What does O mean?

Coldplay: O Meaning

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Album cover for O album cover
Get "O" on MP3: Get MP3 from iTunes

O Lyrics

Flock of birds
Hovering above
Just a flock of birds
It's how you think of love

And I always
Look up to the sky
Pray before the dawn
'Cause they fly always
Sometimes they arrive
Sometimes they are gone
They fly on

Flock of...

  1. 1TOP RATED

    #1 top rated interpretation:
    anonymous
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    Mar 24th 2015 !⃝

    Every time I hear this song I know it has a sad feel to it but I never feel completely sad when I hear it, instead I feel a relief rather than sorrow and I cant really explain that.

    Life comes and goes, it hovers like a flock of birds.
    We know and love people we meet but at any moment they can leave us and fly away.

    We all look for answers in lost places through the smoke, even though its clear as the the night sky before the dawn. We try to do enough good things before
    we start a new day because we all know that it will
    eventually come to an end.

    Sometimes we win sometimes we lose but we all
    die and fly on into the sky. And as the rest of us look up, we see others flying away, whether it be loved ones or strangers and we pray that one day we will fly with them someday and see their faces again.

  2. 2TOP RATED

    #2 top rated interpretation:
    anonymous
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    Nov 17th 2014 !⃝

    I think Fly on is about someone you have lost and think of often. Flying on Ride through meaning they r on their way to the Great beyond and maybe one day I can fly with you...meaning that at some point they will be together again.

  3. 3TOP RATED

    #3 top rated interpretation:
    anonymous
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    Aug 1st 2014 !⃝

    I feel like this song is about how to some people, being loved or love is something beautiful but unobtainable, like a flock of birds hovering far above the sky.

    Even if they do pray, or turn into smoke, they can't truly have love. Cause the flock of birds will never wait for them, never be theirs.

    Smoke can also be interpreted as dreams (soul). Love is only obtainable in dreams.

    It's really sad actually.

  4. anonymous
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    Jul 30th 2019 !⃝

    In the end, you can hear the choir singing and repeating "want Kathleen" so I think its both.
    A song about a lover, and a deceased one.

    I think Chris Martin has a lover in the past who died.

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
  5. anonymous
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    Aug 12th 2018 !⃝

    I feel like the title ”O” symbolizes the circle of life. I personally think that the birds of this song are the phases of life. This song captures whole life and even the ”afterlife” in the lines maybe one day I will fly with you. Somehow the vibes of this song are so sad but at the same time calming and fullfilling. All the metafores also leave much space for our own interpretation amd that is why everyone feels like every word of ”O” is true for themselves.

  6. anonymous
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    Aug 7th 2018 !⃝

    I Guess is about changing yourself when Life becomes harder on you and given yourself a true meaning.thats why he mentionned Birds cause Birds travel and he wants that change

  7. anonymous
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    Feb 8th 2018 !⃝

    This song is about Chris and is divorce with Gwyneth. That she’s “flying” on. That their love was here and then gone. And that he hopes “one day maybe I can fly next to you/with you”

  8. anonymous
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    Jan 10th 2018 !⃝

    I think the flock of birds represent love which keeps hovering above and chris hopes to be free like them and fly next to them. He wants to be as free like a bird of love and spread love all around.

  9. anonymous
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    Dec 15th 2017 !⃝

    I feel like it's about so many things...it's many types of leaving. A breakup,a child finally flying solo,a person dying and leaving us behind(it's what I think about the most,for how solemnly it's sung by Chris),and they all fly to a place of their own,a space sometimes hard to reach("maybe one day I ll fly next to you").And we can read it however we want to.It's the magic of this song. It's full of feelings:mourning,calmness,peacefulness....

  10. anonymous
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    May 5th 2017 !⃝

    this song reminds me...of the time i lost my little brother..he paased on and flew on..with the others that we loved dearly..even though the smoke in us is greif ,pain and sorrow..maybe one day i'll fly next to him.looking up to the sky..knowing..or imagining the view of heaven to were to fly off to..love..family and friend come and go..like a flock of birds.

  11. anonymous
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    Apr 17th 2017 !⃝

    The lyrics said it all. The video said it all.
    It's about a couple and I'm not sure if the boy left or the girl. Not sure if they separated physically. The main point of this song is that when you are loved by someone and you also love them, make the most of your time together because you will never know if it will be the last time.


    ~ Robot

  12. anonymous
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    Apr 17th 2017 !⃝

    I think this song is about saying goodbye. I listened to this song after I was coming home from a missions trip, and was hit with a truckload of emotions about saying goodbye to people. I think the line "fly on" means to keep going forward, and to not worry about parting ways, and the line, "maybe one day I'll fly next to you," means that maybe one day we will get to see the people we've left behind again. That goodbye, even through death, is never final. To me this song is very nostalgic and both peaceful and sorrowful at the same time.

  13. anonymous
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    Jan 19th 2017 !⃝

    I think it's about love relationships and that some of those birds (love) just fly on meaning your relationship is gone and won't be coming back. One of the Coldplay members actually got divorced when this song was made so that's why.

  14. anonymous
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    Dec 4th 2016 !⃝

    yes even though its a sad song, it has a bittersweet feel, as if he is looking back in a positive light even though it still brings many emotions to the surface.

    this song makes me remember the times that even though were hard, made ma a better person today.

  15. anonymous
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    Oct 18th 2016 !⃝

    This song...It keeps me going. I feel that I live in a bad home. My parents are divorced and I fell that one of them don't love me like they love themselves. then I go to my other parents house and feel loved. Then I go back to the place that doesn't love me. this song somehow relieves my stress and anxiety about the whole situation. Now I am not good at telling the meaning of songs, but this song sounds so very clear in my mind. I wish I could comprehend just how much it helps me in life. Thank you Coldplay.

  16. anonymous
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    May 15th 2016 !⃝

    It's about losing and getting in the same or different times..
    When you need to move forward..

  17. anonymous
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    Jan 28th 2016 !⃝

    I don't see this song as being so sad, I find it very peaceful. I think it certainly can be about a man struggling to find love from a woman but I it is also about mankind's struggle to connect with a greater spiritual entity and perceive the love of God. The speaker yearns for the beauty and freedom of perfect love as embodied in the flock of birds flying at dawn, a new day. That love is sometimes perceptible, sometimes not, but it comes at moments that God wills and the beholder is able to perceive the beauty, perhaps in quiet moments as in the first morning light. The speaker is both grateful for the manifestation and aches for more but trusts that there are times when the birds fly and times when they don't according to some greater design. Smoke is a common biblical metaphor for prayer (similar to incense) He has faith that someday he will fly as a bird or with the birds in a freer more perfect world, released from mortal constraints. That faith ultimately brings him peace as he ends with "fly on".

  18. anonymous
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    Dec 12th 2015 !⃝

    I think "O" has a deeper meaning. I believe "O" plays the perfect instrumentals for someone dealing with grief and mourning. I like the use of the line "Fly on..." It helps one believe that there is ultimate happiness at the end of the road. When they sing "...maybe one day I can fly with you..." it describes one mourning the loss of a loved one, and that one day the mourner will find peace with that loss. Coldplay does an amazing job of keeping the underlying meanings of their tracks hidden. Although several people may find this frustrating, I find it so much more interesting. It's great to pick the meaning of a sing to yourself. Great job--and Fly On...

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