MULTIMEDIA-ENGLISH
The Scientist (Coldplay)
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4:26
Video page URL
https://multimedia-english.com/videos/music/the-scientist-coldplay-4540
Description

Powerlessness in the face of love...


The popular music video for "The Scientist" was notable for its distinctive reverse narrative, which employed reverse video.

Transcript

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 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

Ohhhh,uhhhh uhhhh uhhhhh
Ahhhh,uhhhh uhhhh uhhhhh
ohhhh,uhhhh uhhhh uhhhhh...

Explanations

COME UP TO= Approach something or somebody.


HOW LOVELY YOU ARE=  How beautiful person you are.


I SET YOU APART= I make you noticeable, I differentiate you of the rest because you are special for me. He left her, or hurt her in someway, he made a mistake and now he’s trying to come back and say he’s sorry, letting her now, how he’s set her apart from all the others and she is the only person he needs.


LET'S GO BACK TO THE START= He wants to go back to the beginning and try this all over again. He wants to give the relationship another try.


RUNNING IN CIRCLES= (Figurative) Making no progress, expending energy but finishing exactly where you started. The situation just keeps on getting replayed over and over again and each time. If you run in circles, it means you are confused and not getting anywhere.


COMING UP TAILS= If you flip a coin and it comes up tails, that represents bad luck.


HEADS ON A SCIENCE APART= He percieves the world in a logical rather than an emotional way and tries to apply this logic to the relationship he is in. They shouldn’t be together if they try to look at the relationship in a logical sense, just like scientists try to look at things in a logical manner.


IT'S SUCH A SHAME FOR US TO PART= It's very sad for us to separate.


NO ONE EVER SAID IT WOULD BE THIS HARD= Until you actually deal with a situation like this, you feel that nobody ever told you how hard it would really be and it seems worse than you imagined.


AT NUMBERS AND FIGURES= He is trying to analyze their relationship in a quantitative way, to try and find some formula that would give him the answers to understanding the situation.


QUESTIONS OF SCIENCE= He percieves the world in a logical rather than an emotional way and tries to apply this logic to the relationship he is in. Eventually, he realizes that trying to play this from a strictly numerical sense does not satisfy the qualitative assessment his heart is trying to make.


DO NOT SPEAK AS LOUD AS MY HEART= Love, relationships…those are a science apart.  There are no rules you can follow that lead to a successful relationship. After the separation, he realizes that logic cannot be applied to everything.





HAUNT ME= Come to my mind of continually, such as an obsession. When he left the relationship she was still on his mind haunting him.


I RUSH TO THE START= I just want to hurry up and she gives me a second chance, to start all over again.



Meaning

A sad love song about two people who unfortunately have to part ways... broken-hearted.


The video opens, looking down on Martin who is singing, as he lies on his back on a mattress. As the camera shot pulls back, the mattress is revealed to be outside. A cyclist cycles past in reverse and Martin leaps up from the mattress. He walks in reverse through a city, out into the suburbs and eventually crossing a railway line and into woods, picking up his suit jacket as he goes. Upon arriving at his car, he gets in and briefly passes out. A woman, at first shown lying unresponsive on the ground in front of the car, is shown flying back in through the shattered windscreen of the car. The car rolls back up a hill in the woods and through a broken fence, which mends itself as the car passes back through it. As the video closes, the couple are shown driving back up the road. It is revealed that Martin's passenger had removed her seat belt, in order to put her jacket on, just before the car accident, causing her death.