Coldplay: Yellow Meaning
Song Released: 2000
Yellow Lyrics
Look how they shine for you,
And everything you do,
Yeah, they were all yellow.
I came along,
I wrote a song for you,
And all the things you do,
And it was called yellow.
So then I took my turn,
Oh what a thing to have...
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1TOP RATED
anonymous Oct 16th 2006, 20:38 report
This song can mean so many things to so many people. It can symbolize the love between a parent and child, brotherly love, or the romantic type of love. To me, it symbolizes the romantic type. It basically says that you would do anything for the one that you love. Every little, tiny thing that your lover does, however insignificant it may seem can actually mean a lot. Everything they do seems wonderful. The love it represents is that reach for the stars, talk all night, can never get enough of that person love. Stars are luminous, heavenly bodies that shine down on the world. When he says "look at the stars, look how they shine for you" it means even the stars to him shine down for that person. Yellow is commonly known as an optimistic, cheerful color. However, it is scientifically the most difficult color for the eye to take in. Think about it
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2TOP RATED
anonymous Mar 22nd 2006, 15:14 report
This song is actually about his mother who died from a liver disease. Skin turns yellow when the liver is failing. It is a very sad song to hear knowing the pain he went through watching her die. "I wrote a song, I wrote a song for you and it was called yellow" He says he would bleed himself dry because it is his mother and would do anything to save her. but it didn't work out that way.
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3TOP RATED
mile Mar 27th 2006, 18:25 report
This response is to the last interprtation about the liver disease, I myself just lost my dad to kidney cancer about two weeks ago, or less and I even though I knew of this song of Coldplay just weeks before my dad passed I started to listen to it closely and liked it more than ever, and then I remembered telling my dad he looked yellow when he was in the hospital. It was after his death that I found true meaning for myself in this song and why I had suddenly become so attached to it, even the video reminds me of my dad, he liked the ocean a lot. So I thought the same thing you thought funny huh.
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anonymous Apr 26th, 18:16 report
I like to think that it's about doing everything you can to show someone you lOve them. When I sing it, I always sing the line "I drew a line, I drew a line for you" almost angrily, as it makes me think of my crush, who I do everything I can to show how I feel, but he ignores my efforts. It isn't that he's being horrible, I think he's just scared. Live can be scary sometimes, and the line "cause you were all yellow" refers to liver disease, which is definetly scary. Also, yellow roses symbolise everlasting love.
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anonymous Jan 6th, 01:02 report
I think it is about the love a parent has for their child, even though I do think it would be touching if he wrote it for his mother.
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anonymous Sep 7th 2012, 02:30 report
"This song is about fluttershy"
-Abyss
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDFcLa_2pzQ -
anonymous Aug 12th 2012, 06:21 report
unconditional love. willing to do anything for someone. to me its romantic love, be it could be sibling love, or friendship etc.
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anonymous Jun 16th 2012, 14:02 report
i think this song is about self-esteem and insecurity. the artist is trying to explain to somebody who doesnt believe in themselves that hes there for them, and that he'll "jump across" and "bleed myself" like he'll hurt himself so that you stop being skin and bone. the reminds the person on how the stars will shine for you and and how you'll turn into something beautiful. i thing the "drew a line" adds to the part about bleeding himself, that he will cut and do whatever they are doing to themselves to prove the bad things that they are doing.
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anonymous Apr 13th 2012, 07:32 report
Yellow Lyrics
Look at the stars,
Look how they shine for you,
And everything you do,
Yeah, they were all yellow.
I came along,
I wrote a song for you,
And all the things you do,
And it was called yellow.
So then I took my turn,
Oh what a thing to have done,
And it was all yellow.
Your skin
Oh yeah,oh yeah your skin and bones,
Turn into something beautiful,
do You know, you know I love you so,
You know I love you so.
I swam across,
I jumped across for you,
Oh what a thing to do.
Cause' you were all yellow,
I drew a line,
I drew a line for you,
Oh what a thing to do,
And it was all yellow.
