Coldplay

Released: June 12, 2008

Songwriter: Jonny Buckland Will Champion Chris Martin Guy Berryman

Producer: Rik Simpson Brian Eno Markus Dravs

[Verse 1]
At night they would go walking
'Til the breaking of the day
The morning is for sleeping
Through the dark streets they go searching
To see God in their own way
Save the night time for your weeping
Your weeping

[Chorus]
Singing la-la-la-la-la-la-lay
And the night over London lay

[Verse 2]
So we rode down to the river
Where Victorian ghosts pray
For their curses to be broken
We go wander 'neath the arches
Where the witches are and they say
"There are ghost towns in the ocean"
The ocean

[Chorus]
Singing la-la-la-la-la-la-lay
And the night over London lay

[Guitar Solo]

[Verse 3]
God is in the houses
And God is in my head
And all the cemeteries of London
I see God come in my garden
But I don’t know what he said
For my heart it wasn’t open
Not open

[Chorus]
Singing la-la-la-la-la-la-lay
And the night over London lay
Singing la-la-la-la-la-la-lay
There’s no light over London today

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.

more tracks from the album

Viva la Vida (Prospekt’s March Edition)

From the albums

Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends (2008)
Viva la Vida (Prospekt’s March Edition) (2008)

Coldplay popular songs

Cemeteries of LondonColdplay

Coldplay

Viva la Vida (Prospekt’s March Edition)