Tag Archives: coldplay

#1466: Coldplay – Viva la Vida

Leave a reply

Guys, it’s ‘Viva la Vida’. “I used to rule the world / But that was when I ruled the world”. You know how it goes. The biggest thing I remember about the track from the time of its release was the controversy in its similarity to guitarist Joe Satriani’s song ‘If I Could Fly’. And, uh, it wasn’t hard to notice how much the melody in Chris Martin’s vocal and Satriani’s guitar were near identical. The matter was settled out of court. Otherwise, this song was damn near everywhere in 2008 / 09. Just Coldplay in general seemed to own that time, I feel like along with Beyoncé. Got their own iTunes advert and stuff. ‘Viva la Vida’ was the first proper, pure pop song the band did, and I think its existence annoyed a lot of people. Coldplay were seen as uncool anyway. But now, even some fans of the band were heading for the exit. A selling out had occurred. “Parachutes to X&Y, fantastic. The band have lost their way now.” Something along those lines. They didn’t know how good they had it then. If the band were making pop like this today, I’d probably still be a fan. As it is, I stand by a firm opinion that Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends is the best piece of work by Coldplay. Their last great album. They could release a masterpiece in the next few years. They could. I’m not holding my breath.

You may notice that the video above is a little different to the official version. I’m very sure the alternate video for the song, directed by Anton Corbijn, was the first of the two I saw. I always liked it more, and it should have been the only one. It’s basically the video for Depeche Mode’s ‘Enjoy the Silence’, which Corbijn also directed, but while the protagonist remains alone at the end of that video, Chris Martin is joined by his other bandmates in a sign of solidarity. It’s nice. From an artistic point of view, I also think it suits the song much better, much more than the “band performs song with visuals reminiscent of the album cover” thing going on in the Hype Williams-directed video. And Hype Williams has done so many iconic videos too, he could have gone all out on this one. Oh, well. I haven’t really talked about the ins and outs of the music as I would usually do at this stage of a post. That’s really because it’s ‘Viva la Vida’, innit? Like, everybody knows it. You sing “I used to rule the world” and then everything else follows. The strings are probably in your head right now. Admittedly, there were a number of years where I did not listen to the track. Probably because I was turned off by how much I couldn’t get away from it. It was maybe only a few years ago when I sat down, listened to it again and changed my mind. It’s a very memorable melody throughout the whole song, it must be said. It was never as annoying as I once thought it was. Chris Martin’s best vocals are all over Viva la Vida…, you know.

The track is from the point of view of a man who was once king and now is not. He finds himself among the common people, sweeping the streets [he] used to own, and he’s just reminiscing on the days when he had all the power. That’s it. I don’t know, maybe there are meant to be some parallels between fiction and real-life, but Coldplay were still very much “on top” at the time, so… I’m at a loss. I’ve only ever been able to take it at face value. And there’s all the religious imagery in there for good measure. If you really wanted to know what’s going on, there’s always Wikipedia. I guess I could go into some parts of the music. Wouldn’t be the same otherwise. The band instruments don’t do a lot. Will Champion strikes a bell during the choruses, he really exaggerates the arm movements when you see him do it live. There’s that small guitar “solo” after the first chorus. Really, I think all the highlights of the song come in the vocals. Martin’s lead I’ve already noted. But you’ve got to like those group “Oh-oh-oh-oh-ohhhhhhh-oh” vocals that come in before the last chorus to add that soaring quality. And then there are those other harmonising vocals that close the song out and also appear underneath the “Just a puppet on a lonely string” lyric earlier, and they fade out just as the beginning of ‘Violet Hill’ sneaks right at the last second. It’s a cool transition. I did always think it was neat that the big singles from the album were in the album’s second half, bonded together in the way they were. Turns out this will be the last ever Coldplay post here. If it was to end on any post, I’m glad it’s on this. This era of the band was them at their most interesting in my eyes, and a lot of good songs came out of it. ‘Viva la Vida’ was the title track behind it all. Well, at least one of them.

