What does Speed of Sound mean?

Coldplay: Speed of Sound Meaning

Album cover for Speed of Sound album cover

Song Released: 2005


Speed of Sound Lyrics

How long before I get in?
Before it starts, before I begin?
How long before you decide?
Before I know what it feels like?
Where to, where do I go?
If you never tried, then you'll never know.
How long do I have to climb,
Up on this side of...

  1. anonymous
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    Mar 25th 2011 !⃝

    I think they could be talking about how creation began and how humans came to be.How no one has a definitive answer.Possibly speaking about inventions and things made that humans couldnt have done on our own without the help of something or someone else.Maybe its about extraterrestials who lived or are living under ground in the earth?Just a thought.Been reading David Icke recently and kinda saw a connection in the lyrics.Couldnt be any further a reach than dosing on acid I guess!Thats the cool thing about songs everyone gets something different out of the same song.

  2. anonymous
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    Feb 23rd 2011 !⃝

    It is about when u feel too much in a place and u want to go somewhere else like the birds

  3. Amy Wolfman
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    Feb 16th 2011 !⃝

    I have a completely different interpretation. I think the song is a message saying "If you want to overcome the obstacles that are holding you back in your life, then you need to take action. You need to accept responsibility for your own life." I also think they are saying that there are some aspects of life that a person will be able to understand and others that will remain a mystery. I think this song is a message to reach toward the stars and follow your dreams and work to achieve your goals.

  4. anonymous
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    Jan 5th 2011 !⃝

    How long before I get in?
    Before it starts, before I begin?
    How long before you decide?
    Before I know what it feels like?
    Where do, where do I go?

    If you never tried, then you'll never know.
    How long do I have to climb,
    Up on this side of this mountain of mine?


    (I believe the singer is singing about a relationship with someone he wants to be in. The woman that he loves has made him promises of leaving a stale love for him, but possibly has some apprehension.)


    Look up, I look up at night,
    Planets are moving at the speed of light.
    Climb up, up in the trees,
    Every chance that you get,
    Is a chance you seize.

    (Trying to convince her to keep focused on choosing him)

    How long am I gonna stand,
    With my head stuck under the sand?
    I’ll start before I can stop,
    Before I see things the right way up.

    (He's pondering how long he'll wait for her)

    All that noise and all that sound
    All those places I got found

    (He's talking about his friends thoughts on the matter)

    And birds go flying at the speed of sound
    To show you how it all began
    Birds came flying from the underground
    If you could see it then you'd understand

    (Possibly describing the elated feeling of the beginning of their love that he's feeling and trying to remind her of)

    Ideas that you'll never find
    Or the inventors could never design
    The buildings that you put up
    Or Japan and China, all lit up

    (Definitive reasons to make any true decision.)

    The sign that I couldn't read
    Or a light that I couldn't see
    Some things you have to believe
    But others are puzzles, puzzling me

    (He's analyzing his decision to continue on his quest for her. Could he have missed something? Some things he's able to decipher and other things confuse him.)

    All those signs I knew what they meant
    Some things you can't invent
    Some get made and some get sent, ooh

    (He sees that sometimes it looks like it's going to happen, but other times he thinks it might not happen.)



  5. anonymous
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    Dec 9th 2010 !⃝

    I think this song is all about Science and Faith. He's talking directly to God about the questions that we, as human beings, can never discover. We can only guess or believe things, but it will never be a fact. In this case, it's how life came about. 'How it all began'. I think he is expressing both arguments, theist and atheist in different ways so it relates to all human beings whether they're religious or not. Because at the end of the day, we can only ever believe something. We'll never actually know. So therefore it speaks out to Science and Faith.
    It's a very deep song-I like it.