Your skin,
Oh yeah your skin and bones,
Turn into something beautiful,
do you know for you,
I’d bleed myself dry,
For you I’d bleed myself dry.
It’s true, look how they shine for you,
Look how they shine for you,
Look how they shine for,
Look how they shine for you,
Look how they shine for you,
Look how they shine.
Look at the stars,
Look how they shine for you,
And all the things that you do.
- = I think this song is about finding the perfect person,your soul mate & telling them!! We've all been with the wrong person for us but when you find the 1person for you I think this meaning comes out clearly!!
The stars are silver for everyone i've been with, but for you they are golden.= silver= 2nd place, gold= 1st
The things you do are the same as what every1 else does but the way you do it is golden & right for me.
I've taken my chances with you since meeting you, like i've done with other people, could've been a mistake but everything about you is golden & right for me & that's why I love you.
Now I'm telling you I love you, cause you are the perfect person for me, i'm committed now cause the person you are & how right you are for me,I love you & everything about you cause it's just so right for me, I'd even die for you!! These are my true feelings!! Irish Barry -
anonymous Mar 31st 2012, 17:16 report
I think this song is just about loving someone so much you'll do anything for them. it's just about a person being inlove with another and they will be there for the good and bad. And even the smallest insignificant things to another persons eyes actually means alot to the person s/he is giving this song to, they appreciate every little thing, even if it seems it's not alot. S/he is just inlove and they want them to know nothing can break that love.
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anonymous Mar 31st 2012, 12:57 report
I see parallels in the above two comments that refelct Sober, by Tool:
I will find a center in you. I will chew it up and leave.
*He exposes her skin and bones. She is saying that when he does that to her, it hurts quite a bit, but that it makes something beautiful.
I will work to elevate you, just enough to bring you down.
*And that he is in control of her, like she is a puppet. Then he turned her inside out.
yellow-bellied-coward
*I am just a worthless liar. I am just an imbecile
Jesus loves that deeply
*Jesus, Won't you fucking whistle nothing but the past is done
He drew a line for us (when He wrote in the sand to diverge the attention away from the adulterous woman)
*There's a shadow just behind me... Shrouding every step I take.
Making every promise empty... Pointing Every Finger At Me.
The shadow; the stalking servant; the liar; the coward, only wants what he wants...to feast upon the lamb; to find the center in you, then chew it up and leave.
Starlight is white; pure light with each wavelength unified; a solidfied union of thoughts and emotions representing mental clarity...to be sober of toxic thoughts and feelings.
When light is refracted and shattered the fragments and shards reveal colors...yellow...an infection, a purulent toxic plague that distorts your vision and intoxicates with it's lies...for it forgets, it too was once pure and white just as lucifer was once an angel but fell in love with his own reflection as Narcissus.
So, IMOH, I feel as though the two posts above parallel Sober which is about people who are self-serving and lack any compassion or remorse and who gain their self-deluded "god-like" superiority by keeping puppets on a string...building up only to tear down.
They psychological evidince is easily discernable. The outsider can see much more clearly than the man who lives in the box.
Mother Mary, MaryMary, won't you whispher...
Nothing...for the past is done. -
anonymous Mar 30th 2012, 22:06 report
It's about Jesus. Jesus loves that deeply. He bled Himself dry for us. He wrote a song for us (the Word), He made the stars for us so we could see His creation, He drew a line for us (when He wrote in the sand to diverge the attention away from the adulterous woman). He turns our skin and bones turn into something beautiful—something heavenly.
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anonymous Nov 12th 2011, 11:35 report
I'm feeling nervous and cowardly to comment because this is my first time here. Please be gentle with me. I like to think of Chris Martin as a woman. Maybe she is named Christina Martina. I think she wrote this song for a man she loves. YELLOW means NO ACCIDENT. Her Love for this man is no accident. It was written in the stars. Love is not for cowards or the faint of heart. And, Love is no accident.
Look at the stars,
Look how they shine for you,
And everything you do,
Yeah, they were all yellow.