#1464: Coldplay – Violet Hill

1 Reply

Eighteen years can go by just like that, apparently. It was 2008 that Coldplay released Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends. I was 13, a full functioning human being. A naïve one, but existing nonetheless. I was aware of my surroundings and knew my right from wrong. And I remember, very clearly, ‘Violet Hill’ being the new video, the new single by the band as if it were a couple weeks ago. When I saw/heard the tune, I was into it from the jump. The song, I think, is still the coolest one the band have ever done. If there was a contest for coolest Coldplay song, ‘Violet Hill’ should win it hands down. I was pretty conscious for the X&Y era. ‘Speed of Sound’, ‘Fix You’, ‘The Hardest Part’, although I have no kind of beef with those tunes, you could say they’re very stereotypically Coldplay. No one but Coldplay could have written and performed those songs. What struck me about ‘Violet Hill’ those first times hearing it was how un-Coldplay it sounded. Even today, it can sometimes surprise me that it’s Coldplay I’m listening to when ‘Violet Hill’ gets to playing in the shuffled playlist. It’s almost experimental by their standards. It was the first Coldplay song that got me excited for an upcoming release of theirs.

I’m trying to think if there’s another song of Coldplay’s that I consider better than ‘Violet Hill’, and I’ve gotta say, I don’t think there is a song by them that I personally enjoy more. I kind of like everything about it. Except for that “My nerves are poles that unfroze” lyric. The phrasing always felt a little strange to me. Is ‘unfroze’ a word used on a regular basis? I don’t know. Other than that, I think Chris Martin’s never sounded better vocal-wise. Just the tone of it. Maybe it’s the microphone he was using, the production, the studio he was in. Whatever it was, it helped. The “ba-dam ba-dam” guitar riff that happens during the verses are very cool. “Jagged” is the word used on Wikipedia under the song’s composition section. A very suitable adjective. It applies to the solo too. A bit repetitive, sure. But again, it’s the tone. Jon Buckland plays his guitar very differently to his usual style in the song. There are those wild guitar string bends going on in the back when Martin sings the “When the future’s architectured… / “Bury me in armour” parts of the verses. All adds to the drama. I think Guy Berryman’s bass line throughout is quite underrated too. He’s right in the pocket, and he does these little fills here and there which hit the spot. Then all the commotion’s swiped away to leave Martin singing the last section on his own with his piano. It’s all good, good stuff. And this album is where some people say Coldplay changed for the worse. Couldn’t be more wrong. The next album, though, we could have a conversation about.

So what’s it about? What’s it about? Well, obviously there’s a relationship situation going on within the song. “If you love me, won’t you let me know?” The chorus line sung in unison by the entire band with Martin’s going into falsetto for a brief moment in the centre. It’s great how he sings quite low in the verses that it feels like a climactic moment when he goes to a higher register for those choruses. And then, with the talk about ‘a carnival of idiots on show’, not wanting to be a soldier and a fox becoming God, well, that’s all a metaphor for the USA in the mid-2000s. George Bush Jr. in charge, no one taking him all that seriously. Where does a fox come into it? The fox is meant to be a reference to FOX News. So there you go. It’s anti-war, and it’s about looking at America, making a commentary on their society at the time and thinking, “What the hell is going on over there?” Some things never change. You don’t feel as if there’s a lot of hope left by the end of the song. It’s hearing it within the context of the album that I think elevates it that little more, ’cause ‘Strawberry Swing’ follows, arriving as the most optimistic song on there. That last leg of Viva… from the title track onwards, that’s a strong, strong run. So you may be able to guess, this won’t be the last song of the LP to be covered here.

