What does Yellow mean?

Coldplay: Yellow Meaning

Album cover for Yellow album cover

Song Released: 2000


Get "Yellow" on MP3: Get MP3 from iTunes

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...

  1. 1TOP RATED

    #1 top rated interpretation:
    raphawesome6
    click a star to vote
    Oct 7th 2014 !⃝

    Reading the lyrics, it's obviously about an undying love for someone, be it a spouse, a friend, parents etc.

    But what's interesting, to me anyways, is the title. Martin said that yellow doesn't mean anything, he just thought it sounded right. And ironically, that's what love is. It doesn't have to make sense, it's not science, but that lovw between you and another person, it just fits

  2. 2TOP RATED

    #2 top rated interpretation:
    lilysoul
    click a star to vote
    Sep 21st 2008 !⃝

    The goal of a true artist or musician is to allow others to interpret their work as they wish or as they need to. That's probably why no one seems to know exactly the meaning of this masterpiece. It's definitely about love, it's definitely beautiful, it speaks to our souls. For example, I can see the Spiritual meaning, and I can see the human-love meaning(all love is a reflection of Divine love anyway, right?) True love, whether for your mother, your child, your soul mate, your friend, your brother - is when you'd do anything for that person;loving them makes their mere, common "skin and bones" something beautiful and no one seems as exquisite as the one you are loving. These interpretations are all terrific, they reveal how this song has touched each heart in a personal way. No matter where Coldplay's ideas for "Yellow" came from, this song is one with which every person connects. Art doesn't need to be dissected.....

  3. 3TOP RATED

    #3 top rated interpretation:
    anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Oct 16th 2006 !⃝

    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

  4. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Jun 11th 2023 !⃝

    I am struggling with a loss of a loved one and this song helps me think of them in many ways. Whenever I hear this song I look to the sky and imagine I’m sucking it to them up there

  5. ness
    click a star to vote
    Dec 19th 2022 !⃝

    When I heard this song for the very first time,
    I felt like it was a song for someone who is suffering from a disease that's gonna take them away in no time or maybe for someone who has suicidal thought and doesn't think much of themselves.
    You know I feel like a waste of space myself a lot of times but hearing this song feels like someone is consoling me, telling me that they'd do anything for me, and for everything that I do and I don't, there's someone out there who thinks that the stars shine for a useless existence like me. This song is kind of uplifting in that sense. At the very least, for me it is.
    And I think Yellow is everything warm and beautiful, you know, so much like the sun so in that sense, it is a song of loving and making someone feel like they actually brighten up your life. That in itself gives a meaning to their existence, even if they don't feel like it.
    It's everything a warm hug from your loved one is supposed to feel like .

  6. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Dec 31st 2019 !⃝

    I always relate it to self love... when I declare my unconditional love to myself, cant think of a better song, as much as I really cant think of being all these things to anyone but myself... yes, because it's all Yellow

  7. anonymous
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    May 18th 2019 !⃝

    I thinks it about Jesus

  8. anonymous
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    Mar 30th 2019 !⃝

    Coldplay sings about stars a lot. I truly think this song is talking about returning to stardust when we leave this earth (your skin and bones... turn into something beautiful).. and how we go to the ends of the earth (I swam across.. I jumped across for you) to find that person in the next lifetime. I sang this song for my husband on our second anniversary... it's how I interpret the song. The other song that I feel links to this one is "You're a sky full of stars." Whomever writes the lyrics to these songs is in tune with our creator.

  9. anonymous
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    Nov 19th 2017 !⃝

    The line.."so then I took my turn".. clearly means this song is written from the narrative of God. I just think Chris downplays his faith.

  10. anonymous
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    Dec 16th 2016 !⃝

    Sounds like he knows something about the one and only true Twin Flame... The great cycle of creation from the source of Sol.

  11. anonymous
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    Dec 12th 2016 !⃝

    Yellow TO ME:

    My sr year I had a crush on my friend that transfered back to public school with me
    We talked about prom
    We talked about his mothers mental state
    I talked my past
    Everyday we would meet up
    It grew to be cute after a while
    Id hold his bookback when i was trying to fight threw the crowd
    Then he disappeared

    Id look out the window eeryday an my teachers knew i was sad
    I was the class clown that did her makeup well but is goofy as shit


    I was heartbroke id look at the park OUR park while this song played EVERYDAY


    TO ME:
    It was
    *id do anything for you
    *we couod run away
    *our first kiss
    *us slightly dating
    *me holding your bookbag
    *having a boy with a loud red truck
    *YELLOW IS FRIENDSHIP


