Viva La Vida

Never an honest word
And that was when I ruled the world.

I'm obsessed with this song. I have a fairly addictive personality. I find something new I like and I become obsessed with it for a short amount of time and then I forget about it. If it is actually something that hits me, the infatuation gradually rises and again I want to see it, hear it, touch it, smell it, and taste it all the time.

For some reason I can't explain
I know St. Peter won't call my name

I've been listening to it all the time lately because it just hits me in the right way. This line is pretty much the epitome of why as well. It's not quite "ah, I'm goin to hell". It's so much more a resignation, a realization, a regretful woe, and a testament to his own wistfulness about not being able to get into heaven. I don't even take it as an afterlife thing, it's more about losing something in your life.

I used to rule the world.
Seas would rise when I gave the word.
Now in the morning I sleep alone
Sweep the streets I used to own.

It's like looking back upon something that you don't exactly regret, but realize you could have done it differently. Even more than that, it's like finally realizing that you never thought about alternatives when you were in the midst of this important period of your life and all of a sudden, you now know that you did have a choice after all but it is too late to do anything to change it.

And I discovered that my castles stand
upon pillars of salt and pillars of sand

And then to have it erode from underneath you when you thought it was so strong. If you've never experienced something in your life that was so strong and then eroded weakly, you have no idea how powerful this is.

It was the wicked and wild wind
blew down the door to let me in

It isn't like a huge explosion, it fades and it is arguably worse to be relegated to sitting back and watching it erode rather than making it go out in a blaze of glory. Especially if a big bang is how it started.

It's rare to hear something about active resignation that also isn't weak but powerful.

Just a puppet on a lonely string
Oh, who would ever want to be king?