#1296: Coldplay – Strawberry Swing

1 Reply

It goes to show how much of a successful period 2008/09 was for Coldplay. Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends had been released in June 2008. In September 2009, they were still releasing singles from the album. A whole other EP of cutting-room-floor material was released in between, and another single was released from that alone. Mind you, this September ’09 release would be the last single. This final offering I’m referring to is ‘Strawberry Swing’, the penultimate song on the record. It didn’t do very well in the UK charts. Probably because it got to the point where people were thinking there was just too much Coldplay exposure. ‘Viva la Vida’, the song, at the time, was everywhere. But the band were still churning that promotion out because they could. And the promotional cycle was capped off with a stunning, definitely time-consuming music video to boot.

When I got the album as a Christmas gift in 2008, a statement I make judging by the emailed list I sent my cousin in my old Hotmail/Outlook account, it was mainly because I wanted to have the ability to listen to ‘Violet Hill’ whenever I felt like it without going onto YouTube or waiting for the video on TV. I still think that’s one of the coolest songs Coldplay have ever done. I was thirteen, but still didn’t have that mental capacity to listen through entire albums and take the music in just yet. So I listened through Viva… once, picked out my favourites of ‘Violet Hill’ and the second title track, ripped it into the old iTunes library and let the album sit in there. It was until years later in 2013, when I was hungover and lying in bed after a heavy night out in my first year of uni, that I revisited the album and realised how great the whole package was. I’m one who thinks it’s still the best thing they’ve ever done. And hearing Strawberry Swing, with its production that makes it sound like it’s floating on air, made that hangover that little more bearable, but also made appreciate how good the song itself was.

I’ve come to think of the song as being one about the power of love in the face of adversity or conformity. It’s a bit of a hyperbolic way of saying it, but it’s the only way I could think of. You got the first verse where Chris Martin sings about a couple sitting on a strawberry swing, enamoured with each other while everyone else is for fighting. A reference to war, no doubt. Martin then ponders why we should follow the social norms when there’s an option to “curve away” and do things differently for a change. And then after a minor key change for the instrumental break, Martin then comes in for the coda ending with the closing lines, “Well, the sky could be blue / I don’t mind / Without you, it’s a waste of time”. Such a simple lyric, but it’s a beautiful sentiment. Enough to bring a tear to the eye at a right moment. Honestly, if the album ended on that note, I wouldn’t be mad. ‘Death and All His Friends’, the song, does a good job of an album closer anyway. ‘Violet Hill’ ends on a sad note. ‘Strawberry Swing’ brings that note right up with its optimistic viewpoint, filling the LP’s second-last slot with a moment of glory, when usually that place on an album is reserved for the black sheep of the collection.

#1259: Coldplay – Speed of Sound

5 Replies

Hey there, everyone. Guess who’s turned 30? This guy right here. Incredible stuff. It really creeps up on you, honestly. I’m gonna hope this next decade brings nothing but happiness and good fortune. The 20s were fine. Thirties are the new 20s. That’s what they say, right? Anyway, thanks for reading. This has gone on for a good 12 years now, and it’ll be a while until it finishes. But we’re getting there every two days at a time. And we continue with Coldplay’s ‘Speed of Sound’, released 20 years ago, the big first single to announce their comeback in anticipation to what was the band’s upcoming third album X&Y. I’ve come to think of that particular record as their ‘biggest band in the world’ statement. It’s not my favourite. And funnily enough, the band don’t look too fondly on that era either. What can you do?

And I kind of remember ‘Speed of Sound’ being the new song. If I recall correctly, its music video made its premiere in the UK on Channel 4. I didn’t care all that much for Coldplay then. Green Day was more my thing in 2005. And the premiere was at a really late time too. So, I figured I wasn’t missing out on anything much if I went to bed instead. I more remember the discussion around the song that was happening at the time. Mostly that it sounded too similar to ‘Clocks’, which I didn’t get initially. Speeding up ‘Speed of Sound’ (hardy-har-har) makes the similarity a little clearer. Then, to rub more salt in the wound, this track by what was supposedly the biggest band in the world made it to number two in the singles chart, beaten by the annoying, novelty ringtone era kingpin Crazy Frog with (its?) cover of ‘Axel F’. And at a time when it felt like Coldplay hate was at its highest, some people took great pleasure in that happening.

