Viva La Vida; Long Live Life

In the song Viva La Vida, I think that there were multiple meanings you could draw from the song. To me, I think that the writers were trying to show that while you can achieve a lot by being dishonest, or cheating others, you success always ends up crashing down around your ears sooner or later, and then you are generally left off in a worst place then when you started.

In the chorus, they say For some reason I can't explain/I know Saint Peter won't call my name/Never an honest word/But that was when I ruled the world

Saint Peter basically determines whether or not you go to heaven, whether you were naughty or nice. He says Never an honest word/But that was when I ruled the world. I think he is trying to say that when he was on top, when he was the ruler, rich and powerful, he never was honest, he never told the truth, and he had to lie to get to where he was. After you have reached the ultimate goal and then you have fallen, I think that is when you see what you did, and how it felt to the people you pushed down in order for you to get up. You realize, but all too late, that you are not going to heaven; you only lived it briefly in the midst of your success, but now that success is gone, and there is nothing else left.

Another stanza that I thought was powerful was when he said Listen as the crowd would sing/ "Now the old king is dead! Long live the king!"/One minute I held the key/Next the walls were closed on me/And I discovered that my castles stand/Upon pillars of salt and pillars of san. After the people realized he was a fake, he was shut out, and it turned out his gleaming castles of success, were really quite fragile, ready to collapse at the slightest probe. But what the people don’t see the recurring pattern. They release their first King, and replace him with a brand new one, and the whole process starts over. Many people use greed, lies, and dishonesty to get what they want, be it power, money, or success. Even when you shoplift, you have the few moments of thrill at getting that free item, but then the beepers go off, security comes, and you have a shoplifting account on your permanent record.

The honest way to the top is hard though, which is why many people resort to cheating their way through. When you take the time to live life, well the beneficial results are also often slowed, but prolonged, while dishonesty gets you there faster, but the benefits soon flicker and die. Today, many people are dishonest, and you can almost always trace our problems back to greed and cheating others. While this may sound cliché, it will only be when everyone is truthful, only then will we get the success we are searching for.