Tag Archives: viva la vida or death and all his friends

#1296: Coldplay – Strawberry Swing

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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.

#780: Coldplay – Lovers in Japan/Reign of Love

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A trick that Coldplay utilised on their 2008 album Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends was merging two completely different songs together to make one long track. Two of them, ‘Chinese Sleep Chant’ and ‘The Escapist’, were hidden as they weren’t shown on the tracklist. For whatever reason though, the band decided to show that ‘Reign of Love’ was a song that was meant to be shown to all; it enters the frame as the long fade out of ‘Lovers in Japan’ is still happening. The two songs were then placed together, slap bang in the middle of the album.

‘Lovers in Japan’ is the upbeat, optimistic, us against the world type track. The sort of theme that’s been a constant in the band’s discography from about X&Y onwards. Chris Martin sings to lovers, runners, and soldiers telling them to carry on doing their thing in this crazy world we’re living in. Then he turns it round into a first person narrative in the second verse, telling his baby that they’re going to run away from all of their troubles with dreams of getting to Japan. Chris Martin’s lead vocal is probably one of his best performances, containing great melodies throughout. The track also possesses one of Coldplay’s best choruses. That’s just my opinion, though. ‘Reign of Love’ is the comedown. A beautiful, piano-led track with these twinkling loops and a subtle bass that lay the comforting backdrop to Martin’s restrained vocal. Looking briefly at the lyrics, I think the track captures a narrator who has fallen in love so hard that they’re like a prisoner in its grasp. I’ve gotta say I’ve never paid too much to what the lyrics are because the matching of the melody with the production is 10/10.

‘Lovers’ was released as a single in late 2008, a few weeks before the Prospekt’s March EP came out. In this format, it was unveiled with a new mix known as the ‘Osaka Sun Mix’ and this was what was also used in its music video (below). For a long time, that the version of the song I listened to. Upon rediscovering ‘Reign of Love’ it had to go. There are some minor differences between the ‘Osaka Sun Mix’ of ‘Lovers’ and its original album version. I’ll let you listen and find them out.

My iPod #257: Coldplay – Death and All His Friends

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Ah, Coldplay. Not my favourite group. But nevertheless they are back with a new album, their sixth to be exact, in May entitled “Ghost Stories”. They’ve put out two songs already: “Midnight“, which got some polarizing feedback due to its minimalism  – and the first official single “Magic” which is quite similar to “Midnight in the way that there are barely any instruments in it, but actually has a beat and a good melody. It is the one which I like a bit myself and it is better than the former song. But that’s just my opinion.

Today’s song is the other title track from Coldplay’s fourth album “Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends“, commonly known as “Viva la Vida”. Most people know it for the album where Coldplay changed. They went around wearing suits a la The Beatles during the Sgt. Pepper phase and generally went for a new approach in making their music. Some may have found it pretentious. I think it’s their best album. I have “Parachutes“, “A Rush” & “X&Y“; they have their moments, but “Viva” along with “Prospekt’s March” – that is good listening. No to “Mylo Xyloto” though.

The beginning of “Death and All His Friends” is actually a song that was meant to be separate altogether. This was its original incarnation. It’s very calm and soothing for the first half before bursting into life when the rest of the band join in and abruptly changing into the soaring and climactic ending (in 7/4 time signature) which will catch any first listener by surprise. The song is a triumphant ending to a wonderful album. There is a full version of the instrumental that you hear at the beginning of the very first track of the album, but I cut that out before putting it on my iPod. You can’t beat that ending.