Brex You

When you try your best but you don't succeed
When you get what you want, but not what you need

Teresa May can always be consoled this month by the fact that, back in 2005, Coldplay wrote a song about her. 

Coldplay: A Head Full of... What Exactly?

There are those who believe that looking for deeper meanings in Coldplay lyrics is like looking for a coherent philosophy from David Cameron, or a balanced argument in the Daily Mail. But hey, lets try anyway.

To the seasoned Coldplayer, all the familiar stuff is here on Head Full of Dreams: singalong 'whoa-oh-oh' sections, references to birds, etc. Lyrically it's more autobiographical than ever - it feels like a depressive trying to jolly himself along, with songs called 'Fun' and 'Up and Up', and lyrics about pain and parting. Oddly, at times I was reminded of the Smiths, and their ability to combine the most downbeat lyric with an uplifting tune (e.g. Bigmouth Strikes Again). There's a clear attempt to strike a happier tone than 'Ghost Stories', but Coldplay just don't do happy - their best stuff is mostly based on anguish (Fix You, Low, Trouble, The Scientist, Viva La Vida, Princess of China). Even the rousing title track, Head Full of Dreams, can only sustain upbeat for 45 seconds at a time before unplugging the drum machine and reaching for the handheld lighter. 

Spiritual themes have loomed large in most previous Coldplay offerings, so what do we have here? What to make of this, from the opening track:
Oh I think I landed
Where there are miracles at work
For the thirst and for the hunger
Come the conference of birds

Saying it’s true, it’s not what it seems
Leave your broken windows open
And in the light just streams
And you get a head, a head full of dreams
....
Into life I’ve just been spoken
With a head full, a head full of dreams

Is this a subtle and multilayered song of hope based on Genesis 1 ('into life I've just been spoken') Elijah (fed and watered by birds), Paul (treasure in jars of clay, walk by faith not by sight). Or none of the above? If this was a U2 song, I'd confidently go for the former answer, but as it's Chris Martin I'm still not so sure.

Or this, from 'Army of One'
Stare into darkness, staring at doom
You make my heart go boom, bo-boom boom
Superhero, a masterpiece
Been innocent but a sinner in me

...I just put my hands up to the sky, feeling like
I've got a rocket, eyes on the prize
I put my hands up to the sky, I'm gonna find
Wherever you are, I'll find that treasure

Again, is this a meditation on mortality and eternity, informed by Jesus (where your treasure is there is your heart), Paul (fixing our eyes on Jesus), and an appreciation of humanity as a fallen masterpiece, or is Martin just using transcendent language for effect (see links below), as he does elsewhere on HFOD?

In the bonus track, 'Miracles'
From up above I heard 
The angels sing to me these words
And sometimes in your eyes 
I see the beauty in the world

Oh, now I'm floating so high
I blossom and die
Send your storm and your lightning to strike
Me between the eyes

Believe in miracles

Because it's not clear who this is addressed to (God, or a lover), it's not clear what it's saying. Maybe that's deliberate. Pop lyrics are peppered with references to angels and heaven that aren't anything to do with real angels and real heaven, in post-Christian culture our spiritual language floats free of the original moorings. 'Believe' can mean everything on the lips of Jesus, and nothing on the lips of a marketing campaign. 

The overriding thread running through the CD, if there is one, is that life is to be lived to the full, with thankfulness, and that even pain and suffering can be redeemed 

under this pressure, under this weight

we are diamonds taking shape

And if we've only got this life
In this adventure, oh, then I

Want to share it with you (Adventure of a Lifetime)


This being human is a guest house
Every morning a new arrival

A joy, a depression, a meanness
Some momentary awareness comes
As an unexpected visitor

Welcome and entertain them all!
Be grateful for whoever comes

Because each has been sent as a guide (Kaleidoscope, based on a poem by the Sufi mystic Rumi)

And you can say what is, or fight for it
Close your mind or take a risk
You can say it’s mine and clench your fist
Or see each sunrise as a gift (Up and Up)

and if there are things to be thankful for, then....

And I asked

Can the birds in poetry chime?

Can there be breaks in the chaos sometimes?

Oh thanks God, must have heard when I prayed

Cause now I always want to feel this way

Amazing day,

Meister Eckhart, a 13th century monk, is reported to have said 'if the only prayer you ever say is 'thankyou', that would be enough'. So maybe Coldplay aren't too far off the mark. 

