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Come up to meet you
Tell you I'm sorry
You don't know how lovely you are
I had to find you
Tell you I need you
Tell you I set you apart
Tell me your secrets
And ask me your questions
Oh let's go back to the start
Running in circles; coming up tails
Heads on a silence apart
Nobody said it was easy
It's such a shame for us to part
Nobody said it was easy
No one ever said it would be this hard
Oh take me back to the start
I was just guessing at numbers and figures
Pulling your puzzles apart
Questions of science; science and progress
Do not speak as loud as my heart
Tell me you love me
Come back and haunt me
Oh and I rush to the start
Running in circles, chasing our tails
Coming back as we are
Nobody said it was easy
Oh it's such a shame for us to part
Nobody said it was easy
No one ever said it would be so hard
I'm going back to the start
Oh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh
X4
Tell you I'm sorry
You don't know how lovely you are
I had to find you
Tell you I need you
Tell you I set you apart
Tell me your secrets
And ask me your questions
Oh let's go back to the start
Running in circles; coming up tails
Heads on a silence apart
Nobody said it was easy
It's such a shame for us to part
Nobody said it was easy
No one ever said it would be this hard
Oh take me back to the start
I was just guessing at numbers and figures
Pulling your puzzles apart
Questions of science; science and progress
Do not speak as loud as my heart
Tell me you love me
Come back and haunt me
Oh and I rush to the start
Running in circles, chasing our tails
Coming back as we are
Nobody said it was easy
Oh it's such a shame for us to part
Nobody said it was easy
No one ever said it would be so hard
I'm going back to the start
Oh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh
X4
Lyrics submitted by BuckWilder, edited by blue412
Track duration: 05:09
"The Scientist" as written by Guy Rupert Berryman, Jonathan Mark Buckland, William Champion, Christopher Anthony John Martin
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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"Come up to meet you
Tell you I'm sorry
You don't know how lovely you are
I had to find you
Tell you I need you
Tell you I set you apart"
The writer wants to tell their loved one how special they actually were because they had no idea and maybe if they knew how much they really meant, they wouldn't have killed themselves. They weren't able to tell them how they truly felt about them before they died. They wanted them to know that they were more important to them than most.
"Nobody said it was easy
It's such a shame for us to part
Nobody said it was easy
No one ever said it would be this hard
Oh take me back to the start"
Everyone is telling them that they are going to have a hard time coping with their loss, but they didn't realize just how difficult it would really be. They are finding themselves wishing for more time with that person and wanting to go back in time and live through those precious moments with that person again.
"I was just guessing at numbers and figures
Pulling your puzzles apart"
To me, this means that the writer had no idea what was causing the one they cared about so much emotional turmoil. I find my own self questioning what was pulling him apart all of the time. They are left with their own theories because the one they would like to ask isn't there to answer those questions.
"Tell me you love me
Come back and haunt me"
They are longing to be told by their departed loved one that they loved them. They can't stand the thought of them being gone forever and would love nothing more than to be with them, even if they are haunting their every day lives. They can't accept the fact that they are gone forever.
If it weren't for this horrible experience, my interpretation would probably be a lot different, but this song seems to put some of what I am feeling into a better perspective and it is a lot of what I wish I could say to my best friend.
For me, it's about old love. The one singing is the one who was too detached from his partner. He used logic and reasoning and ultimately held back a part of himself. He never attached to his partner on an intimate level. He realizes he messed up, and it may be too late to rekindle his old love's lost flames who may have moved on. He wishes he could go back to the start and re-do the things he had done. Either way, he's going back to the memories they had and shared.
On a personal level, I found out I'm an Myers-Briggs INTJ "The Scientist". I just got out of my first serious relationship, partly because my partner and I couldn't converse or connect at a more intimate level because I held part of myself back. It may very well be too late to go back, but I wish I could. I'm trying to go back to the start to re-live the memories and find out what went wrong.
as for me,
i retired from living a double life .. I decided to start a relationship with a girl a fell in love with years ago ...
after years of rollercoaster crazy ride of both amazing love and tragedy I did not realize I was losing her and I knew then that I took her for love for granted..
