This entry originally appeared on my disability blog, I hate stairs.

My birthday was June 24. Friends and family have now all figured out that the easiest thing to get me is an iTunes gift card. So I’ve been looking for music. A friend gave me Coldplay’s new album, Viva la Vida. In fact, as I write this, my typing is being slowed because I keep tapping on my mouse and keyboard to “Strawberry Swing.”

Last night, I listened through the album without skipping around for the second time. At the end of the album, the music from the first song, “Life in Technicolor,” resurfaces. I was almost moved to tears when Chris Martin resounded the ending lyrics:

And… in the end we lie awake, and we dream of making our escape

Really. It’s that good. It could have been the fact that it was about 1:00 in the morning, but I don’t think so. If you haven’t heard the new album (or the others), check it out at Last.fm, iTunes, or Amazon.