For previous Coldplay posts
Viva La Vida
Prospekts March
Mylo Xyloto
Ghost Stories
Atlas

Multi-Coloured Friday

this

I like the idea that songs are a gift
"I never sit down and say, 'I'm gonna write a song about this person and this event'," he said as we passed the Venice skate park. "If I did do that, it would never make it, because that would be a song that you crafted rather than received."

And I asked every book
Poetry and chime
"Can there be breaks
In the chaos of times?"
Oh, thanks God
You must've heard when I prayed
Because now I always
Want to feel this way
(Amazing Day)

Coldplay - holy Ghost Stories?

As a gift to us armchair analysts, Coldplay have made the lyrics to their new release, Ghost Stories, available a few weeks in advance of the tracks themselves. I've previously had a go at deciphering Chris Martins coded messages, given his ongoing interest in things spiritual.

The lyrics by and large reflect the artwork: a pair of wings in the shape of a broken heart. Several of the songs are about lost love (Anothers Arms, Ink, True Love), and Martin returns to his beloved sky/birds/flight imagery which Coldplay fans will be used to by now.

Spiritually, I wasn't sure what to expect after Coldplays involvement in the neopagan Paralympic closing ceremony. A couple of songs jump out -

Midnight
"In the darkness before the dawn
in the swirling of the storm
when I'm rolling with the punches and hope is gone
leave a light, a light on.

Millions of miles from home
in the swirling swimming on
when I'm rolling with the thunder
but bleed from thorns
leave a light, a light on. 
leave a light, a light on."

This was the first track released from the new album, to a mixture of excitement and dismay. It's certainly a musical departure for them. The more I look at the lyrics, the more I think of Gesthemane. This could be just about being lost, suffering and lonely, or it could be about 1 person in particular taking all that on himself on our behalf.

I've been listening to The Choirs 'Shadow Weaver' a lot recently, they have lots of songs about finding God in suffering, and here's another one, perhaps:

A Sky Full of Stars
Cause you're a Sky, cause you're a Sky full of Stars
I'm gonna give you my heart
You're a Sky, a Sky full of Stars
cause you light up the path
And I don't care, go on and tear me apart ('yet not my will, but your will be done')
I don't care if you do
Cause in a Sky, cause in a Sky full of Stars, I think I saw you...

...Cause you're a Sky, you're a Sky full of Stars
Such a Heavenly View
You're such a Heavenly View

now it might be that, as on Mylo Xyloto, the words are used for feel/impact rather than meaning, and this is just another step on the descent into vagueness. Or maybe it's trying to find a way of talking about God that doesn't trip people up with the G-word. Why all those capital letters? It's the sort of song a Christian should be singing to God, and probably more real than a lot of our worship songs.

Finally, the closing track O (fly on), takes us up with the birds again:
And I always
look up to the Sky (note the capital letter)
Pray before the Dawn. (or does he just capitalise all the nouns?)

and combines this with a sense of being lost, and of yearning for better things.

Maybe it shouldn't seem so odd that a rich, succesful and famous band should sing so much about the intersection of pain and prayer, as they do here, and in last years release Atlas. None of us are immune. God's there in it if you look hard enough and don't give up, and perhaps he's somewhere in these lyrics too.

Martin has spoken about what the lyrics express, and speaks both about brokenness and love. It's interesting to note that he's in regular touch with Bono, who seems to become more and more overt about his faith as time goes on. Martin talks about 'trusting the universe' - I don't know if that's code, or whether it just reflects the language of many people who have a spiritual sense but don't connect it with the God who put it there in the first place.

Previous reviews
Mylo Xyloto
Prospekts March
Viva La Vida

Coldplay vs U2

Behemoth vs Leviathan: both have singles out in anticipation of full albums later in the year. Its fair to say that Coldplays offering has caused more surprises



Coplday fans are used to hearing 1-2 minute bursts of this sort of stuff before the real song starts, or as interludes between the main tracks (several examples on Mylo Xyloto), not extended to 5 minutes of health spa backing music released as a single. It could have done with the lyrics on screen too, as they helpfully did with Atlas, which was great. No doubt it will grow on me, and fair play to them for taking a risk - Leviathan does frolic after all.

(update: we have official lyrics now.)

