Talk
From WikiColdplay
"Talk" is a song recorded by Coldplay and is the fifth track on their third album X&Y, released in June 2005. The song was released as the third single from that album in December 2005 and it was a substantial hit across the world. "Talk" entered the UK Singles Chart at #10, and elsewhere in the world its success varied: it reached #1 in the Netherlands and the top five in Canada. Both the song and its 'Thin White Duke' remix have been nominated for the 2007 Grammy Awards.
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Background
Coldplay received permission from the electronic music band Kraftwerk to use the main riff from their song "Computer Love" (German basic version: "Computerliebe"), from their 1981 studio LP Computer World (German basic version: Computerwelt), for "Talk", replacing Kraftwerk's synthesizers with guitars. Subsequently mash-up artist RIAA combined "Computer Love" with "Talk" to create the song "Kraftplay". Presciently the I Love Music website had humorously imagined the results of such a collaboration[1] several months before it appeared.
The band recorded three separate versions of "Talk"; the one found on X&Y was based on an early cut of the song. A newer version of the track (with a different set of lyrics) was leaked onto the internet in March 2005. "Talk" was originally intended to be a b-side for the single "Speed of Sound" before becoming the last addition to X&Y's track listing.
This song was performed live at the 2005 MTV Europe Music Awards on 3 November in Lisbon, Portugal and live at the 2006 Grammy Awards in Los Angeles, United States.
"Gravity", the single's b-side, was originally written by Chris Martin for the British band Embrace, and is found on their album Out of Nothing. The song charted at number seven in the UK. Many editions of the single also included "Sleeping Sun" as a second b-side.
The song was also used as the basis of a downloadable hoax track entitled "Talk to David" [2] produced as an April Fools Day prank by the UK The Guardian newspaper. This featured lyrics purporting to give support to Conservative opposition party leader David Cameron [3].
Chart performance
By mid-October, "Talk" had been added to the playlists of twenty-six U.S. alternative rock stations. Stations that offered early airtime to "Talk" include KTCL (Denver), WEND (Charlotte), KNDD (Seattle), KUCD (Honolulu), and WFNX (Boston).
A month later, "Talk" was being supported by sixty-one U.S. alternative rock stations. On 18 November 2005, the single debuted at number thirty-two on the U.S. Modern Rock Tracks chart. "Talk" peaked at number five on the chart, a significant improvement from the performance of "Fix You", and matching that of "Speed of Sound".
On 31 December 2005, it "bubbled under" the Hot 100. It finally charted on the Billboard Hot 100 on 25 February 2006 and peaked at number eighty-six.
By then, the song had gained additional exposure in other genres. "Talk" reached number ten on the Adult Top 40, which covers Hot Adult Contemporary music. It topped the Hot Dance Club Play chart as "Talk (Junkie XL/Francois K/J. Lu Cont Mixes)".
It reached number four on the Canadian Singles Chart in late 2005 and topped the Canadian BDS Airplay Chart for four weeks in early 2006.
Music video
The music video for "Talk" was helmed by director/photographer Anton Corbijn. Corbijn had previously directed the video for "All These Things That I've Done" by The Killers.
Filming took place on November 5 and November 6 at Ealing Studios, London, just before the band began an European leg on the Twisted Logic Tour. The black-and-white clip invokes a B-movie science fiction theme, with imagery ranging from a flying saucer to 3D glasses.
It seems the entire video can in fact be viewed in three dimensions using Anaglyphic 3D glasses like the ones worn by the band. Due to the red (left eye) and blue (right eye) edges that define a stereoscopic image. However the effect is subtle and best appreciated with a high resolution version.
The main plot line of the music video features Coldplay as astronauts landing on an alien planet, where they re-activate a dormant robot. The robot in the video bears a strong physical resemblance to the original Marvin the Paranoid Android from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy television series. (The robot also more closely resembles the robot from The Beastie Boy's song Intergalactic, and also possibly the robot Torg from the 60's B-movie Santa Claus Conquers The Martians) A previous Coldplay track, "Don't Panic" also referenced the series with its title. At one point of the clip, subtitles present the lyrics of the song spelt backwards just like in the video for "No Surprises" by Radiohead. At the very end of the video, there is whistling that resembles The Clangers.
The video was extremely popular in Poland. It spent thirteen weeks at number one on MTV Poland Top 20 Chart and 47 out of 50 days (because it was retired) at number one on TRL Poland.
The message Make Trade Fair was in X&Y code as the robot's controls in black and white.
Track listings
In the UK
- Promo released in early November 2005
- "Talk" (radio edit) – 4:29
- 7" R6679
- "Talk" (radio edit) – 4:29
- "Gravity" – 6:12
- CD CDR6679
- "Talk" (radio edit) – 4:29
- "Sleeping Sun" – 3:09
- DVD DVDR6679
- "Talk" (radio edit) – 4:29
- "Gravity" – 6:12
- "Speed of Sound" (video)
- "Talk" (video)
- Behind-the-scenes footage from "Talk" video shoot
- 12" 12R6679: The Remixes, released 6 March 2006
- "Talk" (Thin White Duke mix) – 8:27
- "Talk" (Francois K Dub) – 9:04
- "Talk" (Junkie XL mix) – 11:45
In The Netherlands
A special three part single was released over three weeks in December featuring live tracks recorded at the Gelredome in 2005.
- CD1 (digipak) 3490932 released 2 December 2005
- "Talk" (radio edit)
- "Swallowed In the Sea" (live)
- "God Put A Smile Upon Your Face" (live)
- CD2 3490962 released 9 December 2005
- "Talk" (album version)
- "Square One" (live)
- "Clocks" (live)
- CD3 3490972 released 16 December 2005
- "Talk" (live)
- "Til Kingdom Come" (live)
- "Fix You" (live)
In Australia
- CD 3507172 released 16 January 2006 by Capitol Records
- "Talk" (radio edit) – 4:29
- "Sleeping Sun" – 3:09
- "Gravity" – 6:12
In Canada and Japan
- CD TOCP-40185 released 25 January 2006 by Toshiba-EMI
- "Talk" (radio edit) – 4:29
- "Sleeping Sun" – 3:09
In the U.S.
- Promo released in February 2006
- "Talk" (edit) - 4:05
- "Talk" (album version) - 5:12
- iTunes EP released 7 February 2006
- "Talk" (Junkie XL mix) – 11:45
- "Talk" (Francois K Dub) – 9:04
- "Talk" (Thin White Duke mix) – 8:27
Cover images
UK (7" and CD), Australia, Canada, Japan, and U.S. |
UK (DVD) |
UK (12" The Remixes) |
The Netherlands (CD1) |
The Netherlands (CD2) |
The Netherlands (CD3) |
Lyrics
Album Version
Oh brother I can't, I can't get through I’ve been trying hard to reach you 'cause I don’t know what to do Oh brother I can't believe it's true I’m so scared about the future and I wanna talk to you Oh I wanna talk to you You can take a picture of something you see In the future where will I be? You can climb a ladder up to the sun Or a write a song nobody has sung Or do something that's never been done Are you lost or incomplete? Do you feel like a puzzle, you can't find your missing piece? 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 So you take a picture of something you see In the future where will I be? You can climb a ladder up to the sun Or write a song nobody has sung Or do something that's never been done Or do something that's never been done So you don't know where you're going and you wanna talk And you feel like you're going where you've been before You tell anyone who'll listen but you feel ignored Nothing's really making any sense at all, let's talk Let's talk, let's talk, let's talk.
Unreleased/First Version
Under the great north star Try to work out where you are In the silence of the sea I don't know where I've been In the future, in the past Going nowhere much too fast When I go there go with me When I go there go with me 'Cause I don't know where I'm going but I wanna talk I feel like I'm going where I've been before And I wanna talk Take a picture of Something that you're not sure of Bring it back to show me But I don't know what I see In the future, find a home Getting nowhere on your own Got to find your missing piece 'Cause you don't know where you're going but you wanna talk You feel like you're going where you've been before And nothing's really making any sense at all You'll tell any one who'll listen that you feel ignored Let's talk, let's talk Do you wanna talk? I'm up in the part of the throne I'm trying to sing a song In a language I don't speak I try but I can't get through I'm trying to get to you But you're difficult to reach Won't you talk to me... So you don't know where you're going but you wanna talk You feel like you're going where you've been before Let's talk, let's talk... Let's talk, let's talk...
| Chris Martin | Guy Berryman | Jonny Buckland | Will Champion |
| Phil Harvey | Brian Eno | Ken Nelson |
| EPs: Safety EP | Brothers & Sisters EP | The Blue Room EP | Norwegian Live EP |
| Albums: Parachutes | A Rush of Blood to the Head | X&Y | Viva la Vida Or Death And All His Friends |
| Live albums: Live 2003 |
| Compilations: The Singles 1999-2006 |
| Unofficial collections: A Rush Of B-Sides To Your Head | Castles | After After Before |
| Singles: Ode to Deodorant | Brothers & Sisters | Shiver | Yellow | Trouble | Don't Panic | In My Place | The Scientist | Clocks | God Put a Smile upon Your Face | Speed of Sound | Fix You | Talk | The Hardest Part | What If | Violet Hill |
| Tours: A Rush Of Blood To The Head Tour | Twisted Logic Tour | Latin America Tour 2007 | Viva La Vida Tour |
| Other Stuff |
| Songs | Videography | Concert Reviews | Coldplay Chronology | Collaborations |
