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Coldplay – Orphans Lyrics Meaning
Coldplay is back in the music industry after a few weeks of their announcement of a double album. The song ‘Orphans’ is a co-lead single from Everyday Life and the lead single from ‘Sunset’, the second part of the double album. ‘Orphans’ tries to touch on the issues of the political cold war in Syria. Let’s try to learn the meaning behind the lyrics of “Orphans” by Coldplay.
In 2018, according to The New York Times, the combined forces of the USA, France, and Britain launched multiple airstrikes on Friday night when the civilians from Damascus were asleep. The brutality of attacking Damascene during the night in the name of “controlling terrorism” is unforgivable. However, somehow, the major powers just get away with it.
Introduction: Orphans Lyrics
Even though the attack was targeted at the Syrian government’s alleged usage of chemical weapons that they had purchased from Russia, in the end, innocent civilians had to face the consequences. More than 40 people died in this brutal attack. If the usage of the chemical weapon was a violation of an international norm, isn’t attacking at night time a violation of a basic human right to sleep?
Some people were lucky enough to wake up to the sounds of the bombing. However, a girl (fictional) named Rosaleem and her father died an instant after the airstrikes were launched. The song ‘Orphans’ is dedicated to all the Damascene who lost their parents at a very early age and are now forced to figure out the pain of life all by themselves. People don’t understand the fact that such a political action can generate a hateful orphan child to grow into a terrorist for s/he has no other way to feed themselves.
Orphans Lyrics Meaning
Let’s dissect the meaning behind the lyrics of the song “Orphans” by Coldplay section-wise.
[Verse 1]
In the lyrics for the first verse of “Orphans” by Coldplay, a fictional girl named ‘Rosaleem’ has been introduced. Her moon-like eyes had to wake up on the wrath of the silver screen of an explosion. The death was certain. Her soul traveled up and up but no one really knows where it goes. From what we know, an innocent girl has died in the name of protecting International norms regarding the usage of chemical weapons.
[Chorus]
At the door of heaven, she says, very innocently, that she wants to know where she is and where she is supposed to go. For that place wasn’t familiar to her at all. She had lived her whole life, even if it was a few years, amid the sounds of gunfire and bombings. The surreal environment of Heaven seems to be an unfamiliar and unattractive place to her. She feels like she is in a spiritual prison. Therefore, she wants to know when she can go back to her friends and family, back to the familiar place of chaos.
[Verse 2]
In the Coldplay lyrics of the second verse, one of the spiritual Orphans, Rosaleem, talks about her life back when she was in Damascus. Her father, a farmer, used to plant appropriate flowers and other plants. Their life was pretty simple until it wasn’t. The last memory of her father was him talking about newly grown Tulip flowers. Now, she misses her father and her garden at the gates of Heaven.
[Bridge]
The lines in the bridge metaphorically show the religious belief of being closer to God after your death with a few more good deeds. These lines show Rosaleen and her father are now in heaven but they don’t recognize each other. They are both protected in the arms of these angels but they don’t have any memories of each other.
[Outro]
In the end, Rosaleem says, maybe I should figure out my life by myself, for my father isn’t here to support me. Being an orphan after death is pretty easy. Imagine the horror a child has to face being an orphan while s/he is alive!
Conclusion: Orphans Meaning
Coldplay tries to touch a very sensitive topic in their lyrics for the song “Orphans”. It is a real horror people have to go through in Syria almost every day. What do you think is the meaning behind the lyrics of the song ” Orphans” by Coldplay. Let us know in the comments section below.
Read the meaning behind the lyrics of “Orphans” by Coldplay on Genius in detail.