U2 have stuck a bit closer to form, and if Coldplay are giving up on the stadium singalong songs (to be fair, it was mostly going 'oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh' but at least the lyrics were easy to pick up) then Bono is ready to step up. He's even borrowed Chris Martins dangly lamp from Fix You and stuck a microphone on it:


this one is really growing on me, it's not a radical departure, but when you're as good as U2 you don't need one.

Coldplay - 'Atlas'. New Single, New Prayer?

some saw the sun
some saw the smoke
some heard the gun
some bent the bow
sometimes the wire must tense for the note
caught in the fire say oh
we're about to explode

carry your world, I'll carry your world

some far away
some search for gold
heaven we hope is just up the road
show me the way Lord because I
am about to explode

carry your world, I'll carry your world
carry your world and all your hurt

full track here.

Prayers are nothing new to Coldplay - here's UFO from Mylo Xyloto:
 Lord I don't know which way I am going
Which way the river's going to flow
It just seems that upstream I keep rowing
Still got such a long way to go
Still got such a long way to go

And that light hits your eyes
I know I swear we'll find somewhere
The streets are paved with gold....

and I predict that by Easter there'll be Youtube versions of Atlas intercut with scenes of the cross as Jesus carries the world and all our hurt (Isaiah 53). As with all Coldplay stuff, I never know whether the lyrics are finely crafted for deep meaning or recycled sentiments from previously released songs, or a bit of both. I like the idea that the song might be a dialogue with God, and when you think about Syria there might be a lot of people having this conversation with Him right now.

Coldplay 'Charlie Brown' Video: Is Petty Crime Peanuts?

Stole a key
Took a car downtown where the lost boys meet
Took a car downtown and took what they offered me
To set me free



It's a bit odd that, not so long after the riots, the most succesful rock group in the UK can pen a tribute to petty criminals, and then celebrate it in video. Not so long ago Coldplay were the best thing this side of OK Go when it came to creative videos for their singles, and there's probably a whole lot worse in a lot of other songs. But the story here is: hoodie gets up, does some parkour, smashes window, steals car, gets girlfriend, goes to rave, vandalises car with spraypaint, snogs girlfriend, watches sunrise. So romantic, unless you happen to be the car owner.

Is this a celebration of petty crime, or just 'art'? And are we really convinced that 'Charlie Brown' is a reference to a Peanuts character, and not to drugs?

I don't really want to have a go at Coldplay, they're a household favourite, they write great songs, and some of their stuff has got a real spiritual edge. But I really don't like this.

Coldplay Mylo Xyloto: Has God Left the Garden?

With Viva La Vida I was hopeful that Chris Martin was evolving into a subtler version of Bono, with various hints at faith throughout the lyrics. I've been enjoying Mylo Xyloto whilst trying to work out what he's singing about this time, and the answer seems to be 'not a great deal'. The lyrics are mostly pretty vague, and its rather odd hearing a global superstar band singing about the joys of being an outsider, whether its the graffiti artist (Hurts Like Heaven), stealing a car to go and get drugs (Charlie Brown), or 'Us Against the World'.

This latter track has the most biblical/spiritual imagery, and at the same time illustrates very well how it's used: for effect rather than for meaning.

Oh, morning, come bursting, the clouds amen
Lift off this blindfold, let me see again
And bring back the water that your ships rode in
In my heart she left a hole

The tightrope that I'm walking just sways and ties
The devil as he's talking with those angel's eyes
And I just want to be there when the lightning strikes
And the saints go marching in

And sing, slow-owow-owow-owow-it down
Through chaos as it swirls, it's us against the world

Like a river to a raindrop I lost a friend
My drunken has a Daniel in a lion's den
And tonight I know it all has to begin again
So whatever you do, don't let go

And if we could float away, fly up to the surface
And just start again and lift off before trouble
Just erodes us in the rain, just erodes us in the rain
Just erodes us, and see roses in the rain


Now this could be Coldplays way of saying they're longing for the second coming to deliver them from a world where Satan, disguised as an angel of light, reigns through chaos. Or it could be a vague meditation on feeling bereft because of some unnamed woman who's broken his heart. We've seen this before: e.g. the Roman cavalry choirs of Viva La Vida: sounds significant, means....... ??

The other most overtly spiritual lyric on the album, UFO, could also be taken either way.
Lord I don't know which way I am going
which way the rivers gonna flow
It starts like a prayer, but doesn't really get very far. There's talk about sunlight streaming through the holes in the sky ripped by bullets, which if you're that way inclined could link to Romans 8 about all things working together for good, or Revelation where God makes all things new. But those links are in the mind of the listener, not in the words themselves.