  6. anonymous
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    Oct 3rd 2010 !⃝

    you ever wonder why this song can have so many interpretations? because its true meaning is to be revealed later. take this interpretation to bed with you: as it is written, enlighted be warned that your time will be short. coldplay is "enlightened" and have appeared on two of the other most "enlightened" artits's records as guest artists: not a coincidence. jennifer's body, although obviously fictional, contains bits of truth as to the way coldplay gained their popularity with very minimal musical talent. there will come a deception through television and haarps that will tell us that everything we ever learned about religion is wrong; coldplay is merely telling us that "birds" will tell us how "the world" all began...they are speaking of the great deception and are tools of the enlightened. it's a code we will never figure out until it happens...and when we see it then we'll understand. so stop trying to figure it out and stop listening to coldplay, jay z, kayne west and anyone associated with them. your brain and soul will thank you. self indulgence leads to death: and go do something constructive with your life and get off the internet. death and all his friends to the enlightened

    love,

    sparrow

  7. anonymous
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    Apr 22nd 2010 !⃝

    Interesting about perhaps the song being about a blind friend. I checked it out myself because it reminds me greatly of my oldest son who is dyslexic.

  8. anonymous
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    Mar 24th 2010 !⃝

    The speaker is on a journey of curiosity. (That is why the song appealed to me.) That is self explanatory in the first two stanzas. There is this idea that he is trying to reach the cosmos and learn more and more. He even marvels our own doings- “The buildings that you put up, Japan and China all lit up.” Later in the song he realizes that there are somethings we can know, and some things we can’t, “Somethings you have to believe/ but others are puzzles, puzzling me.” That can allude to the chorus, which enticed his curiosity-birds going at the speed of sound (or really fast) and birds coming from the underground can be symbolic of evolution/the origin of life=more curiosity. Birds can also be a symbol of freedom-freedom of his curiosity and being in constant growth, it goes so fast-like the speed of sound.

  9. anonymous
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    Feb 9th 2010 !⃝

    I think that the song is about taking chances in live, eather is trying acid or travelling around the world, like nike would say just do it.

  10. anonymous
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    Feb 7th 2010 !⃝

    Aren't they singing about on being drugs?

  11. Ryan_Schoolday333
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    Jan 7th 2010 !⃝

    For me, the song is all about being a believer in Christ, spreading of good news. because of the speed of sound the whole world already knows who is Jesus Christ. the birds flying represents the holy spirit that when the time you could see it then you will understand what Christ did on the cross for your life. and and as a believer, some things you have to believe.

  12. anonymous
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    Dec 29th 2009 !⃝

    As all meanings are painted by our own experiences, this song speaks to me about living courageously. For me specifically, it brings to mind thoughts about how I dislike my work, and how I'd rather do something more meaningful. It speaks about not being scared to go down the road not taken. As for the reference to birds, they never had to figure anything out. They simply evolved. They just flew and went with it. No logic to stop them, no reason to confuse them, it seems as thought it was always that way, and that we too should follow suit.

    I heard this song only recently while surfing in Jervis Bay, Australia. I just kept playing it over and over again on my waterproof ipod. The color and movement of the sea, the spray blown back by the winds, the intense blue sky, sunlight on the white sand landscape, the sensation of it all was really mind blowing. I felt free, uncertain, but not afraid. This were the few times in my life where I felt peace. The experience was telling me to live without fear or worry. To follow what comes naturally and to trust that ultimately, God still calls the shots and we're just in for the ride.

  13. Kahfi
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    Aug 23rd 2009 !⃝

    I guess the birds at the speed of sound meant how fast birds disseminate the information. Like web apps called 'Twitter'. ..Birds came flying from the underground...represents birds is coming from underground group whose holds the god's system.

  14. anonymous
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    Aug 18th 2009 !⃝

    Its about making music, chooseing sounds from all universe, like a writer is chooseing words from all chaotic realities of life just to make one thing that could make a difference. For me, this song is a most beautifull ode to music itself, and to life also, as those two things cant realy be separated... Its about creating, and the beauty of creative life...

    Thank you...

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
  15. anonymous
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    Aug 17th 2009 !⃝

    Birds that come flying from underground at the speed of sounds are missiles. That's how it all began!




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