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Fix You

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"Fix You"
Song
B-side"The World Turned Upside Down"
"Pour Me"

"Fix You" is a song by English alternative rock band Coldplay. It was written by all four members of the band for their third album, X&Y. The track is built around a church-style organs, that accompanies it with a slow tempo drums, and a singalong chorus. It was released on 5 September 2005 as the second single from X&Y and has reached number four in the UK Singles Chart. The song reached number 18 in the United States Billboard Hot Modern Rock Tracks. Promo singles were released for the UK and US.

"Fix You" was well received by critics. The song was complimented for its music and profound lyrics. It has been widely sampled, with different covers and sounds. The song, itself, was nominated for multiple awards in the categories of Best Song Musically and Lyrically and Anthem of the Summer. The music video was garnered as a tribute to the 7 July 2005 London bombings.

Background

When writing the song, vocalist Chris Martin was inspired to use a church organ for the track. Unable to gain access to the instrument, Martin instead used an old keyboard that his late father-in-law, Bruce Paltrow, gave to his daughter Gwyneth.[1] However, in other instances Martin has claimed that "Fix You" is a copy of English alternative rock band Elbow's 2003 anthem "Grace Under Pressure".[2] Some sources claimed Martin wrote the song for his wife, Gwyneth Paltrow, following the death of her father, Bruce Paltrow.[3][4]

When asked about the development of the song, Martin said: "My father-in-law Bruce Paltrow bought this big keyboard just before he died. No one had ever plugged it in. I plugged it in, and there was this incredible sound I'd never heard before. All these songs poured out from this one sound. Something has to inspire you, and something else takes over. It's very cloudy."[5] Martin also called it "probably the most important song we've ever written".[6]

During a track-by-track reveal, bassist Guy Berryman noted: "'Fix You' takes a bit of its inspiration from Jimmy Cliff's reggae classic, 'Many Rivers to Cross' [...] It becomes its own thing, kind of like points of inspiration that kind of lead you down certain paths. Whenever you want to write a song like someone else, it ultimately ends up sounding like something different anyway."[7]

Music and lyrics

Template:Sound sample box align right

"Fix You" excerpt
The music of "Fix You" is built around a church organ.
Problems playing this file? See media help.

Template:Sample box end The song features an organ and piano sound.[8] The song starts with a hushed electric organ ballad, including Martin's falsetto.[9] The song then builds with both an acoustic guitar and piano sound. The sound then shifts with a plaintive two-note guitar line, ringing through a bringing rhythm upbeat tempo. Its instrumentation is varied with the sound of church-style organs, piano notes, acoustic and electric guitar riffs, drums, and a singalong chorus.[10]

The message throughout the song, in which Martin's sings, is words of encouragement: "Lights will guide you home/And ignite your bones/And I will try to fix you."[11][12][13]

Release

Coldplay released "Fix You" in the UK and US on 5 September 2005 as the second single of their third album.[14] The single was pressed with two B-side's: "The World Turned Upside Down" and "Pour Me".[14][15] On 14 September 2005, the band released the Fix You EP in the iTunes Store.[14] In response to Hurricane Katrina, all of the sales went to the American Red Cross Hurricane 2005 Relief and the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences' MusiCares Hurricane Relief Fund.[14] Promotional singles were released in the UK and US.[14]

The track peaked at number four in the UK Singles Chart on 17 September 2005.[16] It peaked at number 59 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 18 on the Billboard Hot Modern Rock Tracks.[17] The song also charted on the Billboard Pop 100 and Hot Digital Songs.[17] The single appeared in Australia's Singles Chart in the number four position on 18 September 2005,[18] after retiring in the 58 spot.[18] It also appeared at number eight on the Irish Singles Chart and spent seven consecutive weeks on the chart.[19]

Reception

Chris Martin playing "Fix You" on a synthesizer piano during the band's 2008 Viva la Vida Tour

Critics were positive towards the song. In the Rolling Stone review of the album, critic Kelefa Sanneh wrote: "One of the best is 'Fix You', an unabashedly sentimental song where Martin delivers words of encouragement in a gentle falsetto [...] Proving once more that no band can deliver a stately rock ballad like this one."[11] Paul McNamee of NME wrote: "It’s a wonderful song that shifts from simple stark piano and voice to a ringing, clattering burst of intent and proto-prog four-part harmony."[20] Adrien Begrand of PopMatters in his review of the album, noted the song as the "best ballad" off X&Y.[21]

In 2005, Coldplay performed the song live in Saturday Night Live and the Live 8 event in July.[22] "Fix You" was also played on Shelter from the Storm.[14] It has also become a tribute song for the victims and eventually became the anthem for the event.[14] The song was featured in an episode of American teen drama television series The O.C..[23][24] The half part of the song was played over the trailer for the 2006 film World Trade Center.[25][26] The track was nominated for an Ivor Novello Award in the category of Best Song musically and lyrically.[27][28] The song was also nominated for an UK Festival Award in the category of Anthem of the Summer.[29]

The song appears in The Acoustic Album (2006). It was performed in 2006 by the New England octogenarian chorus group Young@Heart. The group's performance was led by former chorus member Fred Knittle, who suffers from congestive heart failure and breathes with assistance from an oxygen tank. The performance was originally planned to be a duet between Knittle and Bob Salvini, another former chorus member, but Salvini died shortly before the show. Knittle performed it as a solo, as a tribute to his friend.[30] The performance was initially recorded for a British documentary that aired on Channel 4; footage of the performance was uploaded to YouTube in November 2006 to positive response.[31][32] An expanded version of the film, titled Young@Heart, debuted at the 2007 Los Angeles Film Festival and was released in US theatres in 2008.[33][34]

Music video

File:ColdplayFixYouVideo.jpg
The band performing "Fix You"

The music video for "Fix You" was directed by Sophie Muller, who had previously worked with the band for their 2002 video "In My Place".[35] The video was filmed at the end of two concerts on 4 July and 5 July 2005 at Reebok Stadium in Bolton, England.[36] The concert goers doubled as extras for the video shoot, which required two takes on each day to complete.[14][37]

In the first half of the video, Martin wanders the streets of London, while the slogan "Make Trade Fair" is projected onto the National Film Theatre, using the same ITA2 colour scheme on the cover of X&Y. The tunnels that Martin is seen wandering within are located near London Bridge station. The bridge that he walks across is Waterloo Bridge connecting the Southbank with The Strand. As soon as the electric guitar kicks in, Martin darts through streets corners until finally reaching the Reebok Stadium, where he joins the rest of the band for the song's finale. The metal steps signal the start of the Reebok Stadium scene.

The video debuted on 1 August 2005.[38] The music video was nominated at the 15th annual Music Video Production Association Awards in the category of Adult Contemporary.[38] After its released, the video was a tribute following the 7 July 2005 London bombings.[14]

Track listing

  1. "Fix You" (video edit) – 4:37
  2. "The World Turned Upside Down" – 4:32
  3. "Pour Me (Live at the Hollywood Bowl)" – 5:01 (featured on the UK Enhanced CD, Australian, and U.S. iTunes EP versions)
  4. "Fix You" [video] (featured on the UK Enhanced CD and U.S. iTunes EP versions)

Charts

Chart Peak
position
Australian ARIA Singles Chart[39] 25
Canadian Singles Chart[40] 4
Italian Singles Chart[41] 13
UK Singles Chart 4
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 59

References

  1. ^ Kennedy, John. "Coldplay on X&Y". Xfm. Retrieved 2007-12-16.
  2. ^ "Coldplay admit 'Fix You' is a copy of Elbow's track". Female First. femalefirst.co.uk. 2005-06-08. Retrieved 2008-11-27. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  3. ^ Gordon, Devin (2005-05-30). "Hot for Coldplay". Newsweek. MSNBC. Retrieved 2007-02-15.
  4. ^ Breimeier, Russ (2005). "Coldplay: X&Y". Christianity Today. christianitytoday.com. Retrieved 2008-10-13. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  5. ^ Gundersen, Edna (2005-06-02). "Catch Coldplay". USA Today. usatoday.com. Retrieved 2008-10-29. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  6. ^ "Coldplay interview". Newsweek. newsweek.com (Internet Archive). 2005-05-30. Retrieved 2008-11-10. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  7. ^ Spout, Gene (2005-08-12). "Stardom and anonymity: Coldplay's bassist has the best of both worlds". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. seattlepi.nwsource.com. Retrieved 2008-11-17. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  8. ^ "Coldplay - Fix You". NME. nme.com. 2005-09-19. Retrieved 2008-10-28. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  9. ^ "Coldplay - Fix You review". Virgin Media. virginmedia.com. 2005-09-05. Retrieved 2008-10-28. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  10. ^ Hubbard, Michael (2005-09-05). "Coldplay - Fix You - Track reviews". MusicOMH. musicomh.com. Retrieved 2008-10-28. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  11. ^ a b Sanneh, Kelefa (2005-06-16). "X&Y - Coldplay". Rolling Stone. rollingstone.com. Retrieved 2008-10-28. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  12. ^ "Fix You Lyrics". MTV Lyrics. mtv.com. Retrieved 2008-10-28. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  13. ^ Downer, Adam (2005-10-28). "Coldplay - X&Y Review". Sputnik Music. sputnikmusic.com. Retrieved 2008-11-27. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  14. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Coldplay Ezine: Issue 15" (PDF). Coldplay.com. Retrieved 2008-10-28.
  15. ^ "Fix You by Coldplay". Yahoo! Music. Yahoo!. Retrieved 2008-10-28.
  16. ^ "Chart Stats - Coldplay". Chart Stats. Retrieved 2008-10-28.
  17. ^ a b "Artist Chart History". Billboard. billboard.com. Retrieved 2008-10-28. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  18. ^ a b "Austria Top 40". Austrian Charts. Retrieved 2008-10-28.
  19. ^ "Fix You". Irish Charts. Retrieved 2008-10-28.
  20. ^ McNamee, Paul (2005-05-23). "Coldplay: X&Y". NME. nme.com. Retrieved 2008-10-28. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  21. ^ Begrand, Adrien (2005-06-05). "Coldplay: X&Y review". PopMatters. popmatters.com. Retrieved 2008-10-28. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  22. ^ "Coldplay Ezine: Issue 14" (PDF). Coldplay.com. July 2005. Retrieved 2008-10-28.
  23. ^ J. J. Philbin and Michael Lange (2005-05-12). "The O.Sea". The O.C. Season 2. Episode 23. 42 minutes in. Fox. {{cite episode}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters: |episodelink=, |seriesno=, and |serieslink= (help)
  24. ^ Tannenbaum, Rob (2005-05-29). "Chill Factor". New York. nymag.com. Retrieved 2008-10-28. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  25. ^ World Trade Center (DVD). Paramount Pictures. 2006.
  26. ^ "World Trade Center information". Sound Track Info. 2006-08-08. Retrieved 2008-10-28.
  27. ^ Gibson, Owen (2006-04-25). "Arctic Monkeys among Novello award hopefuls". The Guardian. guardian.co.uk. Retrieved 2008-10-28. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  28. ^ "Coldplay top Ivor nomination list". BBC News. BBC. 2006-04-24. Retrieved 2008-10-28.
  29. ^ "Coldplay Ezine: Issue 16" (PDF). Coldplay.com. December 2005. Retrieved 2008-10-28.
  30. ^ Ansen, David (2008-03-18). "Songs in the Key of Life". Newsweek. newsweek.com. Retrieved 2008-11-27. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  31. ^ Jake Coyle (2007-06-24). "Young@Heart bridges the age gap". Associated Press. desertnews.com. Retrieved 2008-03-13. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  32. ^ Ronni Gordon (2007-03-09). "'Young@Heart' documentary at Academy". The Republican. Retrieved 2008-03-13.
  33. ^ "Young@Heart - 2008". Variety. variety.com. 2008-04-09. Retrieved 2008-10-29. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  34. ^ Horn, John (2008-04-10). "'Juno' set high box office standard for fest fare". The Los Angeles Times. latimes.com. Retrieved 2008-10-29. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  35. ^ Wiederhorn, Jon (2002-08-12). "Single Saves Coldplay". MTV News. mtv.com. Retrieved 2008-09-02. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  36. ^ Montgomery, James (2005-08-02). "Coldplay's Clip For 'Fix You': All-New Footage Of Chris Martin Walking Around". MTV News. mtv.com. Retrieved 2008-09-04. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  37. ^ "Bolton Wanderers". BBC Manchester. BBC. 2007-08-31. Retrieved 2008-10-29.
  38. ^ a b "Coldplay - "Fix You"". Mvdbase.com. Retrieved 2008-10-29.
  39. ^ "Coldplay charts". Austrian Charts. Retrieved 2008-11-27.
  40. ^ "Chart positions". Billboard. billboard.com. Retrieved 2008-11-27. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  41. ^ "Italian Singles Chart". italiancharts.com. Retrieved 2008-07-23.
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