The whole CD has plenty of aspirations and 'up' language: to 'heaven', 'paradise', cathedrals in the heart, flying up to the surface (see above), being 'up with the birds' etc., and it closes with the line 'good things are coming our way', but nothing to suggest why. With the final implosion of Oasis, maybe Coldplay are now trying to fill the gap in the market for optimistic rock songs. In many ways this mirrors the music: just as language is used for effect, not content, Mylo Xyloto is more of a sound than a collection of tunes. I found it harder to identify particular songs (with the exception of Paradise or the superb Princess of China) during early listens, or the overall flow of the album. Like the colourful but messy artwork, Mylo Xyloto is rich in musical colour, but it's a bit harder to identify particular shapes, either to the music, or to the words. The lack of a full set of lyrics with the CD maybe indicates that Coldplay don't really want to draw attention to their lyrics, and don't set as much store by them as some of their fans.

Which is a shame really. I enjoy challenging lyrics, that have a bit of depth or meaning to them. Whilst U2 continue to try to say something through their music, I wonder if Coldplay have given up. The album title, after all, doesn't mean anything. (It also means they get Google all to themselves!) Given their support for Oxfam and other good causes, that's a missed opportunity. Yes it's 4 blokes having fun making music, and perhaps I should be happy with that - it's good music after all. Is it wrong to want more?

PS the post title is a reference to Cemetaries of London, on Viva La Vida "I saw God come in my garden but I don't know what He said/for my heart it wasn't open." But you knew that already.

Coldplay at Wembley, 18th September

What would you discharge yourself from hospital for? For me it was 2 things: a wedding today (brilliant sunshine, fantastic couple) and Coldplay at Wembley yesterday, a slightly late 40th birthday present, but well worth the wait.

Call it music therapy, but it was a calculated risk to sign myself out of Yeovil hospital on Thursday night (long story, another post) to trek up to London yesterday. Tube in from Amersham, and after overshooting Wembley on the first train, we finally found it: there was Wembley Way and the iconic arch. After running the gauntlet of ticket touts (they were replaced by mounted police for the journey back) and riding the escalators to level 5, we found ourselves 2 rows from the front of the top balcony, level with what would have been the half way line, but instead was a couple of lighting stacks and some strange yellow objects under tarpaulins (ballons, released during Yellow).

3 support acts - White Lies were noisy for the 1 song we heard, Girls Aloud suffered from a) not having much stage to play with b) being on in daylight, so no chance of lighting effects and c) a dreadful sound mix, with drums, muffly bass, voices and not much else. They had a go, and you had to feel sorry for the vision mixer who tried (and mostly failed) to keep up with which one of them was singing at the time. Call the Shots was great, but no quantity of faux-seductive pouting could make up for the sound quality. We were 100m away, so it probably sounded better at pitch level. Shame, we were really looking forward to seeing them.

Next came Jay-Z, cue time for me to go and queue for some food: if I want to be shouted at by grown men then I'll take up refereeing for kids football. But no food: somehow Wembley hadn't worked out that if people are there from 4pm - 11pm, they might want to eat a meal during that time. None of the amply staffed food outlets had anything to sell except £6 pizza slices, despite advertising fish and chips and all sorts of other stuff. Back to Jay-Z, who wasn't that bad for a rap artist (you can tell I ain't part of the 'hood), great band behind him, and a woman with an incredible voice who came on for 1 song. It's probably a global no.1, but the days when I taped the top 40 are long gone.

Hats off to the roadies, who did some very quick changeovers between the support acts: we got 45m each of Girls Aloud and Jay-Z, who finished his act by singling out people in the crowd to pay complements to - big job when 70,000 are watching. Then not long after 9 the sound system switched to Oasis (Acquiesce), then the Blue Danube Waltz, then down went the lights and here we go.

Having not been to a major gig for years, it was spectacular. The sound was fantastic, the lighting was awesome, and if Coldplay were tired at the end of several months touring they didn't show it. The instrumental Life in Technicolour was followed by a series of singalong favourites: Clocks, Yellow, Violet Hill, In My Place, Glass of Water. Very clever bit in Yellow, where Chris Martin 'asked' Simon Cowell to comment on the quality of the crowds singing, and showed clips of some of his X Factor put-downs. Martins sense of fun and joy is infectious, and despite the fairly limited banter between songs, and the massive venue, everyone felt involved.

