I used to rule
the world.
Seas would rise when I gave the word.
Now in the morn ing I sleep
a lone,
sweep the streets I used to own.
I used to roll
the dice,
feel the fear of my en e mies’ eyes.
Lis ten as the crowd
would sing,
“Now the old king is dead, long live the king.” One min ute I held
the key,
next the walls were closed on me.
And I dis cov ered that my cas
tles stand
up on pil lars of salt and pil lars of sand.
I hear Je ru sa lem bells a ring ing, Ro man Cath o lic choirs are sing ing.
Be my mir ror, my sword, and shield, my mis sion ar ies in a for eign field.
For some rea son I can’t ex plain, once you’ve gone there was nev er, nev er an hon est word.
But that was when I ruled the world.
Ooh.
Ooh.
This page shows “Viva La Vida” by Coldplay in our color-coded kid songbook view — every note is colored by pitch (red C, orange D, yellow E, green F, blue G, purple A, pink B) and the lyrics sit directly under each note, so children can sing along while they play. The song is in the key of Db at 138 BPM, a slightly more challenging arrangement — practice each phrase slowly first.