What does A Rush Of Blood To The Head mean?

Coldplay: A Rush Of Blood To The Head Meaning

Tagged: 9/11 [suggest]
Album cover for A Rush Of Blood To The Head album cover
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A Rush Of Blood To The Head Lyrics

He said I'm gonna buy this place and burn it down
Yeah I'm gonna put it six feet underground
He said I'm gonna buy this place and watch it fall
Stand here beside my baby in the crumbling walls
Said I'm gonna buy this place and start a...

  1. 1TOP RATED

    #1 top rated interpretation:
    anonymous
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    Mar 11th 2009 !⃝

    Tis as simple as a man who would do anything for his love. Anybody causing her pain, he will protect her. She is sad, clearly ("you just sit down there and you wonder why") but he doesn't know how to help her. He would do anything, though the solutions may make little to no sense, (love need not be logical) like burning down the house in which he thinks her pain has its roots, or even start a world on the war, just to rid it of that one person whose fault it may have been for her pain. This song is a proclaimation of love in its most absolute form, when nobody else in the world matters, just because the girl who is the object of his love means more than the entire world's worth and all its individual's added up. A rush of blood to the head is his excuse for loving her so much, (it's like he's saying "it's on a whim that I'm doing these things for you") but that's simply because noone else in the world can understand how pure and absolute the love is, he must make excuses. Not that the world needs to understand. He's gonna kill them all anyway, in their ignorance. His love is this unique.

  2. 2TOP RATED

    #2 top rated interpretation:
    anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Dec 2nd 2009 !⃝

    I believe this song is about a man seeking redemption. I think the man whose story is being told have caused a lot of pain to the woman he loved, or other person (maybe a very close friend or relative), so he seeks redemption in quite a nihilistic way. He feels terrible for the pain he caused her, so he wants to repair the damage by destroying important things for him ('I'm gonna buy this place and burn it down'...'and see it fall'...'and start a fire', etc) and even destroying his soul and condemning himself to hell ('I'm gonna buy a gun and start a war') just to purge his soul and express how miserable he feels without her.

    The chorus clearly shows what I've said before: 'See me crumble and fall on my face. And I know the mistakes that I made, see it all disappear without trace', it's all about redemption, all about wanting to fix her.

    The end it's about starting again, now that he had found redemption he's ready to start over if she wants. And finally, something to consider along the whole song is the verse "blame it all upon a rush of blood to the head" which is obviouly refering to the impulse, the irrational impulse that obligled him to seek redemption in such a nihilistic way.

    PS: Sorry if there are any mistakes because my mother tongue is spanish not english.

  3. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    May 16th 2021 !⃝

    I am going to explain how relatable this song is to me in a short story : I am married to a woman that I love (Honey, all the movemenrs ur starting to make) but I know is not the right person for me(see me crumble and fall on my face), I have given all away for her even invested every last pence of savings in a mini grocery market in her homecountry(Said I'm gona buy this place and start a fire) which ended up being a failure for many factors(And i know the mistakes that i've made, see it all disappear without trace). Now i want to sell out all we have and fly again to a new country giving it all a new shot for a better life(they said start as u need to gon on!). She seems to hate the idea and want us to do it the hard way staying here and trying to fix at all over time(so meet by the bridge, or meet me by the lane, but I am a Gemini soul, I cannot do this routine(when am i gonna see, that pretrt face again) I need adventure and new experience and more risk in my life thus tonight i will tell her to meet me where i said, blame it all upon.. A rush of blood to the head!
    P.S.: I'm high now. (I'm sure someone will read this and relate/understand)

  4. anonymous
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    Dec 7th 2020 !⃝

    This song is so deep to me. It's always had such an eerie aura behind it. Especially in the end when the guitar plays in an A minor key. I feel like it's about a man who's dangerously in love with a women, so much so that he doesn't ever want to see her leave. But for some reason the relationship is entirely toxic. The burning house is symbolically representing the relationship and him sabotaging it. Then he blames it on "a rush of blood to the head".

  5. anonymous
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    Aug 7th 2019 !⃝

    I think that song is to be the great song I’ve been so hard to work with and so I’ve been recording and having recorded some more music, but we’re the best I could work there, at 12:30-1:30 and I worked immediately and work with Jonas brothers.

  6. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    May 16th 2019 !⃝

    It’s about him causing her pain. Burning down the house of emotional torment to her. The mistakes he’s made. She’s left him everyone told her to. He can’t handle being without her so he’s telling her I’ll fight for you if you give me reason to. He blamed the heartbreak on a rush of blood to the head. It was an act of unthinking that caused the torment and he’ll destroy it to keep her. He’s asking her to meet him at the end to try and salvage what’s left if there is anything left after the house burns.

  7. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    May 5th 2017 !⃝

    To me.... it tells how a man is willing to do anything for the woman he loves who happens to be battling demons , possibly depression, abuse (physical and or mental), terminal illness etc., that is getting in the way of their true love. It appears it's a losing battle. That's why his lover is witnessing him crumbling and falling on his face and why people will laugh, cry or sit and wonder why he is even bothering. He is frantic not to lose her , which is making him irrational (rush of blood to the head). In the end he realizes that his attempts to stop their fate is futile so he accepts that and hopes that they will meet again somehow in space and time.

  8. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Nov 4th 2016 !⃝

    Addiction and the perils of.......
    "He said I'm gonna buy this place and burn it down" "see me crumble and fall on my face"
    The damage of families and loved ones........
    "I'm gonna buy a gun and start a war, if you can tell me something worth fighting for"
    I see a lot of addiction and recovery in the lyrics. Just a thought.

  9. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Jun 3rd 2014 !⃝

    I listened to this song on repeat whilst reading the last few chapters of Wuthering Heights and I swear it felt liek Heathcliff's theme song.

