Meaning of The Scientist by Coldplay & The Story Behind

The track The Scientist from the album A Rush of Blood to the Head by the rock band Coldplay has achieved significant success in the charts of different countries. But the video clip for it seems to have impressed music lovers and music critics even more. It has won three MTV awards and has amassed – at the time of writing – over seventy million views on YouTube. We will talk about this video below, but first a few words about the history of the composition.

The story of the creation of the song The Scientist – Coldplay

The idea for the future work was born by Chris Martin, but all members of the group are officially considered its authors, because each of them had a hand in the creative process. According to Martin, the composition was born unexpectedly:

It seemed to me that something was missing in the second album. I was sitting in a really dark room in Liverpool where there was a piano – so old and out of tune. Actually, I wanted to pick up the George Harrison song Isn’t It a Pity, but I couldn’t. And then, in one fell swoop, this song came up. I said, “Can you turn on the tape recorder?” She is the way I sang it the first time.

Rolling Stone 2005

Meaning of The Scientist – Coldplay

Judging by the text, the song is performed on behalf of a guy who wants to once again renew his relationship with a girl. All previous attempts were unsuccessful. He tried to figure out what the reason was, but he came to the conclusion that scientific calculations and logical reasoning are bad helpers in love.

Chris himself explained the main idea of The Scientist as follows:

It’s just about girls. Strangely, no matter what else your thoughts are on – the collapse of the global economy or terrible environmental problems – you are always most excited when you like someone.

Coldplay #6

Interestingly, the liner notes on the record say: “The scientist is Dan.” This refers to A&R manager Dan Keeling, who signed the band to the Parlophone label.

Release and achievements

In the UK, The Scientist was released as the second single from A Rush of Blood to the Head and peaked at number ten on the UK Singles Chart. In the US, it was released as the third single and charted on the Billboard Modern Rock and Adult Top 40 charts. The band also achieved great success with the song on the charts in many other countries.

The composition is included in several authoritative ratings, including “150 best tracks of the last 15 years” from NME and “Top 100 songs of the decade” from Rolling Stone.

Video The Scientist – Coldplay

The great popularity of The Scientist was facilitated by a wonderful video directed by Jamie Traves. The idea of reverse storytelling used in the video is not new, but the director was able to intrigue the viewer. You definitely want to watch the video to the end to find out how this story began.

The video for The Scientist won three MTV Video Music Awards for Best Direction, Best Group Video and Breakthrough Video. The video was also nominated for a Grammy in the Best Short Form Music Video category, but the award went to the video for Hurt by Johnny Cash.

Interesting Facts

The cover art for all singles from the album was designed by London-based Norwegian photographer Sølve Sundsbø.
Jamie Traves came up with the idea for the video clip earlier, and he searched for a suitable song for a long time.
For filming the video, Chris Martin had to learn the words of the song in reverse order.
The video features Irish actress Elaine Cassidy.
According to the script, Martin and Cassidy were supposed to kiss, but Chris refused (apparently so as not to upset his wife, actress Gwyneth Paltrow).
The video was filmed in a forest near London, where the battle shooting of the film “Gladiator” with Russell Crowe used to take place.
There is also an alternate clip for The Scientist. It is available on DVD released in the UK.

The Scientist by Coldplay Lyrics

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 science 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 the 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

Lyrics The Scientist Alternative by Coldplay

I came to see you, to say that I’m sorry
You have no idea how pretty you are
I should have found you
Say that I need you
Say that you are special to me
Share your secrets with me
And ask questions
Oh let’s go back to the start
We run in circles
Chasing the tail
Can’t explain it scientifically

Nobody said it was easy
What a pity that we are parting
Nobody said it was easy
But no one said it would be so hard
Oh take me back to the start

I was just contemplating
Over numbers and figures
Solved puzzles
Questions of science,
Science and progress
Speak not as loud as my heart
Say that you love me
Come back and haunt me
And I’ll rush to the start
run in circles,
Chasing the tail
Return to the beginning

Nobody said it was easy
What a pity that we are parting
Nobody said it was easy
But no one said it would be so hard
I return to the beginning

1. The phrases chase one’s tail (“chase your tail”) and heads or tails (“heads or tails”) are played out.