The second part of the set did some 'interesting' things: a techno medley (God Put a Smile on Your Face, and Talk) from the end of one of the walkways, followed by an acoustic set on a small stage towards the back of the pitch, where the band were joined by actor Simon Pegg on harmonica. The cover of Billie Jean was unexpected and good for a giggle, but there was a bit of a loss of momentum. Then back to the mainstage for a rib-jangling Politik and Lovers in Japan, which had everyone on their feet, and confetti butterflies being sprayed across the stadium. The encore of The Scientist/Life in Technicolour 2 finished with fireworks, and a happy crowd singing the 'whoa oh oh's from Viva la Vida all the way down Wembley Way.

Discovered today that Oxfam were shadowing the tour as Coldplays special guests, but there wasn't anything at the show yesterday to highlight that. Their CD notes regularly encourage support of things like Fair Trade, but there was no attempt by Coldplay to use the stage as a platform for causes. Personally I'd have been thrilled if they had done, there's no need for U2 to corner the market in this. We also missed out on our free giveaway CD on the way out, so I'll just have to listen to LeftRightLeftRight on Spotify instead.

Minor quibbles: bit too much swearing from Chris Martin, and I'd have loved to hear more tracks from X&Y rather than Simon Peggs harmonica, but hey, they're a world renowned band and I'm not, and there's probably a good reason for that. On another occasion I'll probably do a 'compare and contrast' on corporate singing between Coldplay, weddings and church, but this post is long enough already....

Other links
here's the setlist
Youtube clips
lots of great photos on Flickr, from where I got the one above.
Review on BBC6

Life in Technicolour ii

This is quality. Great song, great vid. Especially for all you 'bored and tired' Brits out there.

Spirit of Coldplay 2: Prospekts March.

Coldplays Viva La Vida was a subtle assault on U2's crown as the most spiritual stadium band of the turn of the millenium. Prospekts March, the Coldplay EP released last week, isn't quite such rich pickings, but there are one or two intriguing clues to the spirit of Coldplay.

The EP has 8 tracks, 3 are remixes of tracks on Viva La Vida (Lost+, Lovers in Japan and Life in Technicolour ii, which adds a layer of vocals over the original instrumental). There are 5 new tracks: Postcards from Far Away (short instrumental), Glass of Water, Rainy Day, Prospekts March/Poppyfields, and Now My Feet Won't Touch the Ground. There aren't any official lyrics with the CD, but this site is as good as any for finding them.

As a Coldplay fan, I wasn't disappointed - quite frankly I couldn't work out how Lovers in Japan had been remixed, but don't care because it's my favourite track of 2008. And Glass of Water is a cracker. There are cross-references a-plenty 'Now My Feet' picks up from the refrain of 'Death Will Never Conquer', a rootsy concert extra on Coldplay's latest tour, and there's some Pink Floyd in there for the discerning customer too. The whole CD checks in at nearly 30m, which is pretty good for an EP, and longer than some Smiths LP's used to be.

The most obvious religious references crop up in Lost +:

See Jesus, see Judas/ See Caesar, see Brutus/ see success is like suicide/Suicide, it's a suicide/If you succeed, prepare to be crucified (done by rapper Jay-Z)

where the rapper seems to be comparing the fate of Jesus to that of various rap artists and black leaders who were killed (Martin Luther, Malcolm X). I'm not convinced about putting rap artists on the same plinth as civil rights leaders, but the insight is fair enough - 'if you succeed, prepare to be crucified'. There is a world of difference, though, between the crucifixion of Jesus and any other martyrdom. Sure we take up our cross and follow him, but I wouldn't pretend that any of our suffering is equivalent to what Jesus did, or to argue that Notorious Big is somehow deserving of being on a roll-call of martys alongside the Son of God. Is that because I is white?

Rainy Day is a bit more subtle, and rather ambiguous:

Then there was rain

The sound foundations are crumbling

Through the ground comes a bit of a-tumbling

And time was just floating away

We can watch it and stay

And we can listen

Oh rainy day, come 'round

Sometimes i just want it to slow down

And we're separated now, i'm down

But i love when you come over to the house

I love it when you come 'round to my house

Which put me in mind of Alastair Darling and the world economy: it is raining right now, and foundations we though were sound are crumbling. Jesus was right - he always is - if we don't build our lives on his words then we are building on sand. I don't know whether Chris Martin here is calling for the rain 'come round to my house' or for company - a bit like the OT prophets who called for God to rend the heavens and come down. We want to see this stuff tested because we're convinced that it's fake, and it's time for something authentic and true. And we also want our own foundations tested, so that God's rain washes away what isn't from him, or the stuff we've convinced ourselves is from Jesus but actually isn't.

