is always something there to fix you

to me personally it is about knowin that you love someone but being to afraid to show it and knowing that in the end it`ll be lost forever
"high up above or down below
when your to in love to let it go
well if you never try you never know"

anonymous November 28th, 2006 08:54PM  

first time I heard this song was when I got the cd and instantly fell in love with it- it literally brought tears to my eyes. It fits so well with how one would feel when theyre depressed "when you try your best but you don't succeed" and how it feels when your alone and there's noone to talk to. "when you lose something you can't replace" also just gets to me. GREAT SONG. I LOVE coldplay- they got this cd right on the dot.

anonymous February 18th, 2007 08:56PM  

I have mixed feelings about this song. I can totally see his reasons for writing it. However, it is filled with so much emotion that I cannot explain. I want to cry but feel overjoyed. I really want to use this for my growing up photo montage at my wedding but I am not so sure if it's wedding appropriate. Any thoughts??

anonymous February 22nd, 2007 02:01AM  

i think the important aspect of the song is the word "try". The beauty of the love is that the person loves the person so much that their pain is theirs, however they know there is no way to fix that kind of hurt in your life. But the point of the song to me is that the person is not looking for a quick fix, they're offering themselves up for the other person, and there is no greater love then putting yourself in full force, without any limitations for someone else.

sunshineflower February 26th, 2007 11:58PM  

hey!
me again!!!
about the marriage question, you can do whatever you want. If you feel this song reflects you and your life, then go for it!! btw are you getting married soon or is it a dream that will happen when you meet that someone? you don't have to answer that if you don't want to, I know its a very personal question.

and the toaster thing IS funny! at first I thought it was just lame, so thankyou to whoever it was to help me see it with a sense of humour. :-D

anonymous March 14th, 2007 12:55PM  

My take on this song is that he is expressing guilt over something he should have or tried or learned to do in order to help someone and now the person went away or passed away and he is grieving and living with the reality that if he had to do it over he will learn from his mistakes he made..." I will learn from my mistakes"

anonymous March 31st, 2007 02:09AM  

I've been listening to the song over and over and have decided that it'll be the song I'll walk down the aisle to at my wedding. It fits my relationship w/ my boyfriend perfectly and we both agree it's the only way to go. we've survived almost breaking up and realizing that if we did break up we would have what we wanted at the time, but it wouldn't have been what we needed to make our lives complete. lights will guide you home, they lead to one another, he is my home, he is my everything and I am his. and tears did stream down my face when I was faced w/ losing something I couldn't ever replace.. It's so relevant... and the end where it builds and builds, that'll be ultimate where I'll walk down the aisle feeling so positive and over the moon.

anonymous June 21st, 2007 03:27PM  

Overall my own interpretation, is that is is about loyalty, and love then loss.

'stuck in reverse' shows that he is unable to move on from it.

anonymous July 27th, 2007 03:30PM  

I'm sure this was written for Gwyneth... To me the song reminds me of my life... my depression and getting out of an emotionally abusive relationship and not being able to trust and open up to anyone. I feel broken and I'm waiting for someone to 'fix me' and help me trust again. That's just personally