What does Every Teardrop is a Waterfall mean?

Coldplay: Every Teardrop is a Waterfall Meaning

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Album cover for Every Teardrop is a Waterfall album cover

Song Released: 2011


Every Teardrop is a Waterfall Lyrics

I turn the music up, I got my records on
I shut the world outside until the lights come on
Maybe the streets alight, maybe the trees are gone
I feel my heart start beating to my favorite song

And all the kids they dance, all the kids all...

  1. 1TOP RATED

    #1 top rated interpretation:
    roykoopa
    click a star to vote
    Jun 30th 2011 !⃝

    HOPE. Typical Chris and the rest of the band. They never seize to display their belief in their sound. The song talks about the beauty that can come out of a seemingly ugly or hurtful situation. The upbeat tempo rises towards the end of the song and what I vision is stampede of an ugly situation. Rejoice in any given situation. We might hurt but for a Creator to allow such pains, trust He sees the potential to turn that situation to our benefit. Had to understand and believe sometimes but hell, that's just the way it has been since Adam's days.
    I agree with them when they say 'I'd rather be a comma than a full stop' that's just so philosophical. The song's just the IT. Just like 'life in technicolour' from the 'leftrightleftright' EP. They do what 'MAE' does to me. I see, feel, taste and touch their songs. Waiting for Coldplay to come to Nigeria.

  2. 2TOP RATED

    #2 top rated interpretation:
    anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Aug 7th 2011 !⃝

    My interpretation of this song is that it's about the Japanese tsunami. Although it could be any political uprising such as those in Northern Ireland's past, the lyrics seem to point to that one specific incident: "I shut the world outside until the lights come on (power outage)
    Maybe the streets alight, maybe the trees are gone..." envisions of being trapped while "From underneath the rubble" clearly indicates the devastation. "Maybe I'm in the black, maybe I'm on my knees" indicates once again a power outage. "And we saw oh this light I swear you, emerge blinking into
    To tell me it's alright
    As we soar walls, every siren is a symphony
    And every tear's a waterfall. It would seem to me that this alluded to a rescue; that even the sirens were a welcome sound...a sound of life coming from the outside. He repeats the phrase, "It was a waterfall" which to me would signify a positive way of looking at the tsunami in the aftermath of such devastation. "So you can hurt, hurt me bad
    But still I'll raise the flag" signifies to me that a nation in the wake of such a disaster will always aspire to rise again and triumph. As always, the sign of a strong lyricist is to leave interpretation open, and Chris has once again done this expertly.

  3. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Feb 14th 2016 !⃝

    I undestand this beautiful song as if my country's been represented in the lines. I'm from Mexico, we'd had a lot of problems and this is not a thing that has been happening recently; no, it has been a long time with government's corruption, poverty, lack of opportunity and most of all, ignorance, Mexico's cancer.Despide of all, I think each and every mexican, has trust, and trust is something that should never die. If we start building a better country, we won't be seen as a bad stereotype anymore. We have had brilliant people and that Alejandro González Iñárritu, that Chivo, that Javier Hernández, that Nery Vela, that Carlos Fuentes are people, people like us. So you can hurt, hurt me bad, Mexico...
    But still I’ll raise the flag

  4. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Feb 14th 2016 !⃝

    I undestand this beautiful song as if my country's been represented in the lines. I'm from Mexico, we'd had a lot of problems and this is not a thing that has been happening recently; no, it has been a long time with government's corruption, poverty, lack of opportunity and most of all, ignorance, Mexico's cancer.Despide of all, I think each and every mexican, has trust, and trust is something that should never die. If we start building a better country, we won't be seen as a bad stereotype anymore. We have had brilliant people and that Alejandro González Iñárritu, that Chivo, that Javier Hernández, that Nery Vela, that Carlos Fuentes are people, people like us. So you can hurt, hurt me bad, Mexico...
    But still I’ll raise the flag

  5. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Feb 27th 2013 !⃝

    I honestly love their music because it fills me with a deeper, more intense feeling than say, Ke$ha, and I feel as though this song is delving into itself a bit and that there's more than meets the eye.
    Maybe I'm looking at this too much from a Romeo and Juliet point of view, but it could be that they're trying to tell us that the whole death of so many isn't in vain, and that even though each teardrop shed represents many, many people crying, that it will all get better.
    If I were to sum it up in one word...
    Hope.