Yellow is the colour of the stars and stars are mini-miracles. They shine in the sky to show us we are not alone. They DIDN'T ARRIVE up there BY ACCIDENT. I'm not telling you that god put them there, but somehow they got there. Call it "Nature's Way" if you will. They are a gift to us, no matter how we choose to look at them, no matter how they arrived. They light our way in the dark night as we wish upon them. Christina is saying that they were put in the sky, to shine for her Love. In fact, when she sees a bright star, she always thinks of her Love. Stars are always there, even if it is foggy and we can't see them, They are still up there burning bright. It is like Christina's Love for her man. It is perpetual even if he is invisible. She is also saying that he/her Love DIDN'T ARRIVE here on earth BY ACCIDENT, either. At one time, he was a beautiful baby, an incredible gift from Nature. The stars in the sky shine for her Love and everything he does and he does a lot. Yellow can be a very beautiful colour when it is in a star or a flower. Yellow is a vibrant colour. Yellow is not "dull". In fact, there is something about the colour yellow that wakes us up. (I know this for a fact. My first born's nursery was painted lemon yellow and he didn't sleep at all the first year of his life.) When surrounded by yellow, our brains are constantly at work, never at rest.
I came along,
I wrote a song for you,
And all the things you do,
And it was called "Yellow".
She is saying that she came into her Love's life, NOT BY ACCIDENT. She wrote a song for him somehow and not by mistake. On purpose. She wrote it for him because she loves all of the things he does for her. He makes her feel good in many, many ways. Hence, she named her song "Yellow" because her love is no accident, he makes her think a lot and he doesn't allow her to sleep much. The title just seemed to make sense.
So then I took my turn,
Oh what a thing to have done,
And it was all "Yellow."
Here she is saying that she hurt him somehow and she didn't ever mean to do that. The hurting part was an accident. She never meant to hurt her Love. I think her Love for him -which was no accident - hurt him -which was an accident -because she didn't know how to Love him from so far away, like a star. You have heard the term "yellow-bellied-coward". That's what Christina is saying here. She felt that way. She was afraid to say she was sorry for hurting him, which was not brave of her. She is saying she felt like a loser that she never was able to say that she was sorry for hurting him. Even though her hurting him was an accident.
Your skin,
Oh yeah your skin and bones,
Turn into something beautiful,
You know, you know I love you so,
You know I love you so.
This part is wild because I think Christina turns the tables. Here she is talking about what her Love did to HER. One thing he does is he makes her feel like they are one person sometimes. And that he is in control of her, like she is a puppet. Then he turned her inside out. He exposes her skin and bones. She is saying that when he does that to her, it hurts quite a bit, but that it makes something beautiful. It's like her Love took her to a cooking class in France. She was excited to go, yet she didn't realize that she was going to be the lamb her Love would be working with. He knew that her truest flavour is closest to the bone. It's in her marrow. This is what her Love did to her. He cooked her down to her essence in order to discover her truest flavour. When you are a human, it is a rough process to endure. Yet, she feels immense Love for her man because he took the time to slow cook her, chop her, slice her, etc.
I swam across,
I jumped across for you,
Oh what a thing to do.
Cos you were all "Yellow",
I drew a line,
I drew a line for you,
Oh what a thing to do,
And it was all "Yellow."
This part is describing what Christina has done for her Love and what her Love has done for her. They swam across rivers, jumped over water hazards, climbed rocky mountains, ran up hills, bought stairways, wrote and/or drew lines in songs. Definitely feats that show immense courage and bravery. Nothing close to cowardly. So.... The part where she says that "you were all Yellow" is really interesting. I think she is simply stating both of their fears. Love isn't an accident. It happens for a reason. Like the stars and a baby. We all have meaning. I think Christina is saying LOOK HOW BRAVE WE HAVE ALREADY BEEN! Sure, Love is scary, but so is becoming human soup stock. We can do this! In fact, we've been doing it in fearless style!