  10. anonymous
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    Aug 19th 2012 !⃝

    This song reminds me of a book I read called "The Count of Monte Cristo" where through the envy and evil of others; a man lost his position, family, wife, decency basically his life.

    Through God's will and circumstance however after years of suffering in a jail for a crime he did not commit he got out, however now with the knowledge and the possession of what was considered unfathomable money and power he then does back to those who have caused him such damage and unspeakable terror what they did to him.

    He takes everything from them from honor to wealth and power and for the most part leaves them to live instead of die so that they too may suffer forever. He even buys the horrid jail and took ownership of the very place that crippled him for years.

    I think this song is about revenge, it is about having not a goal you created for revenge, but having revenge's hand forced, it talks about commitment and enduring to the end, it speaks of not giving but taking new life, where you cannot change your past it talks of closing chapters of those things that cripple us inside.

    It even goes on to give you the feeling associated in it by such lines such as "stand here beside me baby in the orange glow" where he or they bask in the glory of their bidding. It speaks of unity in those who have endured as well, this "place" he "purchased" is a jail of sorts but it is unique to each person's struggle. Hence the saying "some just laugh and some just sit and cry" Though the pain is the same some will take it in stride and acceptance others will be paralyzed by it forever, others (like most of the world) will wonder "why" did this happen (religious aspect perhaps)

    The final thing I have to say is my favorite line "I'm gonna buy a gun and start a war". What is worth fighting for is subjective but the fact remains that this situation or revenge was something planned, it was meditated it was powerful and revolutionary in a sense. Think of yourself taking arms, why would you do so? Think of the magnitude of the task of starting a war.

    This man, was not just getting a weapon, he was stirring within the hearts of men (or self) the reasoning of change and revolution, revenge and persistence in the cause, to me even buying a gun is just a outward display of an inward feeling such as the feeling we have to a flag (why do we fight war with more power when we are represented by a flag?) The flag can be anything at all, but the cloth has an internal significance. So does the purchase of a weapon, we are procuring the means to execution of some goal.

    I don't know if this is really a song of dark love towards anyone, but I really think it is about something inside of a man, when all has been taken and what remains is his faith only towards revenge, and I think that even after it is extracted, I think this song shows no way of having that man find his way to any happiness, it will just end in a sort of "emptiness"

  11. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Nov 13th 2011 !⃝

    This song is truely amazing. I play this song continously for a whole day.
    First, the meaning I did not understand but when I compared the beginning as a story and merged it with the chorus, I began to reason out Chris' sense.

    The song is about a young, calm, freeman and wealthy fellow who is not jealous. Who lost his love (wife) to someone, but never wanted to see her suffer or treated badly. Of course, she was ill-treated by the family she embraced, so the man took up the law in a threat to devastate the family in any way (buy this place) including his residence (stand here beside me baby), not minding people. So that no one would look for a wretched man to harm when he might have gone with his family to bamula.

    The chorus: the wife pleaded that he should forgive and never give ear to urges and threat drives.

    But the man just could not. It was a dream to him; a rush of blood to the head (done without consideration).

    Thanks.
    ekene.okororie@facebook.com

  12. anonymous
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    Sep 14th 2011 !⃝

    Here's my take on the story:

    The speaker is an arsonist. As a young boy, he fell in love with a girl. She was abused by her parents. It scarred him so badly to see her in pain that when he got into his early twenties, after meeting up with her again (she looks even worse), he decides to burn her house. [I'm gonna buy this place and burn it down"] He makes sure they have a safe meeting place ["Meet me where I said"], so only the bad people will die.

    I know it's different from the others, but that was what I got out of it. *shrugs*

  13. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Sep 14th 2011 !⃝

    Here's my take on the story:

    The speaker is an arsonist. As a young boy, he fell in love with a girl. She was abused by her parents. It scarred him so badly to see her in pain that when he got into his early twenties, after meeting up with her again (she looks even worse), he decides to burn her house. [I'm gonna buy this place and burn it down"] He makes sure they have a safe meeting place ["Meet me where I said"], so only the bad people will die.

    I know it's different from the others, but that was what I got out of it. *shrugs*

  14. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Jul 19th 2011 !⃝

    This song has been confirmed by Coldplay that it was for 9/11.

    He said I'm gonna buy this place and burn it down
    Yeah I'm gonna put it six feet underground
    He said I'm gonna buy this place and see it fall
    Stand here beside my baby in the crumbling walls
    Said I'm gonna buy this place and start a fire
    Stand here until I fill all your heart's desires
    'Cause I'm gonna buy this place and see it burn
    And do back the things it did to you in return.

    In this, they are talking about the terrorists who attacked the Twin Towers.
    Look at the lyrics and think about 9/11 when you look at it.

    Anyway, if you look at the whole song, 9/11 fits perfectly with it.

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
  15. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Sep 23rd 2009 !⃝

    Think of that scene from Forrest Gump, when he is throwing stones at that house where his best-friend/lover was abused. I think the song is about a loved one who has suffered injustice and as a result has taken their own life and now he is left to mourn her death. And he is out to take revenge/justice for her, by burning down the place she suffered so much. “Some’ll laugh and some just sit and cry

    You just sit down there and you wonder why”, she couldn’t deal with it, always wondering “why me”!

  16. graykitty
    click a star to vote
    Aug 13th 2009 !⃝

    To me this song is definitely not about love. It's about what is going on in our country today. wake up people!

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
  17. daniii
    click a star to vote
    Feb 18th 2009 !⃝

    my interpretation of the song. the guy is saying that he is going to burn down the place that caused the women he loved pain.and that he would by a gun and start a war meaning he would fight the people that caused her the pain.im not entirely sure but thats how i understood it.

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