  6. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Oct 28th 2012 !⃝

    Music is our salvation. It takes us away from the pain, the suffering of humanity and it reminds us to be like children. Our light is in looking for what is beautiful, what God has created. Our teardrops turn into waterfalls. We raise the flag and become rebels against the darkness, the pain, the hurt and heaven is in sight because the music sweeps away our pain. Even the sirens become music when we see our lives as having purpose, not just pain and suffering.

  7. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Jun 18th 2012 !⃝

    I see it as the magic of listening to and making music. First, you have one of those days when you go home, lock yourself in your room, and let the world melt away while you jam to your tunes. Then you have the kids partying all weekend, using the music to escape the upcoming week. The "rebel song" that wells up inside of you when you need to be against the world.

    Maybe you make/listen to music because it makes you rich or you need faith, because you're in an impossible situation, or because you're in love.

    Or simply for the poetry of the world around you, 'sirens as symphonies' or 'tears as waterfalls.'

    Awesome tune!

  8. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    May 8th 2012 !⃝

    for me its about finding inner happiness.

    remember that we are responsible for finding our own gratitide.in those moment of being so downtrodden before you find the euphoria of life, every tear drop contains a million emotions of burdens and you have to set them free! let it all out!

    funny that Life is a matter of choice but we still used to hide our feelings.i know that there's no room for grieving but sometimes you have to face your fears.everyone should pour it out.

    then you'll see,you'll be ok afterwards... :)

    it 's always good to listen to Coldplay. They give you some sort of a hope, that nothings over yet.

  9. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Mar 8th 2012 !⃝

    My opinion on this song is that the narrator is finding a place where he can be happy, finding an inner peace; "and heaven is in sight." He is saying no matter where he is in life even if he's just flying through the air against gravity, "between the two trapeze" his "cathedral is in my heart" so he is finding his inner happiness. Only you are responsible for finding you own happiness. The narrator also recognizes that in those moment of darkness before you find that happiness, every tear drop contains a million emotions of pain and hurt. Every teardrop is a waterfall of emotions pouring out. But he knows at the end if you're a good person heaven is in sight.

  10. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Feb 5th 2012 !⃝

    I think it's about the hidden beauty of the big city.

  11. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Jan 29th 2012 !⃝

    For me it is about him shutting himself out of the world and staying in the dark while the world outside is happy and lively. It is as if he is depressed from the loss or lack of something very important to him so much that even with the song being so upbeat and the world outside him being so full of life, he still remains in the dark in his own world, missing out. Towards the end it's difficult to describe, but it seems as if someone cheers him up and his tears of sadness turn into tears of joy.

  12. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Nov 2nd 2011 !⃝

    Considering that all of the album Mylo Xyloto is one big story told through the songs, this song fits in with the overarching love story in that the couple is at a high in their relation.

  13. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Jul 10th 2011 !⃝

    Well, in the wake of the current political fallouts and economical crisis, I guess Coldplay has thrown in a song which makes all believe that sooner or later, the sweat that's been perspired, the blood that's been shed, and the tears that have been dropped would come as a revolutionary force in the future.

    It's always good to listen to Coldplay.
    They give you some sort of a hope, that nothings over yet.

    Songs are by far, the most motivational art.
    And Coldplay, in this generation, leads its way.

  14. anonymous
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    Jun 25th 2011 !⃝

    This songs seems to mean that a revolution will likely happen in the next future because of "many tears" shed by young people caused by the current crisis, especially in the european countries (think about "indignados" in Spain or Greek), whose economies are strangled by finance, banks and no more taking care of real people needs

  15. anonymous
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    Jun 19th 2011 !⃝

    Every good thing in life it ruined by a bad thing and every bad thing is improved by a good thing..


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