The Scientist (song)

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"The Scientist"

Single by Coldplay
from the album A Rush of Blood to the Head
Released	November 4, 2002 (UK) November 11, 2002 (US)
Format	CD, DVD, 7"
Recorded	?
Genre	Alternative
Length	5:09
Label	Parlophone R6588 (UK) Capitol (US)
Producer(s)	Ken Nelson Coldplay
Chart positions
#6 (LAT) #10 (UK) #18 (US Modern Rock) #16 (CAN) #40 (AUS)
Coldplay singles chronology
"In My Place" (2002)	"The Scientist" (2002)	"Clocks" (2003)
A Rush of Blood to the Head track listing
"God Put a Smile upon Your Face" (3)	"The Scientist" (4)	"Clocks" (5)

"The Scientist" is the second single from Coldplay's sophomore album, A Rush of Blood to the Head. Regional singles included UK/Europe, the Netherlands, Germany, and Canada. Promos were released for the UK and U.S..

The single cover features drummer Will Champion, art-directed by Sølve Sundsbø.

The song is a piano-driven ballad; Chris Martin opens the song and is joined by the rest of the band after the first chorus. Martin was inspired to write "The Scientist" after listening to George Harrison's "Isn't it a Pity" on the album All Things Must Pass^{[citation needed]}. The song also alludes to the short story "The Birthmark" by Nathaniel Hawthorne, in which a scientist forgets about the love of his life due to his devotion to science. He then realizes his mistake when it is already too late, as her death now haunts him.

The song was covered live by Aimee Mann and released on a special edition of her album Lost in Space. Natasha Bedingfield covered the song on Jo Whiley's Live Lounge radio show. Also, Belinda Carlisle did a live rendition on the ITV1 reality show Hit Me Baby One More Time. The television show MAD TV also did a parody of the video called "The Narcissist."

1 Track listing
2 Music video
3 Quotes
4 Notes
5 External links
6 References

[edit] Track listing

"The Scientist"
"1:36" featuring Tim Wheeler from Ash on guitar
"I Ran Away"

The DVD single included a backwards playing version of "The Scientist". Thus no longer backwards.

[edit] Music video

The music video for "The Scientist" was very popular with its reverse narrative. A similar concept was previously used for Spike Jonze's music video for The Pharcyde's "Drop". This reverse style can also be seen in Enigma's, "Return to Innocence", Jack Johnson's video for "Sitting, Waiting, Wishing, "Dashboard Confessional's video for "Don't Wait," and Beyoncé Knowles' video for "Me, Myself and I." It took Chris Martin a month to learn the lyrics backwards. ^[1]

The video was filmed at various locations including London and Surrey before the first leg of the A Rush of Blood to the Head Tour. It was directed by famed director Jamie Thraves, best known for his work on Radiohead's enigmatic "Just" video. Though it was filmed in England, the car driven in the music video features a Wyoming license plate which had a design that was in use from 1983 to 1988 (although the car itself is right-hand drive). The vehicle in the video was a BMW E28 5-series, manufactured from 1982 to 1988.

Irish actress Elaine Cassidy is also featured in the video.

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 Grammy Awards for Best Music Video:Short Form.

[edit] Quotes

Chris Martin on "The Scientist": "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." [1]

However, inside the cover to A Rush of Blood to the Head it is stated: The Scientist is Dan. 'Dan' refers to Dan Keeling, the A&R man who signed the band to Parlophone.