Oceans

Album: Ghost Stories (2014)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This sad, sparse, acoustic ballad finds Chris Martin pleading to a lost love to meet him again. However as she refuses to respond to his pleas, he concludes that he must learn to carry on alone.
  • The song is a track from Ghost Stories, a concept album about past actions, and the effects they can have on the future and one's capacity for love. The record was inspired to a large part by by the disintegration of lead singer Chris Martin's relationship with then-wife Gwyneth Paltrow. Speaking to BBC Radio 1's Zane Lowe, Martin explained the record's lyrical content. "The idea of Ghost Stories, for me, was 'how do you let the things that happen to you in the past – your ghosts – how do you let them affect your present and your future?' Because there was a time when I was feeling like they were going to drag me down and ruin my life, and the lives of those around me." he said.

    "I was very lucky to meet a very good sufi teacher who started to introduce the idea of 'if you sit with your experiences and the things you've been through, they alchemize,'" Martin continued. "At the time he said that, I didn't really know what that meant, but I trusted that it would work, and the more that I was learning about that, the more music just started flowing through."

Comments: 1

  • David from Far AwayDamn. That is a sad song. :(
see more comments

Editor's Picks

Dean Friedman - "Ariel"

Dean Friedman - "Ariel"They're Playing My Song

Dean's saga began with "Ariel," a song about falling in love with a Jewish girl from New Jersey.

Don Brewer of Grand Funk

Don Brewer of Grand FunkSongwriter Interviews

The drummer and one of the primary songwriters in Grand Funk talks rock stardom and Todd Rundgren.

Richie Wise (Kiss producer, Dust)

Richie Wise (Kiss producer, Dust)Songwriter Interviews

Richie talks about producing the first two Kiss albums, recording "Brother Louie," and the newfound appreciation of his rock band, Dust.

Jason Newsted (ex-Metallica)

Jason Newsted (ex-Metallica)Songwriter Interviews

The former Metallica bassist talks about his first time writing a song with James Hetfield, and how a hand-me-down iPad has changed his songwriting.

Subversive Songs Used To Sell

Subversive Songs Used To SellSong Writing

Songs about drugs, revolution and greed that have been used in commercials for sneakers, jeans, fast food, cruises and cars.

Protest Songs

Protest SongsMusic Quiz

How well do you know your protest songs (including the one that went to #1)?