Fast-forward some years later, and I ended up asking for X&Y as a gift for one of those yearly occasions. Mainly because I just wanted access to the singles from it. I listened through it I think the one time, and it felt like it went on for ages. But before then I don’t think I’d properly listened to ‘Speed of Sound’ and given it full attention. It was through the full album listen where I sort of realised the song wasn’t half bad. A song about feeling insignificant and needing a sense of direction in this big, overwhelming world that still has so many questions left unanswered as to its origins. Not a bad topic. “All those places I got found” is a phrase that’s never sounded right to me, but that’s a little nitpick I have. But I really enjoy the way Chris Martin sings the whole thing, even though he apparently can’t stand it now. There’s an actual groovy bassline that you don’t find in a lot of Coldplay songs that begins at the “Look up, I look up at night” verse. And everything’s all tied together by the far out synths and reverbed guitar work that aid in giving the song this spacey atmosphere. One of these days I’ll maybe listen to X&Y again. ‘Least I know this one will always be in there.

#1165: Coldplay – The Scientist

Leave a reply

I was sort of around when this song first came around. Aware of the things going on around me and all that goodness. Coldplay’s ‘The Scientist’ was a single from the band’s A Rush of Blood to the Head album, just over 20 years ago in 2002. That would mean I was seven at the time. I have a very, very vivid memory when it comes to this track. I remember being in the playground of my primary school and singing the song out loud. Not to anyone in particular, just for my own entertainment’s sake. Must have seen the video somewhere at some point and the melody got stuck in that young head of mine. It was time to go back inside for lessons, and as I was in the line going inside, singing “Noobody saaid it was eeaaasyyyyyy”, this other kid holding the door letting everyone through overheard me and spontaneously started singing along. Looked me dead in the eyes and everything. We became good friends throughout those primary school years. Haven’t seen him since I left, though. Just the way things go.

So, yeah, I’ve liked ‘The Scientist’ for the longest time. Even before I realised that the song had the title and wasn’t called ‘Going Back to the Start’ or any other lyrics that appears in the track. The song’s one that everyone knows exists somehow. Even if you haven’t really listened to it in full, you would have heard it somewhere or at least think you did. I’m sure, like a lot of other casual music listeners at the time, the music video for the track is what really brought round the song’s attention. The plot of the thing is backwards. Chris Martin had to learn how to sing the lyric backwards in order to get the desired effect, which apparently took a month to do. As we see, above, Martin starts off on a randomly placed mattress and wanders through the streets and other miscellaneous places, all on his lonesome. Then he gets into a car, with a lady lying next to it, and the viewers witnesses why he’s been by himself up to that point. Martin and the lady were involved in a car accident, and the latter flew through the windshield because she wasn’t wearing a seatbelt. For a song all about ‘going back to the start’, the video does very well to fulfill Martin’s wish.

All this time, I’ve never thought about what the song means. But without even having to look the lyrics up, it’s easy to understand that it’s possibly about a relationship ending, the regret that can come along with that situation and wanting to go back to the time when it all started and everything was coming up roses. Musically, ‘The Scientist’ is generally a really easy one to get into. Even if you’re not really paying attention to it, I think Chris Martin’s melody throughout does enough to have you singing along to it without realising. It’s very easy to remember, almost got a lullaby-like quality to it. Martin sings it really well. But I’d like to give a nod to those subtle string bends by Jonny Buckland in the guitar during the song’s outro too. There’s a slight intensity to that whole part which sweetly dissolves in the song’s last chord. It’s one of Coldplay’s most popular songs, and for very good reasons. It’s the last from A Rush of Blood to the Head you’ll see on hear, though. The singles are favourite songs on it.