Finally, Glass of Water is a modern Ecclesiastes...

Scared of losin' all the time

He wrote it in a letter

He was a friend of mine

He heard you could see your future

Inside a glass of water

With ripples and the rhymes

He asked 'Will I see heaven in mine?'

Oh that is just the way it was,

and nothing could be better,

and nothing ever was.

And they say you can see your future,

inside a glass of water,

with riddles and the rhymes

but 'will I see heaven in mine?’

Son, don't ask,

Neither half full nor empty is your glass

Cling to the mast

Spend your whole life living in the past

Going nowhere fast

So he wrote it on a wall

The hollowest of halos

Is no halo at all

and Televisions selling plastic figurines of leaders

Saying nothing at all

And you chime

Stars in heaven align

Son, don't ask,

neither half full nor empty is your glass

Cling to the mast

Spend your whole life living in the past

Going nowhere fast

What are we drinking when we’re done … just glasses of water.

...it's probably the combination of fatalism, and the fact that there's nothing you can do about your future (just like chasing the wind). If you spend too long trying to work out the future, whether in a glass of water or in the stars, you'll miss the future God's got for you. And if you hang on to what you've got, you'll definitely get nowhere (shades of Jesus and 'those who hold onto their lives will lose them'?). And as Jesus said, glasses of water are for giving away (Mt 25).

"Who I am, What I believe"

Gordon Browns speech is already being binned by some opinion writers, but it's worth a look to try (again) to get to grips with Browns vision and values. This wasn't Gordon £rown, measuring everything in sterling, but seemed like a determined attempt to spell out a moral vision. The headlines are from Coldplay, in case you wondered.

(PS Welcome if you've come here from the Today website. How I've ended up there I don't know, I shall have to be nice to the Beeb now)

See What I'm All About
Browns opening line was : "I want to talk with you today about who I am, what I believe", so lets take him at his word. What does make him tick?

- the mantra of the speech was 'fairness', which clocked nearly 40 mentions in one form or another.
- 'duty' - which Brown applied both to himself and to others
- service: the role of the government is to serve the people: “our duty, what gives us moral purpose is serving the people who need us most… people on middle and modest incomes who need to know that they are not on their own amidst this change – we are on their side”

There was a lot of talk about values, enduring beliefs, the DNA of Labour etc., which all seemed to come back to fairness. But what does Brown mean by fairness? A few quotes which flesh it out
"treating others how we would be treated ourselves."

“And doesn't each of us want to say of ourselves:
That I helped someone in need.
That I come to the aid of a neighbour in distress.
That I will not pass by on the other side.
That I will give of myself for something bigger than myself" (in spite of Theos, this was the only Biblical or faith allusion in the whole speech)

and part of this fairness is advocacy: defending the weak at home and abroad. “the poor will not go unheard tomorrow at the United Nations, because we the British people will speak up for them and for justice.”

You've Got to Soldier On
...and fairness means not only that the government will support you if you're vulnerable, but if you're not vulnerable you should do your bit. “everyone who can work, must work” . Brown talked repeatedly of a new 'settlement' - we work hard, make the effort, be enterprising, and in return the government will 'serve' us by insuring us against the uncertainties of globalism, and protecting us when we're vulnerable.

Part of the 'settlement' was a raft of proposals for the vulnerable: free prescriptions for folk with long-term illness, more support for the elderly, a better safety net for educational failure, and free nursery places for 2 year olds.

Whoah horsey! Free nursery places for 2 year olds? Is that really about protecting the vulnerable, or is it adding a rider to that 'everyone who can work, must work' phrase: 'even if you've got children'. Despite the rhetoric about supporting families, it is working families who are valued, parenting families didn't get a look in. Parents featured as a) workers and earners and b) people with children in the education system but never as parents full stop. This continues to bother me.

