lyricist beauty in 20 words or less

Coldplay breakthrough single Yellow’s emotional impact was characterised in the video produced for the song - which was one long scene featuring lead singer Chris Martin wandering along a dreary beach in the rain in slow motion. In fact, contrary to popular belief, this impact was neither planned nor thought out.

Drummer Will Champion’s mother had died in the week before the shoot, and consequently the rest of the band were at her funeral, with only Martin being available - I assume during the early Parachutes days they didn’t have the finances to cancel a video shoot at short notice! The video was also supposed to include a lot of extras on the beach, but due to the sudden downpour of torrential rain, the plans were changed.

But the song, in Chris Martin’s head at least, isn’t as emotional as one might think. Since it’s release in 2000, I’ve heard it analysed as being about cowardice, happiness, drugs (apparently ‘Yellow’ is a Bermudian slang term for marijuana!) and as being from the perspective of God. Yes, God. However, here is a quote from the mouth of the man himself: “It was simply because that word sounded nice, it just seemed to fit, no other reason.” He even revealed on a Channel 4 documentary that he was in fact sitting in a room, lost for inspiration while trying to think of a two-syllabled word to fit when his eyes landed on a copy of the Yellow Pages!