COLDPLAY - EVERY TEARDROP IS A WATERFALL

EVERY TEARDROP IS A WATERFALL

COLDPLAY

SONGWRITERS: William Champion; Peter W. Allen; Adrienne Anderson; Brian Peter George Eno; Guy Berryman; Brian Peter Geoge Eno; Jonathan Buckland & Christopher Anthony Martin

COUNTRY: U. K.

ALBUM: MYLO XYLOTO

LABEL: PARLOPHONE RECORDS

GENRE: POP ROCK

YEAR: 2011

 

        Coldplay are a British rock band formed in London in 1996. They consist of vocalist and pianista Chris Martin, guitarist Jonny Buckland, bassist Guy Berryman, drummer Will Champion and creative director Phil Harvey. They met at University College London and began playing music together from 1996 to 1998, first calling themselves Pectoralz and then Starfish.

          After releasing Safety EP independently in 1998, the band signed with Parlophone during the next year. Their debut album, Parachutes(2000), included the breakthrough hit "Yellow" and received a Brit Award for British Album of the Year, a Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album, as well as a Mercury Prize nomination. Their second album, A Rush of Blood to the Head(2002), won the same accolades while also spawning the singles "Clocks" and "The Scientist", with the former winning a Grammy Award for Record of the Year. The band's third album, X&Y(2005), was the best-selling of the year worldwide, topping the charts of over 30 countries. On Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends (2008), Coldplay achieved the distinction once again and explored new musical territory following the completion of what they considered a trilogy. It earned them a Grammy Award for Best Rock Album and their first Album of the Year nomination, while title track "Viva la Vida" marked the first time a British group went number-one in both the United Kingdom and United States in the 21st century.

          Since then, Coldplay further diversified their sound with subsequent albums Mylo Xyloto(2011), Ghost Stories (2014), A Head Full of Dreams(2015), Everyday Life(2019) and Music of the Spheres (2021). Each one presented a specific theme and added new musical styles to the band's original repertoire, including electronica, ambient, pop, R&B, funk, classical, jazz fusion, and progressive rock. They have also been noted for dazzling, euphoric live performances, which critics have stated are when the band "come alive and make the most sense". To celebrate their 20th anniversary in 2018, they released a career-spanning documentary directed by Mat Whitecross, featuring previously unseen behind the scenes footage.

           Mylo Xyloto (pronounced/ˈmaɪloʊˈ zaɪlətoʊ/ MY-loh ZY-lə-toh) is the fifth studio album by British rock band Coldplay, released in late October 2011. The band worked closely with producer Brian Eno following their successful collaboration on Viva la Vida, the band's previous album. Mylo Xyloto is a concept album and a thematic rock opera.

         The album tells the story of a war against sound and colour on the planet Silencia, which has been overtaken by a totalitarian government led by Major Minus, who controls the population through media and propaganda. His aim is to take sound and colour off the streets in hope to draw away "feeders", creatures that use such energy to hunt its prey. The album follows Mylo Xyloto, a "silencer", a soldier in an army tasked to hunt and track down "sparkers", people who harness light and energy and use it to create sparks, comparable to graffiti in real life. He encounters Fly, the sparker most wanted by Major Minus. In interviews the band have said that the album follows a love story between Mylo and Xyloto, with them being separate characters. However, in the comics based on the album, Mylo Xyloto is the main protagonist and Fly is the sparker girl he encounters.

          The album received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised its uplifting tone and new electronic sound; however, some found its material overproduced. "Paradise" and "Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall" received a total of three Grammy Award nominations in 2012, while the album and "Charlie Brown" received two further Grammy nominations in 2013. Internationally, Mylo Xyloto charted at number one in 34 countries. In the United Kingdom, Mylo Xyloto became Coldplay's fifth album to debut at number one, selling 208,000 units in its first week, and setting a one-week digital sales record with 83,000 copies sold. Mylo Xyloto broke an iTunes record for digital downloads sales by selling over 500,000 digital copies in a week. (Beyoncé's self-tited album and Adele's 25 topped this record in 2013 and 2015 respectively). Mylo Xyloto became Coldplay's third album to debut at number one on the US Billboard 200, selling 447,000 units in its first week of sales. It was the UK's best-selling rock album of 2011, selling 908,000 copies. As of 2013, it has sold over 8 million copies worldwide.

I turn the music up

I got my records on

I shut the world outside until the lights come on

Maybe the streets alight

Maybe the trees are gone

I feel my heart start beatin' to my favorite song

 

And all the kids they dance

All the kids all night

Until Monday mornin' feels another life

I turn the music up

I'm on a roll this time

And heaven is in sight

 

I turn the music up

I got my records on

From underneath the rubble sing a rebel song

Don't want to see another generation drop

I'd rather be a comma than a full stop

 

Maybe I'm in the black

Maybe I'm on my knees

Maybe I'm in the gap between the two trapezes

But my heart is beating and my pulses start

Cathedrals in my heart

 

As we saw, woah, this light

I swear you, emerge blinking into

To tell me it's alright

As we soar walls

Every siren is a symphony

And every tear's a waterfall

 

Is a waterfall, oh

Is a waterfall, oh-oh-oh

Is a, is a waterfall

Every tear

Is a waterfall, oh-oh-oh

 

So you can hurt

Hurt me bad

But still I'll raise the flag

 

Ooh

It was a wa-wa-wa-wa-waterfall

A wa-wa-wa-wa-waterfall

 

Every tear, every tear

Every teardrop is a waterfall

Every tear, every tear

Every teardrop is a waterfall

Every tear, every tear

Every teardrop is a waterfall

Every tear, every tear

Every teardrop is a waterfall

Every tear, every tear

Every teardrop is a waterfall.