Talk (song)

"Talk"
Single by Coldplay
from the album X&Y
B-side	"Gravity" "Sleeping Sun"
Released	19 December 2005
Format	7", CD, DVD
Genre	Alternative rock
Length	5:11 (album version) 4:29 (international radio edit) 4:05 (US radio edit)
Label	Parlophone/EMI Records Capitol/EMI Records (U.S.)
Writer(s)	Guy Berryman, Jonny Buckland, Will Champion, Chris Martin, Ralf Hütter, Karl Bartos, Emil Schult
Producer(s)	Coldplay, Danton Supple
Coldplay singles chronology
"Fix You" (2005) "Talk" (2005) "The Hardest Part" (2006)

"Talk" is a song by the British alternative rock band Coldplay. Built around a motif from Kraftwerk's 1981 song "Computer Love", it was written by all members of the band and appeared on their third album, X&Y. In the United States, the song entered at number 86 on the Billboard Hot 100 and elsewhere in the world its success varied, peaking at number one in the Netherlands' Dutch Top 40, becoming their first number one single. Although the prior 2 singles of the album were more successful, Talk was still a big hit from the album.

The song received positive reviews, with critics noting the music's sound and memorable lyrics. Both the song and its "Thin White Duke" remix were nominated for the 2007 Grammy Awards, the latter of which won in the category of Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical.

Background

Coldplay had difficulties with the recording sessions for months, as to the sound of the track.^[1][2] They were skeptical in deciding to add "Talk" to the final tracklisting of X&Y.^[1] During the recording sessions, which had seen the band scrap huge amounts of material, the song was left out when they sent early versions of the album to its record label, Parlophone. The song, however, made it to the track list, after it was properly mixed.^[1]

Chris Martin singing "Talk" during the band's 2005 Twisted Logic Tour

When asked about the development of the song by NME.com, vocalist Chris Martin said, "From that version, [a version that NME.com heard, while visiting the band in the studio] we went and did a whole other version of it. A whole other song. What happened with the song 'Talk' is that it was all going great and then someone said 'That should be the first single' and we all just freaked out and scrapped it all. [...] We’ve just mixed it and it sounds great. I think we’ve had such pain getting to that place, I’m not sure anyone quite knows what to do with it anymore. When we heard it mixed properly, it sounded mega."^[1]

The band received permission from the electronic music German band Kraftwerk to use the main riff from its song "Computer Love" (German: Computerliebe), from its 1981 studio album Computer World (German: Computerwelt), for "Talk", replacing Kraftwerk's synthesizers with guitars.^[3][4][5]

The band recorded three separate versions of the single; the one recorded on X&Y was based on an early cut of the song.^[6] A newer version of the track – with a different set of lyrics – was leaked onto the internet in early 2005.^[7] The track was originally intended to be a B-side for the song "Speed of Sound", before becoming the last addition to X&Y's track listing.^[3]

Composition

The track includes a hypnotic pace, with Will Champion adding a metronomic beat to the drums.^[8][9] The song features a synthesizer hook notable from Kraftwerk's "Computer Love". It also adds a chiming note to more abrasive riffs during the breakdown near the end of the song.^[8][9]

In the fourth line of the second verse, Martin sings with a trace of irony: "Or write a song nobody had sung/Or do something that's never been done."^[10][11] In the third line of the third verse, Martin alludes to fear, but changes to joy: "Tell me how do you feel?/Well I feel like they're talking in a language I don't speak/And they're talking it to me."^[10] In the fifth verse, Martin summarises about an individual who is lost and trying to discover the unknown: "So you don't know where you're going/But you want to talk/And you feel like you're going where you've been before/You'll tell anyone who will listen but you feel ignored."^[10]

According to Josh Tyrangiel of Time magazine, the meaning to "Talk" is based on how Martin "wants to teach us how to feel better about ourselves, and his lessons have the moral superiority disguised as sensitivity that marked Bono's mighty mullet period."^[12] Tyrangiel interpreted the lyrics, "Are you lost or incomplete/ Do you feel like a puzzle, you can't find your missing piece/ Tell me how you feel", with Martin begging in the song.^[12]

Release

Coldplay released "Talk" in the UK and US on 19 December 2005 as the album's third single.^[13] The single was pressed with two B-sides: "Gravity" and "Sleeping Sun".^[13][14]

"Talk" peaked at number 10 in the UK Singles Chart on 31 December 2005.^[15] The song charted at number 86 on the Billboard Hot 100 and reached number five on the Billboard Hot Modern Rock Tracks in 2005.^[16] The song was released early in the Netherlands,^[13] thus charting in the Dutch Top 40. It reached number one the closing week of 2005.^[17] The band performed the song live at the 2005 MTV Europe Music Awards in Lisbon, Portugal, the 2006 Juno Awards in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and the 2006 Grammy Awards in Los Angeles, California.^[13][18]

Reception

Coldplay performing "Talk" during their 2005 Twisted Logic Tour

Critics were positive towards the song. In the PopMatters review of the album, critic Adrian Begrand wrote: "It's the excellent, and much talked-about 'Talk' that has the band showing tremendous creativity, delving straight into mid-'70s krautrock, and piecing together a gorgeous pop song."^[8] Bud Scoppa of Paste magazine wrote: "'Talk' stands out as an anthem in an album full of them."^[19] Dan Tallis of the BBC noted that the track was "fantastic" and "positively gargantuan".^[20] Jonathan Keefe of Slant magazine wrote: "'Talk' is given one of the album's most memorable melodies, but its impact is reduced by the song's structure, in which the lead guitar echoes Martin's vocal melody after every line, so that melody becomes tiresome well before the first chorus hits."^[21] Despite the song's positive reception, Chris Martin has stated that the band's bassist, Guy Berryman, dislikes the song, and thus they no longer perform "Talk" live.^[22]

The song was remixed by Jacques Lu Cont, with the title "Talk (Thin White Duke Mix)".^[23] The song by Lu Cont won the coveted Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical award at the 2007 Grammy Awards.^[24][25] "Talk" was also nominated for a Grammy award in the category of Best Rock Performance by a duo or Group with Vocals.^[24]

The song was also used as the basis of a downloadable hoax track titled "Talk to David" produced as an April Fools' Day prank by the British newspaper The Guardian. This featured lyrics purporting to give support to Conservative opposition party leader David Cameron.^[26] The song was featured heavily in the season two CSI: NY episode "Jamalot", in which the character Danny Messer plays the song as a ringtone on his cell phone.^[27] The band's American record label, Capitol Records, paid for promotional consideration to place the song in the episode and for the character to talk about Coldplay.^[27]

Music video

The music video for "Talk" was helmed by director/photographer Anton Corbijn.^[13][28] Filming of the video took place on 5 and 6 November 2005 at Ealing Studios, London, just before the band began their tour, Twisted Logic.^[13] The black-and-white clip invokes a B movie science fiction theme, with imagery ranging from a flying saucer to 3D glasses. The main plot line of the music video features the band as astronauts landing on an alien planet, where they re-activate a dormant robot, who eventually eats them and their spaceship as they are attempting to fly away.

Track listings

Netherlands

A special three part single was released over three weeks in December featuring live tracks recorded at the Gelredome in 2005.

Charts

References

External links

• Official website
• Full lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics