Speed of Sound (single)
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"Speed of Sound" is the first single from English rock band Coldplay's third album, X&Y. It made its radio premiere on BBC Radio 1 with Steve Lamacq on the evening of Monday, 18 April 2005; the track is currently available for download on the band's official site and on the iTunes Music Store. A 30 second clip of the song was also available as a downloadable ringtone.
Beginning with a piano riff reminiscent of Coldplay's "Clocks", the song builds into a huge, synth-heavy chorus: "Birds go flying at the speed of sound, to show you how it all began / Birds came flying from the underground, if you could see it then you'd understand." The song was created as the band attempted to work through a cover version of Kate Bush's song, "Running Up That Hill." If you listen closely, you can hear the resemblance of the main riff to that in Bush's song.
"Speed of Sound" was beaten to the number one spot on the UK Singles Chart by the novelty song "Axel F" by the Crazy Frog. It also became Coldplay's biggest single in the US, peaking at #8 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Note: This album has been released with the Copy Control protection system in some regions.
Track listings
In Japan
- CD TOCP-40179 released 11 May 2005 by Toshiba-EMI
- CD CDR6664, 7" R6664, 12" 12R6664, 10" 10R6664
In Australia
- CD 872 9862 released 23 May 2005 by Capitol Records
Music video
The video earned 4 nominations at the 2005 MTV Video Music Awards.
Awards and nominations
Awards
- 2005 MTV Europe Music Awards - Best Song
- 2006 Brit Awards - Best British Single
Nominations
- 2005 MTV Video Music Awards - Video of the Year
- 2005 MTV Video Music Awards - Best Special Effects
- 2005 MTV Video Music Awards - Best Editing
- 2005 MTV Video Music Awards - Best Cinematography
- 2006 Grammy Awards - Best Rock Song
- 2006 Grammy Awards - Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals
Trivia
- Coldplay premiered "Speed of Sound" at a small warm-up gig in London in March 2005.
- During their performance of "Speed of Sound" at the 2005 Glastonbury Festival Chris asked "Crazy Frog, where are you now?". This was a reference to the fact Speed of Sound was beaten to the UK number 1 spot by "Crazy Frog".
- "Speed of Sound" was the 1,000,000,000th song downloaded from the iTunes Music Store, by Alex Ostrovsky. [link]
- There is another song by this title, written by Chris Bell.
External links
| Coldplay |
| Chris Martin | Jonny Buckland | Guy Berryman | Will Champion |
| Coldplay discography |
|---|
| Albums and extended plays: A Rush of Blood to the Head | Brothers & Sisters EP | Live 2003 | Parachutes | Safety EP | The Blue Room EP | Trouble Live EP | X&Y |
| Singles: "Ode to Deodorant" | "Brothers & Sisters" | "Shiver" | "Yellow" | "Trouble" | "Don't Panic" | "In My Place" | "The Scientist" | "Clocks" | "God Put a Smile upon Your Face" | "Speed of Sound" | "Fix You" | "Talk" | "The Hardest Part" |
| Tours |
| A Rush of Blood to the Head Tour | Twisted Logic Tour |
| Related articles |
| Britpop | Parlophone | Ken Nelson | Make Trade Fair |
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