Monday Moxie: Everything you want's a dream away
It’s Monday. Got Moxie? Enjoy this pocket-sized pep talk, curated by yours truly to help you get your week off to a good start.
For this Monday’s moxie, I offer you the Coldplay song, “Adventure of a Lifetime.” In their “50 Best Songs of 2015” lists, Rolling Stone ranked this track at #41 with the caption, “How did it take Coldplay this long to go disco? This confetti-bright, carefree jam was exactly as fun as ‘The Scientist’ was sad.”
When I told my beau and my daughter that I’d only recently heard this song for the first time, they thought I was kidding. I’m not sure what I was doing in 2015 to have missed this major hit, but I enjoyed “discovering” it for myself now.
I’m including two different video options because — although they are very well executed — the CGI chimps in the official music video kind of give me the creeps. (No shade to the band, or to Andy Serkis — whom I absolutely adore — or the team at Andy’s Imaginarium digital capture studio in London where the video was shot. In fact, here’s an excellent behind-the-scenes “Guardian picture essay” about the process by photo journalist, Sarah Lee. Fascinating and full of delight.)
The lore behind this song (as reported by the Coldplay Fandom Wiki and other sources) is that its creation was a truly collaborative effort. Front man Chris Martin was apparently inspired by Brian Eno, who produced two earlier albums for Coldplay. Eno had encouraged everyone to take part in the creative process rather then relying on one person to come up with every new song. In the case of “Adventure of a Lifetime,” the group built off guitarist Jonny Buckland’s riff in a freeform musical session that ultimately delivered the final song.
I chose this tune for Monday Moxie not only because of the overall upbeat vibe it brings, but because of the invitation to “turn your magic on.” A conventional interpretation of the lyrics assumes that it’s a typical kind of love song, but if you think of it as something the author wrote to himself, it takes on a whole new meaning.
Enjoy, and happy Monday!
P.S. For some more good vibes, check out the Carpool Karaoke episode featuring Coldplay lead singer, Chris Martin, hitching a ride with James Cordon.
Adventure of a Lifetime
(Coldplay, 2015 — Track 5 on the album A Head Full of Dreams)
Turn your magic on, umi she'd say
Everything you want's a dream away
We are legends, every day
That's what she told him
.
Turn your magic on, to me she'd say
Everything you want's a dream away
Under this pressure, under this weight
We are diamonds
.
Now I feel my heart beating
I feel my heart beneath my skin
I feel my heart beating
Oh, you make me feel
Like I'm alive again
Alive again
Oh, you make me feel
Like I'm alive again
.
Said I can't go on, not in this way
I'm a dream that died by light of day
Gonna hold up half the sky and say
Only I own me
.
Now I feel my heart beating
I feel my heart beneath my skin
Oh, I can feel my heart beating
'Cause you make me feel
Like I'm alive again
Alive again
Oh, you make me feel
Like I'm alive again
.
Turn your magic on, umi she'd say
Everything you want's a dream away
Under this pressure, under this weight
We are diamonds taking shape
We are diamonds taking shape
(Woo-ooh, woo-ooh)
.
If we've only got this life
This adventure, oh then I
And if we've only got this life
You'll get me through, oh
And if we've only got this life
And this adventure, oh then I
Wanna share it with you
With you, with you
.
Sing it, oh, say yeah
Woo-hoo (woo-hoo)
…
WRITERS
Chris Martin, Guy Berryman, Johnny Buckland, Mikkel Eriksen, Tor Hermansen, Will Champion
PUBLISHERS
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC