Coldplay

June 14, 2005 at 5:20 pm by Angela · Filed under Miscellaneous

Anybody counting U2 lyric references on Coldplay’s X and Y?
I’ll mention the one that popped out at me: “Are they bleeding all your colors into one” from “Square One.”

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9 Comments »

  1. Marc said,

    June 14, 2005 @ 9:21 pm

    This isn’t really a lyrical reference, but boy does “Til Kingdom Come” sound a lot like the acoustic version of “Yahweh”. I know it’s pure co-incidence, but they really do sound similar, down to the last line being repeated 4 times.

    Also, the song was originally written for Johnny Cash, but he didn’t get the chance to record it before passing away. Strange to think that the song almost made another U2 comparison possible!

    -Marc

  2. jcarvalh said,

    June 15, 2005 @ 7:40 am

    ‘Til Kingdon Come’ sound nothing like Yahweh. The only thing comparable is structure, which can then be compared to about 100 other songs out there.

  3. Marc said,

    June 15, 2005 @ 8:17 am

    Whoops! Didn’t mean to post my opinion there, sorry about that.

    -Marc

  4. JennJam said,

    June 15, 2005 @ 2:27 pm

    I love Coldplay’s new album . . .

    I’m a “lyrics girl,” usually, but when I first heard “Square One,” the one thing that jumped out at me, (not even noticing Angela’s ‘U2 lyric reference!) was that the bass line sounds so much like “New Year’s Day!!”
    Not that I mind . . . I mean imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, right? And Coldplay make no effort to hide the influence of others on their music (I think it was “Speed of Sound” that Chris Martin said was partially a direct lift from a Kate Bush song, although I’d argue it’s just another version of “Clocks,” . . . but alas, I digress) . . anyway, they don’t hide it, and why should they? All artists borrow or build on. But the bass line to “Square One” just really jumped out at me.

    Thoughts?

  5. Joe said,

    June 15, 2005 @ 3:24 pm

    U2 References, and other “X&Y” talking points (IMHO)

    1)On “Low”, I originally thought that Chris Martin was saying “Yes, I feel loved” at the coda of that song (answer to “Do you Feel Loved?)”. I guess it’s really “yes i feel low”…..

    2)”White Shadows” reminds me of “A Man and a Woman” musically…something tells me the had a copy of “Atomic Bomb” pumping in the studio break areas during the making of this album…

    3)”Fix You” sounds like a big ol’ U2-style anthem replete with Edge-repeating-soaring guitar riff, with a little flaming lips thrown in at the end

    4)The guitar refrain of “Talk” is a little Edgish (you can take a ladder up to the sun….and stare at it)

    5)”Speed of Sound” does not remind me of U2, but rather Clocks

    6)”A Message”, with a harder guitar part, could have been a Rattle and Hum outtake; reminds me of All I want is you in musical structure

    7)”Low” has a New Order feel to it

    8)”Hardest Part” ends with a Miracle Drug style guitar part, but starts off rather Tom Petty

    9)”Swallowed by the Sea”—see “Hardest Part” minus Tom Petty

    10)”Twisted Logic” and “What if” are the Beatles influenced songs on this record

    11)”Kingdom Come” in some ways, the most obvious U2 reference on the album, as it both honors Johnny Cash (for whom the song was written) and “The Wanderer” the Cash-U2 collaboration that did make the light of day …another song that belongs on Rattle and Hum outtakes

    I know all of that was long-winded (Hi everybody!!! My name is Joe in San Diego!!!) but I just spent the better part of a weekend dissecting this album in comparison to the almighty U2 and have reached the following conclusion: It’s really good. Not as good or as relevant as “Atomic Bomb” but as good as Coldplay’s previous 2 efforts.

  6. Joe said,

    June 16, 2005 @ 5:21 am

    Another update: Speed of Sound has the lyric “the buildings that you put up/Japan and China all lit up” and Beautiful Day has “See China Right in front of you.”

    Also, if you haven’t seen it, check out the video for SOS….pure Bono poses from Chris Martin…and that video screen?

  7. Joe said,

    June 16, 2005 @ 3:35 pm

    One more update:

    “The Hardest Part” has the lyric “Everything I know is wrong.”

  8. Joe said,

    June 16, 2005 @ 3:58 pm

    One more X&Y update:

    —A person I consider my friend says that Coldplay sounds like “if John Tesh sang and played keyboards/piano in front of U2.” We argued that one around for a while.

    —I do like X&Y a lot. It was instantly accessible and the melodies are gorgeous. But SOS and Clocks are almost the same song, and “A Message” sounds a lot like “Green Eyes”

    —The end of “White Shadows” has a beginning-of Streets similarity

    —”A Message” sounds like it has the same keyboard sound “Dirty Day” does

    OK I’m done for now

  9. Tassoula said,

    June 17, 2005 @ 10:47 pm

    Joe -
    The first thing I thought when I saw the Speed of Sound video was ‘Wow - that sure looks like U2’s screens!’

    Chris ‘posing’ just makes me laugh. I am a fan, but I mostly refer to him as Schroeder.

    Marc -
    I agree with you, Til Kingdom Come does sound like the acoustic Yahweh. They’re both nice songs.

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