Coldplay

Released: November 20, 2019

Songwriter: Harcourt Whyte Chris Martin Jonny Buckland Guy Berryman Will Champion Andy Monaghan Scott Hutchison Simon Lidell

Producer: Rik Simpson Daniel Green Bill Rahko

[Intro: 'Otuto Nke Chukwu']
Gi nwa nke chukwu, gini ka ina ekwu
N'ihi ihe nile
Nke chukwu mere

[Verse 1: Chris Martin]
I tried my best to be just like
The other boys in school
I tried my best to get it right
And died at every duel
This mountainside is suicide
This dream will never work
Still the sign upon my headstone, write
"A champion of the world"

[Interlude]
Oh oh-oh
Oh oh-oh-oh oh oh

[Verse 2: Chris Martin]
I tried my best to stay alight
Fly like a firework
I tried my best at taking flight
But my rocket ship reversed
Oh, referee, don't stop the fight
Everyone can see I'm hurt
But I'll stand before conquistadors
Till I'm champion of the world

[Chorus: Chris Martin, Chris & Will]
(When I sail) And when I sail
I'm sailing west
(Know I might fail) Knowing I might fail
But still I'm hoping for the best
(In my dreams) And in my dreams
Onto my chest
She'll pin the colours and say
"I wandered the whole wide world but
Baby, you're the best"

[Interlude: Chris Martin]
Lo lo-lo-lo lo oh
Ee-yo-ee-yo-ee-yo-ee-yeah
Lo lo-lo-lo lo

[Outro: Chris Martin & Will Champion]
So I'm flying on my bicycle
Heading upwards from the Earth
I am jumping with no parachute
Out into the universe
I have E.T. on my bicycle
Because giving up won't work
Now I'm riding on my rocketship
And I'm champion of the world

Coldplay is a British rock band, formed in 1997 by University College London classmates Chris Martin (vocals, guitar, piano), Jonny Buckland (guitar) and Guy Berryman (bass), along with drummer Will Champion. The band’s name comes from Tim Crompton, a student who was in the same university as the members (University College London) at the time.

Once they issued their debut, Parachutes in 2000, many saw them as a Radiohead knock-off. No doubt, Coldplay’s sound —elegant, melodic, vaguely spacey and very dramatic — bore plenty of similarity to mid-1990s Radiohead. But the group’s hooks, sharpened by frontman Chris Martin’s ability to pull heartstrings, and the their willingness to evolve their sound, gave Coldplay staying power. The greatest examples are second album A Rush of Blood to the Head (2002), which was generally considered to be musically and lyrically more mature and sophisticated, and less obviously the product of one particular influence, and the fourth one Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends (2008), where producer Brian Eno influenced the band to broaden their sound and led to various sonic landscapes. Both won the Grammy Award for Best Rock Album and spawned sucessful singles such as “Clocks”, “Viva la Vida”, “In My Place”, “Violet Hill” and “The Scientist”.

As a result, the band became one of the most commercially successful acts of the new millennium, with over 80 million albums sold – even if along with the acclaim came a vocal opposition, due to the supposedly derivative nature, the overtly emotional lyrics, and the fact they’re good-mannered English boys instead of wild rockstars. As a result, Coldplay are thought as either a punchline showing all that’s wrong with 21st century rock, or a really good if overplayed band with songs tailor made for stadium performances.

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