    When I first kissed "A"
    I felt a spark
    It might be because we both had peppermints in our mouths
    It was chilly outside
    Getting dark
    We talked about EVERYTHING
    My lip felt like it touched a bolt
    The way he bite my lip softly
    I backed away looked at him an i didnt see him as the boy from private school
    I liked him THEN & THERE

    Like something came overr
    I wanted his lips MORE

    Were having this makeout session then I jumped off the table
    An said I should get home


    "I jumped across for you"
    I didnt want to ruin our friendship

    "They were all yellow"
    The sunset

    "I took my time "
    I didnt rush

    "It was all yellow"
    Our friendship was all we had

    "Your skin an bones turn to somethig beauitful"

    I thought the kiss was going to be gross cause he smoked but the peppermint tasted like a battery you know? Lemony tangy


    "O what a thing to do"
    To not ruin us

    Turn into something beautuful
    He was so skinny but then he just turned to a boy i didnt want to let go of


    "Its trueee"
    I was sad he stopped talking to me
    He was all i had tyat year


    "All the things you do"

    How we think the same how he calles me : goofy

    How it toom 2 hours to kiss me cause i kept moving


    Its about SIMPLE FRIENDSHIP
    CHANGING

    it was in the fall so yellow comes out again an i live in the mid west so


    Yellows about:

    A simple PURE love
    NOT wanting it to go away or change but to stay as beautiful while falling in love not to change the beauty while falling love


    In real life the color yellow means FRIENDSHIP


    Look how they shine for you

    Like look what i would have given you
    Look how you make me happy
    Look how crazy this is making me
    Look at how pure my love is
    Look how i want to be with you help you


    I actually saw him last night

    Were FWB but he says im honest nice an loyal


    Thing is hell never know how pure my love is / was

    Though he gets sad online about girls

    Now being out of school
    I can see were diff


    Never can i have had that pure love

    An it hurt when he didnt see it

    Like I hope he never askes to date becauss now its not that initial purity brotherly love i had


    When i looked out the window up the hill in between the trees the gap
    I saw the swing and how he promised wed go to prom my last year

    As i traced myself back to my cold dead study hall room an my teacher would look at me with a sad grin
    Its like he felt my pain through my headphones


    Then id get my books an go home on a cold bus for a 45 min sad music video with cold windows to burn your eyes


    Thats YELLOW
    THATS ALSO PAIN
    THATS TEENAGE YEARS
    THATS LIFE
    THATS FALLING OUT OF LOVE
    THATS HORMONES
    THATS ThE FAIRY TALE we girls grew to love

  12. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Mar 27th 2016 !⃝

    I believe this song makes perfect sense if looked at from the perspective that the members of the band are Christians. Yellow could be a love song written from Jesus to the listener. For instance the lyric "for you I'll bleed myself dry" refers to His love for you that He would die on the cross for you. Listen to the song as a letter from Jesus to you and the song starts to make a lot of sense. However this is my opinion.

  13. anonymous
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    Jul 16th 2014 !⃝

    Well, I think the song is about unrequited love. Coldplay member once said that the word 'yellow' didn't have any significant meaning

  14. anonymous
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    May 17th 2014 !⃝

    Well...this song talks aboutt true love...golden love...the right one for each of us...V should be able to delete the silver ones so we can catch the golden and yellow ones. The true stars that can be shiniest thing for us... <3 love U eric

  15. gabimariee23
    click a star to vote
    Dec 24th 2013 !⃝

    Naturally people think this song is about liver disease, or even love. I feel this song hit me hard in a different way referring to methamphetamine (also known as "Meth"). It is at times yellow, and not only that, but when you rely on this drug you feel wanted, needed, beautiful. "Your skin and bones, turn into something beautiful" is a line in my mind referring to how you are literally skin and bones and how they are something beautiful, whether it be while you're on meth or not. I felt he was talking about himself on meth as a separate person he swam and jumped across for this other side of him that was all yellow because of the malnutrition his body had. " I drew a line" meaning of meth, "Look at the stars look how they shine for you and all the things you do". Its as if the analogy that the stars shine for you is the very basis of this song. you feel like everyone wants to be you. you are beautiful and have no flaws. you continue to do so because it makes you feel so.

  16. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Apr 26th 2013 !⃝

    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.

  17. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Jan 6th 2013 !⃝

    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.

  18. anonymous
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    Sep 7th 2012 !⃝

    "This song is about fluttershy"
    -Abyss
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDFcLa_2pzQ

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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