The line was so painful ... like an electric flow of painful blood flow from the air to the heart and brain... " Im going back to the start "
as for me,
i retired from living a double life .. I decided to start a relationship with a girl a fell in love with years ago ...
after years of rollercoaster crazy ride of both amazing love and tragedy I did not realize I was losing her and I knew then that I took her for love for granted..
The line was so painful ... like an electric flow of painful blood flow from the air to the heart and brain... " Im going back to the start "
I'd like to start my interpretation by stating that the "Scientist" in this song is a metaphor. I'll explain why I think so later.
Come up to meet you
Tell you I'm sorry
You don't know how lovely you are
I had to find you
Tell you I need you
Tell you I set you apart
(This is pretty straightforward. The guy is going to the girl and apologizing for his actions, trying to make up for not speaking with her. He had to find her because it was killing him inside, and "haunting" him. He hopes that by saying these words, she'll finally understand how much he loves her.)
Tell me your secrets
And ask me your questions
Oh let's go back to the start
(He wants her to tell him her deepest thoughts. He wants to hear that she still loves him. He wants her to ask him questions about what's been going on so he can explain to her. He realizes that if she asks questions, it means she still cares and still wants to save the relationship. He wants to go back to the way things were and hopes that by explaining everything to her, it will clear up any misunderstanding that may have occurred during their time apart.)
Running in circles; coming up tails
Heads on a silence apart
(He doesn't know where to start which is why he wants her to ask the questions. He keeps "running in circles", trying to figure out what to say to her. He flips a coin which decides their fate. Heads means he will continue to wait for her to talk to him, but he hasn't heard from her which explains the "silence apart". Tails means he has to be the one to talk to her and make things right with them. Fate has decided that it is up to him to fix their relationship, which is why the coin keeps "coming up tails".)
Nobody said it was easy
It's such a shame for us to part
Nobody said it was easy
No one ever said it would be this hard
Oh take me back to the start
(He clearly doesn't want the relationship to end. He regrets not telling her and is feeling the pain it brings every day. The fact that the lyrics say "nobody", means he has talked to numerous people for advice but they always told him the same thing. They kept telling him that it wouldn't be easy but it's for the best and so he listened to them. They also told him that he'd get over her in time, but clearly he has not and he again, he wants to "go back to the start" when everything was perfect with the couple.)
I was just guessing at numbers and figures
Pulling your puzzles apart
Questions of science; science and progress
Do not speak as loud as my heart
(This is where the metaphor of the scientist comes into play. He was trying to figure out how to make the relationship work, using logic and reasoning. Again this line suggests he asked others for advice, but they told him it would not work. There are an endless list of possibilities as to why the relationship wouldn't work. He has been trying to find the one reason as to why the relationship would work out, and realizes that it's his love for her that would make the relationship work. He realizes that no one else can see why he feels this way about her. No one else can tell him why it would work because they don't understand the relationship. They just see two completely different people, trying to make a what seems impossible relationship work. They can't understand that love for someone defies all logic and reasoning.)
Tell me you love me
Come back and haunt me
(Again, he wants to hear that she still loves him. He wants her to come back to him and "haunt" him. This suggests that they did not tell each other how they actually felt, and it has been on his mind since he started to fall for her. He has been analyzing her every move, trying to figure out how she feels, and in the process he fell for her even more. She has been "haunting" his thoughts.)
Tell me you love me
Come back and haunt me
Oh and I rush to the start
Running in circles, chasing our tails
Coming back as we are
(All of this was explained above, except for "coming back as we are." This suggests that he has finally decided to talk to her. He tried to rush things at first "and I rush to the start", but realizes this is difficult because of all the pain that he put her through. However, after he explains his actions and answers her questions, they are slowly working things out and slowly going back to the way things were.)
Nobody said it was easy
Oh it's such a shame for us to part
Nobody said it was easy
No one ever said it would be so hard
I'm going back to the start
(He realizes that it isn't going to be easy to mend their relationship, but his love for her is more important than what other people think. He realizes that what other people think doesn't matter. It isn't their relationship, it's his. He knows that it's up to him to fix it, as decided by the "coin", another metaphor for fate. He learns that to "go back to the start", he needs to explain everything to her. He is willing to do anything it takes to fix their relationship, and is ready for the hard times because once the hard times pass, he realizes that it will be the perfect relationship, and that the hard times are worth for what is to come.)
Another brilliantly written song by Coldplay! :)