Fix You

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards.
Please discuss this issue on the talk page or replace this tag with a more specific message.
This article has been tagged since December 2006.

"Fix You"

Single by Coldplay
from the album X&Y
B-side(s)	"The World Turned Upside Down", "Pour Me"
Released	5 September 2005
Format	7", CD, download
Genre	Alternative
Length	4:54 (album version) 4:37 (edit)
Label	Parlophone
Producer(s)	Coldplay, Ken Nelson
Chart positions
#4 (Canada, UK Singles Chart) #8 (Latvia) #18 (U.S. Modern Rock Tracks) #59 (U.S. Billboard Hot 100) #25 (Australia)
Coldplay singles chronology
"Speed of Sound" (2005)	"Fix You" (2005)	"Talk" (2005)
X&Y track listing
"White Shadows" (3)	"Fix You" (4)	"Talk" (5)

"Fix You" is a song by English rock band Coldplay and is the fourth track on their 2005 album, X&Y. During live performances of the song all four members of the band sing, although on record only Chris and Will do. It was also released as the second single from that album in various countries. In the United Kingdom it was released on 2005-09-05 to avoid competition with Oasis' "The Importance of Being Idle" (released 2005-08-22) in the UK Singles Chart.^[1]

On 14 September 2005, Coldplay released the Fix You EP on the iTunes Music Store. All of the sales went to the American Red Cross Hurricane 2005 Relief and the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences’ MusiCares Hurricane Relief Fund. This song was also played on Shelter from the Storm. It has also became a tribute song for the victims and eventually became the anthem for the event.

This album has been released with the Copy Control protection system in some regions.

1 Track listing
2 Writing the song
3 Music video
4 Chart performance
5 Media usage
6 Release details
7 References
8 External links

[edit] Track listing

"Fix You" (edit)
"The World Turned Upside Down"
"Pour Me" (Live at the Hollywood Bowl) (featured on the UK Enhanced CD, Australian, and U.S. iTunes EP versions)
"Fix You" (video) (featured on the UK Enhanced CD and U.S. iTunes EP versions)

[edit] Writing the song

When writing the song, Chris Martin was influenced by Muse's use of a church organ on the track "Megalomania" from their album Origin of Symmetry. Unable to gain access to one, Martin instead used an old keyboard that his late father-in-law (Bruce Paltrow) gave to his wife Gwyneth Paltrow. [1] However, in other instances Martin has claimed that "Fix You" is a copy of Elbow's 2003 anthem "Grace Under Pressure".^[2]

Some sources claim Chris Martin wrote the song for his wife Gwyneth Paltrow after she suffered depression due to the death of her father Bruce Paltrow.^[3]

This song is written in E flat major.

[edit] Music video

The band performing "Fix You"

The music video for "Fix You", directed by Sophie Muller, was shot at the end of two concerts on July 4 and July 5, 2005 at Reebok Stadium in Bolton, England. The concert goers doubled as extras for the video shoot, which required two takes on each day to complete. ^[4]

In the first half of the video, Chris Martin wanders the streets of London, while the slogan "Make Trade Fair" is projected onto the National Film Theatre, using the same ITA2 colour scheme on the cover of X&Y. The tunnels that Martin is seen wandering within are located near London Bridge station. The bridge that he walks across is also London Bridge. As soon as the electric guitar kicks in, Martin darts through streets corners at lightning speeds until finally reaching the Reebok Stadium, where he joins the rest of the band for the song's finale. The metal steps signal the start of the Reebok Stadium scene.

After the video was released, rumours in the United States suggested that, given the location of some of the footage, the video was a tribute following the July 7, 2005 London bombings. Although, this is impossible as the filming took place in June. It is suggested this though due to references such as the construction sight in the background as one scene with a sign for King's Cross in the corner, which may referring to rebuilding the damage at station. The band themselves have never denied such a connection.

[edit] Chart performance

The song was supported by 60 alternative rock radio stations in the United States, including WNNX (Atlanta), KNDD (Seattle), XTRA (San Diego), and WFNX (Boston). The band also performed the track at Saturday Night Live and Live 8.

The song debuted on the US Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart on August 28, 2005. It reached #18 on the chart. "Fix You" also reached #42 on the Billboard Pop 100, #24 on the Adult Top 40, and #29 on the Hot Digital Songs chart.

[edit] Media usage

"Fix You" was used for Extreme Makeover: Home Edition's special, in which homes destroyed by Hurricane Katrina were rebuilt.
The song was used by Cinemax when promoting their airings of the complete Star Wars movie saga and in the Scrubs episode My Cabbage.
Featured extensively in trailer material for World Trade Center.
The song featured in a 2005 episode of teen drama The OC (Season 2 Episode 23 - The O.Sea). The song plays in the final moments of the show as a key character dies and then as the repercussions are felt throughout the remaining characters' lives. It is also notable as this is where the song first debuted.
This song is also featured in the 2006 movie You, Me and Dupree.
This song is also the presentation song of the Montreal Canadiens when they play at the Bell Center
Martin guest-starred on the fourth episode of the second series of BBC Two's Extras as a hyper-realised version of himself, and performs a solo rendition of this song on the show-within-a-show "When The Whistle Blows" as a way to promote the band's fictional Coldplay: Greatest Hits album. The special features in the Extras dvd release show a sign-along between Martin and Ricky Gervais.
The song was also played during a commercial for the film King Kong.
At the start of the Western Bulldogs v Richmond AFL telecast on the Nine Network on March 31, 2006, this song was used to play a short clip with Nathan G. Brown on the comeback trail after suffering a horrific injury the previous May.
The Top 12 contestants of Australian Idol 2006 also performed the song live as an opening performance to the Grand Finale of the show at the Sydney Opera House on November 26, 2006.

[edit] Release details

Country	Date	Label	Format	Catalog
United Kingdom	2005-09-05	Parlophone	7"	R6671
United Kingdom	2005-09-05	Parlophone	digipak Enhanced CD	CDRS6671
Australia	2005-09-12	Capitol Records	CD	3410002
United States	2005-09-13	EMI, Capitol	iTunes download
Japan	2005-09-14	Toshiba-EMI	CD	TOCP-40184