Running in circles; coming up tails/
Heads on a science apart.
That line above is really good. A guy is trying to decide how to fix a relationship he screwed up (and seems to be continuing to screw up), his thought is to flip a coin, if it comes up tails go talk to her, heads he’ll be silent and hope she comes to him. This man is clearly using “reason” the wrong way, so calling him “The Scientist” is facetious-nor is this “coin-flipping” meant to be literal.
It is a good device to show that he is using all the wrong tools to connect with this girl (his own reason) and it is clearly failing. In the beginning of the relationship things were much better, now they are strained.
“The Scientist” has one of the most famous introductory piano parts in a pop song. It is a great piano song. Does anyone else think of Gwyneth (in her prime—pre-goop) when they hear this? It has the typical Coldplay structure, it starts out slow and builds into more instruments as more verses go by. It is a winning formula.
Martin’s voice is especially good. Interestingly, he begins to almost howl at the end of the song as if his words are betraying him but he still has things to communicate. And he does communicate a lot during that coda. It is very heartfelt.
The Scientist 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 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
Songwriters: Christopher Anthony John Martin / Guy Rupert Berryman / Jonathan Mark Buckland / William Champion