Sometimes Even the Right is Wrong
There was the obligatory Tory-bashing, and no mention of the Libdems at all. Brown took issue, again, with the 'Broken Society'. His alternative is 'the Fair Society', and noted that “we should never forget one thing - that every single blow we have struck for fairness and for the future has been opposed by the Conservatives.”

Dreaming of When the Morning Comes
So what's the vision? What does he get out of bed for in the morning? What is the pulsating heart of Gordon Brown?
“Providing free nursery care for more children is a cause worth fighting for.
Providing better social care for older people who need it is a cause worth fighting for.
Delivering excellence in every single school is a cause worth fighting for.
Universal check-ups and new help to fight cancer - these are all causes worth fighting for."

‘fairness is in our DNA, it’s who we are – and what we’re for. It’s why labour exist… we stand up, we fight hard, for fairness….treating others how we would be treated ourselves."

This is an ethic of a different age. We're so used to being motivated by the 'feel-good factor' that ideas of duty, hard work, and plain boring old right and wrong don't really give us a buzz any more. But Jerusalem isn't built with a magic wand, it's a slow, labourious and back-breaking process.

Browns vision is not one of a great philosophy or dream, but of practical morality. If you don't have a serious moral purpose at the core of your being, you have no place in politics. I have some serious questions about where he goes with it, but I remember one recent election where what swung my vote was Browns clear commitment as Chancellor to dealing with global poverty. There wasn't much in it on the domestic front, so my vote went with the party likely to be most effective and energetic on behalf of the developing world.


Reign of Love... We're Waiting
Last night we had an evening looking at early church history, and one thing struck me powerfully. 2nd century church worship is described thus by Pliny

“They were accustomed to meet on a fixed day before dawn and sing
responsively a hymn to Christ as to a god, and to bind themselves by oath, not
to some crime, but not to commit fraud, theft, or adultery, not falsify their
trust, nor to refuse to return a trust when called upon to do so"

A couple of hundred years later, things have changed - the commitment to living a life of integrity and honesty has gone, and been replaced by the reciting of a creed: commitment to an intellectual version of Christianity, in place of a practical one. Subsequent church history shows how much of a mistake this was, sparking repeated attempts by monastic movements to spell out a 'rule of life', a way of living, a practical programme of Christian ethics.

Maybe we'd rather have an intuitive, touchy-feely leader like Blair or Cameron. They are certainly more in tune with society. But the practical morality of Brown - duty, service, fairness, integrity, advocacy for the weak - it may not get your pulse racing, but can we do without it?

Follow the Fun

Alongside listening to the new Coldplay CD, I've tried to listen to a couple of interviews with Chris Martin (lead singer) and other band members. There's an incredible contrast between a Radio 4 interview, which Martin walks out of, and the 90 minutes of banter and laughter recorded by Radio 1.

He comes across as 2 completely different people - in the first, stumbling, uncomfortable, vague, shy. In the second, fun, sharp, witty, someone full of ideas and enjoyment of life.

The difference is the interviewer. In the Radio 4 case, it's clearly someone looking too hard for deep insights and killer questions. Meanwhile Zane Lowe on Radio 1 plays silly sound effects and shares Coldplays love of music and sense of playfulness, and succeeds in getting answers to some of the Radio 4 questions (e.g. musical influences) without ever having to ask them.

If people are having fun, they're much more likely to be themselves, relax, open up, and enjoy your company. Many people have found church uncomfortable because it's too much like a Radio 4 interview: it's based around someone else agenda, a stress on the 'right answers', formal, serious, and wordy/cerebral, and a clear distinction between insiders and outsiders. In the Radio 1 encounter, it was sometimes hard to tell who was in charge, and what role people were playing.

We tend to like clear roles of worship leader, preacher, congregation etc., and to know which one we are. But that's institutionalised. In a church where relationships aren't institutionalised, everyone can bring something, all you need is a decent host. Teaching, singing etc. are done by everyone, to everyone.

We're off on our parish weekend tomorrow, and leaving all my dog collars at home. It would be lovely if we could break down those barriers between them and us, up front and in the pew, and be more like Radio 1 than Radio 4. Far better to have a conversation people want to join in with, than one which makes them want to get up and leave.

Spirit of Coldplay

They are turning my head out
To see what I'm all about (Coldplay: Lovers in Japan)

Back in the 60's, a researcher went through loads of back copies of Time magazine, trying to gauge its position on religion and spirituality. Matthew Fox (not the one from Lost) found that most of the stories headlined 'religion' were about church politics and the church institution, but for issues of life, death, purpose, God etc. you had to go to the Arts section. There, poets, painters, dramatists and film-makers were all wrestling with spiritual questions, whilst the church debated whether or not to use Latin.

