Corruption Of Power In Viva La Vida By Coldplay

The song “Viva la Vida” by Coldplay shows the classic example of how power can corrupt the lives of people who do not know how to wield it. The speaker of the song (who is implied to be a past king) constantly references his past experiences in order to relay this message. For example, when the speaker says, “I used to roll the dice/ Feel the fear in my enemy’s eyes… / Next the walls were closed on me” he is referring to how he gambled with his power and eventually lost everything and was jailed as a result. Likewise, this is reinforced when the speaker states, “Shattered windows and the sound of drums/ People couldn't believe what I'd become”. Moreover, as a result of the speaker abusing his power, the general public started to revolt against him; which is proven when the speaker states, “Revolutionaries wait/ For my head on a silver plate”. Finally, many of the lyrics used in the song, such as: “missionaries, “Revolutionaries”, “Roman cavalry”, and “Jerusalem bells” relate to the era of the Crusaders. This leads to the conclusion that the song is about the past experiences of a king and not a different kind of authority figure (president, commander, and etc.). Therefore, in the song “Viva la Vida”, the band Coldplay uses the experiences of a king in order to relay the message of how power can corrupt the life of a person who wields it incorrectly.
The song constantly references his experiences and the outcomes of his actions. The speaker seems to be relaying his past experiences in an attempt to prevent others from following his ways. Coldplay purposely makes many historical allusions in order to show how the setting of the song is in the