The song itself, according to bassist Guy Berryman, is the story of a king who has lost his kingdom. He explained to Q magazine in 2008 that the lyrics featuring cavalry, missionaries, and kings are directly connected to that idea, while all of the album’s artwork is based on the idea of revolutionaries and guerrillas. A slightly anti-authoritarian viewpoint had slipped into the lyrics, a gaze directed at governments, at power, at human vanity, but also at the simple truth that we are all human beings with emotions and we are all going to die. That is why, as he connected it, the album title functioned like an answer to all the stupidity we have to put up with every day.