Coldplay – We Never Change

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  My Interpretation:First off, love Coldplay with an undying passion. I just... I love it.
  
  Well, that's why I'm here.
  
  This song is about someone thinking about how he wants to live his life. The manner in which he wants to treat people, and how he wants to spend each day. So he starts off the song with this:
  
  "I want to live life
  Never be cruel
  I want to live life
  Be good to you"
  
  These are all fairly simple ideals. He wants to be a nice person, someone a little more dependable.
  
  "I want to fly
  And never come down
  And live my life
  And have friends around"
  
  With a more wistful tone, now he tells of what he wants to get - a happy life where he can stay in that one high place and never "come down," and to always have dependable people around.
  
  But he chuckles to himself, and sings,
  
  "We never change, do we?
  We never learn, do we?"
  
  He knows that in reality, he can't keep flying in one place where he'll never be brought down. He can't always be with friends. He can't even bring himself to hold back his temper. And no matter how much he realizes that it will never happen, his mind keeps floating back to the idea - hence, "we never change."
  With a deep breath, he continues.
  
  "So I want to live in a wooden house
  I want to live life always be true
  I want to live life and be good to you"
  
  These are more of his idealistic hopes. When I read "wooden house," I thought of a small, cozy little house of wood built and breathed life into by your own hands. So again, idealistic. He lists other things.
  
  He ends the song with not "We never change," but repeating what he has always wished for. This is so much more impactual than the former; it is exemplifying the point that he was making in the entire song - that "We never change."
  
  I love this song.

  Flag Headphonebon February 05, 2013   Link

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  My Interpretation:Like much of Parachutes and Coldplay more generally, it's about trying to change yourself, to become a better person. Perhaps it could be called self-actualization. Abandoning any feelings of hate and apathy.
  The wooden house, like others have mention before, is opposed to a glass house where "people throw stones" at one another. The current and imperfect world we all live in.
  "We never change" is sung with a sense of irony, he's changed, but the rest of society doesn't seem to change, so those who want to live a completely open and honest life can only do so in the company of good friends who possess no hostility to others. It's hard to find friends like that.

  Flag SticksStoneson August 19, 2012   Link

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  General Comment:This song has really been speaking to me recently (relationship issues, but then I realized it wasn't me, but I guess it wasn't the other person either? lol) I think a lot of us have a tendency to see past the faults of others and try to accept them as they are, but if you go to far down that road, you're bound to get hurt. What I get form this song is that being a "fixer" really is a hopefully endeavor: people can hide who they really are for a long time, but in the end their true self will come out, and it's not always what you expect :-/

  Flag bernlin2000on January 16, 2012   Link

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  General Comment:I always thought my beloved dog, Doug, was more human than dog. Doug seemed to be more the sort of human that I would like to be. He lived for the moment and loved being with his friends, never took a moment of it for granted. A being of intelligence, intuition and kindness to other creatures. What never changed and was never learned was to let go of his instinctive pattern to chase one particular vehicle that eventually ended his life. This song reminds me of the simple but full life of my dog Doug. We lived together in a wooden house in the country.

  Flag Dougsfriendon June 05, 2011   Link

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  General Comment:Such a beautiful song. I've done a lot of bad things lately, I've been negative to myself, I've been negative to others. I've lied to myself. I haven't trusted myself..
  
  I'm starting to change this for the better..and just when I hope it would get better, things start falling apart. But I'm getting used to that jo-jo move. Up, down..
  
  But every time I'm going for the positive, I'm gonna try to stay there. Songs like this just make you stronger.
  
  My thoughts and feelings to everyone who has gone through or is going through difficult times

  Flag llmiskallon June 01, 2011   Link

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  General Comment:This song is beautiful.
  To me, it represents all of the things we hope and dream about. The simple things that everyone else seems to possess.
  It's about feeling alone wherever you are, and just wanting to be a part of something. We all want to have a purpose, and I think this song really brings out that longing.

  Flag shesavedmeon March 21, 2011   Link

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  General Comment:We all desire a simple life--full of kindness, friends, nature, and minimal belongings--but we can't seem to change our lives to achieve this life.

  Flag ferrariguy90on February 12, 2011   Link

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  General Comment:Does anyone think that he might be stuck in....2 states of mind - like, 'I want to be good to you...but i also want to live my life. I dont want to be cruel...but i really want to fly and never come down. Maybe he feels like in order to live the life he dreams of, he has to be selfish, but it sucks because he also wants to be a good person, not cruel to the ones he cares for. The wooden house seems like Chris's metaphoric answer to his unhappiness - a place he could go and live a simple life where he can just be him, be what he wants to be...where friends are welcome, but others who seek to impose life on him are not, if he wanted those people he would live in a glass house - exposing him to anyone. He feels like he has to be cruel to the others in his life in order live like this - free - but he doesnt want to be cruel. The song is about ambivalence.

  Flag WhatHitson July 27, 2010   Link

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  General Comment:Chris Martin is saying that he wishes he life was as easy as living in a house a just have friends around but he says "i sing every single day" so he means that he is upest or he is having trouble with his life

  Flag ChrisMartinFanon July 20, 2010   Link

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  General Comment:I love this song. I love the line "I wanna live in a wooden house." No offense tubesocks but I don't think this is nonsensical at all. I think its referring to the phrase about glass houses.. He wants to live in a wooden house..where making friends would be easy. Meaning that this wooden house is a place where him and his friends are safe and don't "throw stones" at each other shattering each others glass houses..I also think the song is about a fantasy of the perfect life..and how we know what we need to do in life but we make mistakes and are always striving for but unable to achieve that fantasy life. "we never change do we?" "we never learn do we?"

  Flag jennlpn22on July 19, 2010   Link

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