"The Scientist" is the second
single from British alternative rock band Coldplay's second album, A Rush of
Blood to the Head. The song was written collaboratively by all the band members
for the album. It is built around a piano ballad, with its lyrics telling the
story about a man's desire to love and an apology. The song was released in the
Background
Vocalist Chris Martin wrote "The
Scientist" after listening to George Harrison's "All Things Must
Pass." In an interview with Rolling Stone, Martin revealed that while
working on the band's second album, A Rush of Blood to the Head, he knew that
the album was missing something. One night, during a stay in Liverpool , Martin found an old
piano that was out of tune. He wanted to work on Harrison 's song, "Isn't It
a Pity", but he could not manage to do so. When the song came to Martin,
he asked that the recorder be turned on. He concluded by saying that he came
across this chord sequence and noted that the chord was "lovely".
Martin recorded the vocals and piano takes
in a studio in Liverpool .
When asked about the development of the
song, during a track-by-track reveal, Martin said: "That's just about
girls. It's weird that whatever else is on your mind, whether it's the downfall
of global economics or terrible environmental troubles, the thing that always
gets you most is when you fancy someone." The liner notes from A Rush of
Blood to the Head, on the other hand, states that "The Scientist is
Dan.", with Dan referring to Dan Keeling, the A&R man who signed the
band to Parlophone.
Chris Martin
Christopher
Anthony John "Chris" Martin (born 2 March 1977 in Whitestone, Exeter,
Devon) is an English singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, and is the
lead vocalist, pianist, rhythm guitarist and one of the founders of the band
Coldplay.
Influences
Martin is very
vocal about his love for Norwegian new wave/Synthpop band a-ha. In 2005 he
stated the following in an interview: "I found myself in Amsterdam the
other day and I put a-ha's first record on. I just remembered how much I loved
it. It's incredible songwriting. Everyone asks what inspired us, what we've
been trying to steal from and what we listened to as we were growing up – the
first band I ever loved was a-ha." Martin has also performed live together
with Magne Furuholmen of a-ha. In November 2011, he stated that "back when
we didn't have any hits of our own we used to play a-ha songs."
Music video
The popular music video for "The
Scientist" was notable for its distinctive reverse narrative, which
employed reverse video. The same concept had been previously used for Spike
Jonze's 1996 music video for The Pharcyde's "Drop." The reverse video
style had first been seen in 1989 for the video for the song "The Second
Summer of Love" by Scottish band Danny Wilson. In order for Martin to
appear to be singing the lyrics in the reversed footage, he had to learn to
sing the song backwards, which took him a month. The video was filmed at
various locations, including London Surrey , before the first leg of the A Rush of Blood to the Head tour. It
was directed by Jamie Thraves. The video premiered on 14 August 2002 .
The video opens, looking down on Martin who
is singing, as he lies on his back on a mattress. As the camera shot pulls
back, the mattress is revealed to be outside. A cyclist cycles past in reverse
and Martin leaps up from the mattress. He walks in reverse through a city, out
into the suburbs and eventually crossing a railway line and into woods, picking
up his suit jacket as he goes. Upon arriving at his car, a black BMW, he gets
in and briefly passes out. His girlfriend, at first shown lying dead on the
ground in front of the car, is shown flying back in through the shattered windscreen
of the car. The car rolls back up a hill in the woods and through a broken
fence, which mends itself as the car passes back through it. As the video
closes, the couple is shown driving back up the road. It is revealed that
Martin's girlfriend had removed her seat belt, in order to put her jacket on,
just before the car accident, causing her death. Irish actress Elaine Cassidy
is featured as Martin's girlfriend.
In 2003, "The Scientist" won
multiple MTV Video Music Awards for Best Group Video, Best Direction, and
Breakthrough Video. It was also nominated at the 2004 Grammy Awards for Best
Short Form Music Video but lost to Johnny Cash's video for "Hurt".
In 2011, Willie Nelson covered it for a
Chipotle Mexican Grill-sponsored short film titled "Back to the
Start", highlighting the problems of Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations.
I wrote about that song in the past. Here
is the link to that post:
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