Your skin,
Oh yeah your skin and bones,
Turn into something beautiful,
And you know,
For you I'd bleed myself dry,
For you I'd bleed myself dry.
I think here she is saying that she did bleed herself dry. She did it for her Love. She is different now. She went through hell for him and he for her. At this point, she is extremely tasty AND she is a giving person. She wants to give him her Love.
It's true,
Look how they shine for you,
Look how they shine for you,
Look how they shine for,
Look how they shine for you,
Look how they shine for you,
Look how they shine.
Look at the stars,
Look how they shine for you,
And all the things that you do.
The stars in the sky were put here to shine for you. This Love we share on Earth is not an accident. It is meant to be. -
anonymous Sep 30th 2011, 17:14 report
Went to a Coldplay gig back before they became mainstream & Chris said that the song was actually about doing coke that was yellow in colour...
"everything you do and they were all yellow"
"so then i took my turn, oh what a thing to have done"
"i drew a line for you"
i guess it kinda makes sense -
anonymous Sep 16th 2011, 23:03 report
has no one else understood that this is a song about the sacrifice of Christ for us? I'm not a thumper, but this song, whether intended or not, describes to me the resurrection and the hope for man. your skin and bones turn into something beautiful, he jumped across (death) for us? it speaks volumes to me of the love God has for us. only saying. maybe it is about his mom, maybe it is about suffering, just saying there is illimitable redemption here and I'll take what I can find. peace, j
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anonymous Sep 15th 2011, 16:52 report
My guess is it's about a Chinese girl in the South, where there is a lot of racism. He's talking about how he thinks being "yellow" (slang for asian) is perfect ["Your skin ph yah your skin and bones, turn it into something beautiful"] it, of course, being her heritage. Perhaps he's new to the south and was raised somewhere where interracial love is okay. He then proceeds to say he'd do anything for her ["I'd bleed myself dry"].
I played this song for my friend, who was raised in the south, and she explained how "yellow" was used synonymously with Aisian and that kind of got me thinking. I'm not saying that everyone in the South is a racist, I'm just saying there's a lot of people who hate Aisians in that general area, okay? Good, -
anonymous Sep 3rd 2011, 07:03 report
it has been said that this song is about chris martin's unrequited love. i think that he did everything for the girl he loves even though the girl did not show something bad. according to the other comment i read, "Yellow is commonly known as an optimistic, cheerful color. However, it is scientifically the most difficult color for the eye to take in." his love is difficult to return, or maybe something like that.
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voldaprova Jul 30th 2011, 22:07 report
The word yellow can be used as an adjective meaning cowardly, jealousy.
It's just a love song that talks about how much the guy loves someone and this someone is far, and he is jealous of the stars they can "see" this someone, when he can't. Or something like that.
That is what I think. -
anonymous Jun 29th 2011, 14:59 report
It does have many ways to look at it. Well, for me, It's something like this.
I used to not understand what yellow alone means, only until recently when a girl I really like told me she love this song a lot.
So I took some time to hear it and I was thinking about her throughout the song, than when the part came " you were all yellow",
I pictured her walking with me down the coastline, towards the setting sun. Saying that she's all yellow means how much i want her beside me, how much I want to end my day with her, and how much I don't want to lose her. I'm a hopeless romantic.
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anonymous Jun 28th 2011, 15:36 report
The lyric to this song are meaningless. The writer, Chris Martin has stated that he had a good idea for a melody. Then he just put arbitrary words in to fit. Boring, but true.
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anonymous Jun 15th 2011, 21:38 report
It means from courtship to marriage.
Look how the stars shine for you
I came along, I wrote a song for you.. (courtship)
So then I took my turn... (dating)
I swam across,
I jumped across for you,
Oh what a thing to do... (proposal & commitment)
I drew a line for you... (signing on the line)
Yellow means angelic light, that apparent glow you see when you meet your girl or any romantic event :) -
anonymous Jun 5th 2011, 23:41 report
In truth, stars shine for the glory of God. Whether he wrote it for that reason or not, that's my interpretation.
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