What is the song viva la vida about?
I’ll re-post an answer I gave to the same question elsewhere. Okay, so I am seeing tons of crap out there about what this particular song means. And, most of them (in my opinion) are way, WAY off the mark. There is a very long-winded explanation trying to compare the song to Napoleon. That is wrong for any number of reasons which a basic history book would reveal. Napoleon never went to Jerusalem, so far as I recall (and I have studied his reign quite a bit – but if anyone else knows he did, please correct me). Also, “Roman cavalry choirs” are anachronistic to the Napoleonic era. And, it would be odd to pen such an overtly religious song in reference to Napoleon, a ruler who was at worst irreligious, or at best agnostic to organized religion. Also, there are references to the doomed Bourbon king, Louis XVI. Again, I believe that is flat-out wrong too, for most of the above reasons. I think these folks feel this way, mainly for the reference to the “head on a silver plate” and the overa
