I'm not one for equating pop music lyrics with poetry, but the lyric, "Look at the stars, look how they shine for you..." comes pretty darn close. Pretty sure even the Bard of Avon would have given himself a pat on the back for that line. And when you add in music...well you have a pop gem that was as big a breakthrough single as any band could hope for.
Formed in 1996 by lead vocalist Chris Martin and lead guitarist Jonny Buckland while they were in college, Coldplay released three EPs in 1998 and 1999 before releasing their debut LP, Parachutes, in 2000. The first single in the U.K., "Shiver," went to #35 on the British charts. Their second single in the U.K. (and first here in the states) was "Yellow" and lead the way for Colplay to become the juggernaut that they are today. Arguably the most commercially successful (and even, perhaps, critically) band of the 21st century (over ninety million albums sold), Coldplay has released seven albums over the past 17 years, gone on seven wildly successful tours, won seven Grammy Awards, nine Brit Awards (the U.K. Grammy Awards), and donate time and money (10% of the money they make goes to charity) to numerous political (generally left leaning) and social causes. Truth be told, other than the occasional song ("Clocks," "The Scientist") I really haven't followed their work since "Yellow," but any band that plays their own instruments and writes their own music in this day and age (do I sound like much of an old fart?) is A-OK in my book. It's also hard to not appreciate how successful they have been on an international scale, especially in an era when radio is godforsaken, the internet offers literally millions of musical choices, the media is more than happy to present overrated mediocre talent, and republicans control all three branches of government in the United States (just kidding about that last one...sort of).
While Parachutes was an immediate sensation (so many cool kids in the British Isles) in the U.K. (hitting number one within a couple of weeks), it never enjoyed the same success here in the States, only hitting #51. Likewise, "Yellow" reached #4 on the British charts, but only #48 (with a bullet!) on the Billboard Hot 100--yet the album would go on to become double platinum and the single would sell over two million copies. "Yellow" also appeared on eight different charts in Billboard, which seems like a hell of a lot until you realize there are like a thousand charts (only a slight exaggeration) in each issue....
Opening with a lightly strummed guitar before seguing into some simple though not so lightly struck chords (for some reason, whenever I hear them, I think of a match being struck), after which Chris Martin begins his earnest vocals for an unrequited love with the words "Look at the stars...". Martin has said that the word yellow has no special meaning--he was merely looking for the right word while the band was composing it in the studio when he looked up and saw a female friend who was there and she seemed to have a yellow glow about her. He inserted the word yellow until he could come up with a better word, but never found one that sounded better than yellow. One of the features I really like about the song is that the lyrics are subtle enough that it's not your run of the mill sappy love ballad, but not so subtle as to lead you to believe it might be about Dostoyevsky's pet emu. There's a nice bridge where Martin sings about her as being "skin and bones turned into something beautiful." All of which leads to the closing which is basically Martin asking her to see how the stars shine for her over and over before closing up with a lightly strummed guitar as at the intro. It'd been a while since I'd heard this one and listening to it earlier this week reminded me not only of how much I liked it, but also of just how good of a love ballad it is--and of how hard it is to write one that doesn't sound trite after a hundred listens.
Lyric Sheet: "I came along/I wrote a song for you/And all the things you do/And it was called 'Yellow...'"
Enjoy:
Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee
Opening with a lightly strummed guitar before seguing into some simple though not so lightly struck chords (for some reason, whenever I hear them, I think of a match being struck), after which Chris Martin begins his earnest vocals for an unrequited love with the words "Look at the stars...". Martin has said that the word yellow has no special meaning--he was merely looking for the right word while the band was composing it in the studio when he looked up and saw a female friend who was there and she seemed to have a yellow glow about her. He inserted the word yellow until he could come up with a better word, but never found one that sounded better than yellow. One of the features I really like about the song is that the lyrics are subtle enough that it's not your run of the mill sappy love ballad, but not so subtle as to lead you to believe it might be about Dostoyevsky's pet emu. There's a nice bridge where Martin sings about her as being "skin and bones turned into something beautiful." All of which leads to the closing which is basically Martin asking her to see how the stars shine for her over and over before closing up with a lightly strummed guitar as at the intro. It'd been a while since I'd heard this one and listening to it earlier this week reminded me not only of how much I liked it, but also of just how good of a love ballad it is--and of how hard it is to write one that doesn't sound trite after a hundred listens.
Lyric Sheet: "I came along/I wrote a song for you/And all the things you do/And it was called 'Yellow...'"
Enjoy:
Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee
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