100 Songs That Have Moved Me | Song #004: "Clocks" (2002)

[luxken27]

Title: "Clocks"
Artist: Coldplay
Composers: Guy Berryman, Jonny Buckland, Will Champion, Chris Martin
Producers: Ken Nelson, Mark Phythian
Release Date: December 10, 2002
Peak Chart Position: #4 (Adult Pop Songs)
Album: A Rush of Blood to the Head (2002)

Rolling Stone metadata:

Rank: #490

Blurb: Coldplay were scrambling to finish their second album and wanted to save "Clocks," with a churning piano riff inspired by the band Muse, for a later album. Luckily, a friend intervened. "He said, 'You're going on [in the lyrics] about urgency, and you're talking about keeping this song back,' " said Chris Martin. " 'That doesn't make sense.' " (Source)

Words from the artist:

"Clocks" was composed during the late stages of production of Coldplay's second album, A Rush of Blood to the Head. A riff popped into Chris Martin's mind late one night when he came in to the studio, where he then developed it on piano. According to Martin, "Clocks" was inspired by the English rock band Muse. Martin presented the riff to the band's guitarist Jonny Buckland, who then added a layer of guitar chords to the basic track: "He picked up his guitar [a sure sign that he likes a song] and played these brilliant chords ... It was like a chemical reaction process."

Before writing "Clocks", the band had already made 10 songs for the album. They thought it was too late for the song's inclusion in the album since it was nearing completion. So they recorded a demo and saved it with other unfinished tracks, labeling it "Songs for #3"; the band projected these tracks for what would be their third album.

By June 2002, Coldplay were ready to present the album to their record label Parlophone. However, Martin felt it was "rubbish"; they were not completely satisfied with the album. So, the band and Parlophone concerted to delay the release. After a headlining tour, Coldplay went on working "Songs for #3". Phil Harvey, a friend of Martin and the band's manager, heard it and egged on him to rework "Clocks" immediately. With lyrics that speak of urgency, Harvey pointed out that its meaning would contradict Martin's idea of stashing the track. Martin was persuaded by Harvey and then further developed "Clocks" while other band members supplemented their ideas based on the main piano track, adding bass and drums. Coldplay recorded the song very quickly, since they were running after the postponed schedule of A Rush of Blood to the Head, which was released two months later. (Source)

How this song moves me:

I've been a fan of Coldplay since the first single from their first album. Considering my affection for Queen, U2, and Ben Folds Five, it's probably no surprise that I was drawn to another piano-heavy rock band with a penchant for orchestral numbers :P I listened to Parachutes practically nonstop back in the day, and was a bit wary of their sophomore album. It was to my great surprise that I liked A Rush of Blood to the Head even more.

This song is pretty much the embodiment of why. It's huge. It's atmospheric. Beside that now-famous piano riff, there's a strong bassline anchoring it, complemented by the percussion. This song sounds far more orchestral that it probably is, because of how well all of the band members play as a unit. I'm a big fan of music that becomes more than just the sum of its parts =)

This is another song that I used in that cracktastic tennis musical (along with "Buddy Holly") - this time, as a nonverbal expression of love, as one character basically walked out onto an empty center court and this song started playing. I can only imagine how breathtakingly wonderful that would sound, echoing through such a large space ♥ With the final repetition of words ~ Home, home / Where I wanted to go overlapping with the plaintive words from the chorus - You are... ~ well. This remains one of my favorite examples of effectively using music to draw out emotion in fic.