Violet Hill
From WikiColdplay
Violet Hill is a track expected to included on Coldplay's fourth album, Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends. The song will be released as the first single from the album on May 5, 2008. A music video for the song was filmed in Sicily, Italy.
One of the strongest of the new songs, the band was considering giving it away as a special promotion in coming weeks and then leaving it off the album. However it was later revealed that not only would Violet Hill end up being on the album, it would be the first single. Opening with a jagged distorted guitar riff, the song announces a new template: The stalking, bluesy beat fits nicely with Chris Martin's earthy vocals and plaintive lyrics: "If you love me, won't you let me know?"
The band also announced on April 28, 2008 that the single would be released from the official Coldplay website on April 29 for a week free of charge before the paid download on May 5. The song received its first radio play on April 29, 2008, on Radio 1 at 12:13. Coldplay’s new single 'Violet Hill' was downloaded for free by over 600,000 people in the 24 hours since it was made available at 12.15pm on April 29.
In the May 7 issue of NME, a promotional 7" vinyl for the song with B-side A Spell A Rebel Yell will be included. Chris Martin described the song as having a "chalky, pastel feeling" which he said reminds him of his childhood. "Imagine a pseudo guitar-like circus music with a pinch of Chicago... It's something new from us and you will be impressed."
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Music Video
Radiotimes.com has announced an exclusive broadcast of Coldplay's new video for the forthcoming single, Violet Hill. It will be broadcast on UK's Channel 4 on May 13 at 11.05pm.
Coldplay recently arrived in Sicily, Italy to shoot the video for the first single, Violet Hill, taken from Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends. It was originally thought that only 'Prospekt' was present in Italy, but Italian media has confirmed that it was the whole band, ready to film a video for the first single of the fourth album. The film set had been a very restricted area, and is located in Enna (the Italian city at the highest altitude), near Nicoletti lake.
B-side - A Spell A Rebel Yell
A free Coldplay 7-inch vinyl single will be given away with the issue of NME that comes out on May 7. The vinyl will include Violet Hill and A Spell A Rebel Yell, and won't be available anywhere else.
Krissi Murison is deputy editor at the NME and she says Chris Martin contacted them direct. "He called up our editor one night from the studio, he said 'I have just written this song (A Spell A Rebel Yell) and it's the pefect song. NME readers are gonna love it, we have to get it out there.'"
First Release Of Violet Hill Causes Websites To Crash
Coldplay’s new single 'Violet Hill' was downloaded for free by over 600,000 people in the 24 hours since it was made available at 12.15pm on Tuesday (April 29).
In the first 12 hours it was downloaded by 300,000. This figure doubled overnight as other countries logged on to Coldplay.com, the source of the free download. The single will be available free for a week and will then be released as a paid-for digital single on May 6.
Meanwhile, Last.fm have been keen to point out that the Coldplay figures are a record, exceeding even the most popular track from the Radiohead album that was streamed for free back in October. That notched up 22,000 listens in 12 hours.
Last.fm's figures are based, obviously, on the traffic that is scrobbled among Last.fm users, so these are only a minimum figure. But in 23 hours, there have already been 33,523 listens of Violet Hill - equivalent to 1 listen every 2.4 seconds. That's despite Coldplay's server wobbling about a bit under the weight of requests yesterday. Last.fm has already claimed a significant 119% rise in the number of click-throughs to Amazon's retail site since it introduced free streaming for the big four music labels.
Reviews
Reviews of Violet Hill have in the main been positive, even from those most sceptical of Coldplay's direction. One read:
Well, they promised us different, and I can confirm that Coldplay have delivered something different. But is it good? Hell yeah. Even speaking as a determined Coldplay hater, Violet Hill sounds dark, foreboding, and heavy. Less of the piano-sturbation, and Chris Martin retires the falsetto in favour of a more earthy vocal tone.
Violet Hill is a song rich in texture: fuzzed-up power chords, wailing string bends in the background, and some very atmospheric drumming from Will Champion. This most definitely rocks. If this is a sampler of Coldplay’s new direction, then it’s certainly enough to persuade me to listen to the album. Unlike other Coldplay songs I’ve heard, this has balls.
Gentlemen… well played. Thumbs up.
You can read many of the reviews at http://www.coldplaying.com/forum/showthread.php?t=44253
Lyrics
Was a long and dark December From the rooftops I remember There was snow, white snow Clearly I remember From the windows they were watching While we froze down below When the future's architectured By a carnival of idiots on show You'd better lie low If you love me Won't you let me know? Was a long and dark December When the banks became cathedrals And the fog, became God Priests clutched onto bibles Hollowed out to fit their rifles And the cross was held aloft Bury me in armor When I’m dead and hit the ground My love's opposed but unfolds If you love me Won't you let me know? I don't want to be a soldier Who the captain of some sinking ship Would stow, far below So if you love me Why'd you let me go? I took my love down to violet hill There we sat in the snow All that time she was silent still So if you love me Won't you let me know? If you love me, Won't you let me know?
Background to LP4
On September 5, 2007, Coldplay revealed the track names of the new record on their website. It will be a short record (approx. 42 minutes) with approximately 9 songs, which will be chosen out of the following:
- Lost!
- Cemeteries Of London
- Violet Hill
- Poppy Fields
- 42
- Yes!
- Leftrightleftrightleft
- Rainy Day
- Famous Old Painters
- Glass Of Water
- Prospekt's March
- Lovers In Japan
- Strawberry Swing
- Song For The Escapist
- Death And All His Friends
- Life In Technicolor
- Chinese Sleep Chant
- Reign Of Love
- Postcards From Far Away
- Lukas
- The Goldrush
- Now My Feet Won't Touch The Ground
Four of the songs were written at various places throughout the list, but they were entirely blacked out, either indicating that they had been taken out of consideration, or the titles were not meant to be known. One of these blacked out names may be the name of the fourth album, as previous tracks have been for Parachutes, A Rush Of Blood To The Head and X&Y.
External links
- Coldplay.com page to download "Violet Hill"
- Coldplay.com info page for promotion with NME
- NME to give away new Coldplay songs free
- Violet Hill Reviews
- Coldplay single downloaded by 600,000 people
- What do you think about Violet Hill?
- Coldplaying Violet Hill Poll Results Included In BBC Online
| 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 |
