Coldplay

Released: May 9, 2008

Songwriter: Jonny Buckland Will Champion Guy Berryman Chris Martin

Producer: Markus Dravs Rik Simpson Brian Eno

[Verse 1]
It was a long and dark December
From the rooftops I remember
There was snow, white snow
Clearly I remember
From the windows they were watching
While we froze down below
When the future's architectured
By a carnival of idiots on show
You'd better lie low

[Refrain]
If you love me, won't you let me know?

[Verse 2]
Was a long and dark December
When the banks became cathedrals
And a fox became God
Priests clutched onto bibles
Hollowed out to fit their rifles
And a cross was held aloft
Bury me in armor
When I'm dead and hit the ground
My nerves are poles that unfroze

[Refrain]
And if you love me, won't you let me know?

[Guitar Solo]

[Verse 3]
I don't want to be a soldier
Who the captain of some sinking ship
Would stow, far below

[Refrain]
So if you love me, why'd you let me go?

[Outro]
I took my love down to Violet Hill
There we sat in snow
All that time she was silent still
So if you love me, won't you let me know?
If you love me, won't you let me know?

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

Violet Hill (2008)
Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends (2008)
Big Shiny Tunes 13 (2008)
Viva la Vida (Prospekt’s March Edition) (2008)
Live in Madrid (2011)

Coldplay popular songs

Violet HillColdplay

Coldplay

Viva la Vida (Prospekt’s March Edition)