When you try your best but you don't succeed
When you get what you want but not what you need
When you feel so tired but you can't sleep
Stuck in reverse

When the tears come streaming down your face
When you lose something you can't replace
When you love someone but it goes to waste
Could it be worse?

Lights will guide you home
And ignite your bones
And I will try to fix you

High up above or down below
When you're too in love to let it go
If you never try you'll never know
Just what you're worth

Lights will guide you home
And ignite your bones
And I will try to fix you

Tears stream down your face
When you lose something you cannot replace
Tears stream down your face
And I

Tears stream down your face
I promise you I will learn from my mistakes
Tears stream down your face
And I

Lights will guide you home
And ignite your bones
And I will try to fix you


Lyrics submitted by SMUSER17024245, edited by aimish, ItsNotHard, Peace411

Fix You Lyrics as written by Guy Rupert Berryman Christopher Anthony John Martin

Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group

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Fix You song meanings
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528 Comments

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  • +27
    General Comment

    This song makes me think of when you like someone but you are unable, for whatever reason, to do anything about it. It's that helpless feeling when you want to tell someone how much you like them but they aren't single, live to far away ("when you love someone but it goes to waste") or are too good friends to risk it ("when you lose something that you can't replace")....

    This song seems, to me, to be saying that you should just go for it ("if you never try, you'll never know").

    Then the chorus that says "lights will guide you home, and ignite you're bones" seems to say that it'll all be ok in the end and that you will do what is right....

    I might be totally wrong but that's what it means to me.

    Also, on another note, this is a great song and the people who have only heard it from the OC have missed half of the song as it is 4:54 long and the OC only plays 2:35 of it. There's a big build up at the end and a full band part instead of just the organ and singing that you hear in the OC.....

    PeteBaldwinon June 02, 2005   Link
  • +20
    General Comment

    Chris said it was written for his wife Gwyn after her father passed away. So sweet and such a beautiful song. I wish I had a husband as amazing as Chris :)

    "When you're too in love to let it go If you never try you'll never know Just what you're worth."

    When I was going through a breakup with my ex, these lyrics struck such a comforting chord with me, because I was trying to help myself realize I could do so much better than him, so I had to let him go in search for a better guy that I deserve.

    rosematazzon January 30, 2013   Link
  • +16
    General Comment

    i think you're all focusing too much on there being a scenario for this to fit. I think the song is simply about grief and coming to terms with loss, whether in a relationship, or the death of a loved one. I do however, think that "ignite your bones" is a reference to cremation. I get the feeling it was a death that inspired this song.

    The lines: When you try your best, but you don't succeed When you get what you want, but not what you need When you lose something you can't replace When you love someone but it goes to waste When high up above or down below When you're too in love to let it go

    it almost sounds like a list to me? Of all the worst things that can happen to us. i think there's a subtler meaning behind this song... that all grief is the same, and we all go through it, you're not as alone as you feel.

    rest in peace sushi, i hope you're happier now... i hope you know, i was with you to the end, and that i loved you very much ♥

    kobrakaaiion June 27, 2011   Link
  • +12
    Memory

    I think this song is just tearful. I had a brain tumor when I was 13 years old. I've been living with it for 11 years and counting. I am a survivor. And everytime I listen to this song I get so upset. I am just so thankful i'm alive and safe. This song tells me that everything will be okay again and that I will be safe.

    pcms99338on March 02, 2013   Link
  • +11
    General Comment

    "Fix You" reminds me of both me and my current crush. I've been helping him, as a good friend, to understand HIS crush, who is coincidentally a good friend, but she has hurt him in too many ways... I've been trying to help him fix this problem of his, but in doing so, I've grown to.. maybe even love him.

    I just want to hold him and let him know it'll be okay, but at the same time, I want him to let me know that it will be okay, since I'm moving out of state in a week. ( miles away.) I'm going to let him know how I feel before I go, though. We both need to be fixed.

    This song makes me feel weak... limp... relaxed, but like I can't do anything. Like someone needs to hold me up. It makes me shake. It makes me want to love.

    Tears are streaming down my face.

    SoakedinMercuryon June 29, 2005   Link
  • +11
    My Interpretation

    I think that this song could be interpreted in many ways. It can apply to anything. But, I think that this song is one that is trying to tell you that it's going to be okay; no matter what's going on.

    sarahmac56on February 19, 2013   Link
  • +9
    General Comment

    This song means lots to me.

    Me and my gf were madly in love these past two years of college. I left one weekend for a vacation, and when I got back she had changed. No other guy, no lies, or anything like that. She wanted to live life on her own. She wanted to find out who she was inside. There were no warnings, no signs. Just like that one day; all over.

    We tried to hold on, but it was too hard. She couldn't hold on to a relationship, and I didn't know how to not want more when I was with her; I had her, but I couldn't keep her. I could hug her, but I couldn't hold her.
    When I did, it meant different things to us. "When you get what you want, but not what you need". ...yeah. Definitely.

    I had to cut off our contact and walk away, it was getting bad for us; especially me. She thinks I've let go, and that I'm gone for good; but that's not true. She needs the freedom to choose her own life path, even if that means finding someone else. It's tough, but I love that girl that much.

    Unrequited love has nothing on unconditional love.

    Nyloon August 03, 2008   Link
  • +7
    General Comment

    this song is about gwenyth coming home from the hospital after her Father just died. she was crying and chris asked her what he could do for her, she said to hold her because he was the only one that could fix her. i think this would be a really cute wedding song, i hope i can use it for that someday.

    pandajeanon March 13, 2012   Link
  • +6
    General Comment

    i love this song! it's my one of my absolute faves from coldplay together with "yellow" and "the scientist"..

    i think the song is more about someone trying very hard to do things right in his life but somehow he can never be good enough (or so he feels). he settles for the second best. [When you try your best, but you dont succeed; When you get what you want, but not what you need] he gets so tired of everything and feels in despair because it seems like everything he has done was in vain and sometimes he feels like giving up. but at the same time, he really hopes for someone or something to save him from giving up totally, or to guide him to somewhere where everything seems more familiar (hence the reference about lights will guide you home), and for someone to tell him that he can put everything right again..

    but that being said, i don't quite understand the "and ignite your bones" part.. is it some reference to being reborn, and hence everything seems right again?

    indie_addicton May 20, 2005   Link
  • +6
    My Interpretation

    I believe that this song is about a guy who loves his girlfriend or wife so much, but at the end of the time she just go and leave him for some reason and then he is desperate to do something bad. For me his song means that you have to learn to accept your mistakes and others mistakes to go on and keep living your life. Its a very optimistic song.

    luisotero9on September 22, 2012   Link

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