I don't agree with most of what Fox says, but I think this insight is spot on. It's hard to escape spirituality in mainstream culture, and Coldplays Viva La Vida is no exception.

The CD, alternative title 'Death and all His Friends', is loaded with spiritual and mystical thoughts, as well as themes of war, love, loneliness and joy. It helps that its great musically too, though I'm constantly reminded of other bands: U2 (Cemeteries of London), Marillion (a brief section of '42'), Depeche Mode (Yes), and the Beatles (the Violet Hill video, and the co-ordinated outfits, like Sgt Pepper on skid row).

The challenge is that the spirituality of Viva La Vida isn't like that of U2. Finding the spiritual subtexts and bible references in U2 is a hobby for large chunks of Christendom, (if you're interested try Mark Meynell and this U2 Sermons site). Coldplay reference the Bible much less often, though there are nods here and there, as well as to hymns and churches (e.g. A Message from X&Y), but whilst Bono has a clear Christian framework to use, argue with, reject and rework, it's less clear where Chris Martin and co are coming from.

The world of Viva La Vida is a deeply spiritual one. '42' - possible code, via Douglas Adams, for 'the meaning of life' - muses on death and what happens after:
Those who are dead are not dead
They’re just living my head
And since I fell for that spell
I am living there as well

Time is so short and I’m sure
There must be something more.

.. which is a bit double edged. Yes there's more, but if you think too much about the dead you end up living in your own head, rather than really living. We have to let them go, and not cling on in an unhealthy way.

Cemeteries of London tells of a journey around nighttime London, looking for God, and finding ghosts and witches:
God is in the houses and God is in my head…
and all the cemeteries in London…
I see God come in my garden, but I don’t know what he said,
For my heart it wasn’t open…
Which is a powerful statement about the presence and reality of God in our world, both the world of life and among the dead, but that we can miss him.

Though various bits of the CD were recorded in churches, the spirituality here doesn't owe much to religious institutions. The most prominent mention of the church is the dystopia of Violet Hill, where
Priests clutched onto bibles
Hollowed out to fit their rifles
And the cross was held aloft
I don't know where this is about the co-option of religion by the 'carnival of idiots' who shape this imagined future, or whether the church is seen as a natural partner of manipulative and corrupt leaders. However even if the church is corruptible, God isn't, as the deposed dictator of Viva La Vida knows 'St. Peter won't call my name'

Finally, two moments of God in weakness. The gravelly 'Yes' seems to be an expanded meditation on the sexual temptation of a lonely man, and what it feels like to struggle
Yeah we were dying of frustration saying "Lord lead me not into temptation"
But it's not easy when she turns you on
If you'll only, if you'll only say yes
Whether you will's anybody's guess
God, only God knows I'm trying my best
But I'm so tired of this loneliness

In a completely different vein, Reign of Love, which emerges soothingly from the fantastic Lovers in Japan, expresses a yearning which could have come straight out of Bono's lyric book:
I wish I’d spoken
To the reign of love
Reign of love By the church, we’re waiting
Reign of love My knees go praying
How I wish I’d spoken up
Or we’d be carried In the reign of love.

Many of the tracks on Viva La Vida are paired up, and it's great to play with the image that in the foreground we have the Lovers, and the gentle music beneath every Lover is the that of the Reign of Love - the kingdom of God, which is a love that personally invites us to speak with it, and be carried by it.

Viva La Vida is a profoundly hopeful work, and there's plenty to suggest that this hope is grounded in a faith - however vague and experimental - in a loving God who is behind it all, even a world of war, dictators, loneliness and unrequited love.

But I have no doubt
One day the sun will come out (Lovers in Japan)

Extras: other relevant links:
Objet trouve quotes a Chris Martin interview where he is very clear about his own faith in God : I definitely believe in God. How can you look at anything and not be overwhelmed by the miraclelousness of it? Meanwhile one reviewer subtitles their piece 'Coldplay gets religion' . Planet Wisdom has more thoughts on Violet Hill, and it's depiction of a compromised church. Other comments on the religious themes in Viva La Vida on Whatif Gaming, and a detailed track by track exposition at Protestant Pontifications, which is worth a look.