Fix You

For the The Offspring song of the same name, see Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace.

"Fix You"
Single by Coldplay
from the album X&Y
B-side	"The World Turned Upside Down" "Pour Me" (Live at the Hollywood Bowl)
Released	5 September 2005
Format	7", CD, download
Genre	Alternative rock, post-Britpop
Length	4:54 (album version) 4:37 (video edit) 4:07 (radio edit)
Label	Parlophone
Writer(s)	Chris Martin, Jonny Buckland, Guy Berryman, Will Champion
Producer	Coldplay, Ken Nelson
Certification	Gold (RIAA) Platinum (ARIA)
Coldplay singles chronology
"Speed of Sound" (2005) "Fix You" (2005) "Talk" (2005)

"Fix You" is a song by British alternative rock band Coldplay. It was written by all four members of the band for their third album, X&Y. The track is built around an organ, that is accompanied by slow tempo drums, and a vocals. It was released on 5 September 2005 as the second single from X&Y and has reached number four in the United Kingdom Singles Chart. The song reached number 18 in the United States Billboard Hot Modern Rock Tracks. Promo singles were released for the UK and US.

"Fix You" received positive reviews. Critics complimented the song's music. It has been widely sampled, with different covers and sounds. The song, itself, was nominated for multiple awards in the categories of Best Song Musically and Lyrically and Anthem of the Summer. The music video was garnered as a tribute to the 7 July 2005 London bombings.

The guitar solo of "Fix You" is currently used as the player introduction at all of the National Hockey League's Montreal Canadiens' home games.

The song was played live to a motionless crowd at the Steve Jobs memorial/celebration-of-life event at Apple headquarters on October 19, 2011 in Cupertino, CA.

Background

When writing the song, vocalist Chris Martin wanted to use a church-style organ for the track. Unable to gain access to the instrument, Martin instead used an old keyboard that his late father-in-law, Bruce Paltrow, gave to his daughter Gwyneth. However, in other instances Martin has claimed that "Fix You" is influenced by English alternative rock band Elbow's 2003 anthem "Grace Under Pressure". It is scarcely known that Martin wrote the song for his wife, Gwyneth Paltrow, following the death of her father, Bruce Paltrow.

When asked about the development of the song, Martin said: "My father-in-law Bruce Paltrow bought this big keyboard just before he died. No one had ever plugged it in. I plugged it in, and there was this incredible sound I'd never heard before. All these songs poured out from this one sound. Something has to inspire you, and something else takes over. It's very cloudy." Martin also noted that the song is "probably the most important song we've ever written".

During a track-by-track reveal, bassist Guy Berryman admitted that the song takes "a bit of inspiration" from Jimmy Cliff's 1969 song "Many Rivers to Cross". Berryman also added, "It becomes its own thing, kind of like points of inspiration that kind of lead you down certain paths. Whenever you want to write a song like someone else, it ultimately ends up sounding like something different anyway."

Composition

The song features an organ and piano sound. The song starts with a hushed electric organ ballad, including Martin's falsetto. The song then builds with both an acoustic guitar and piano sound. The sound then shifts with a plaintive three-note guitar line, ringing through a bringing rhythm upbeat tempo. Its instrumentation is varied with the sound of church-style organs hovering throughout the background, piano notes, acoustic and electric guitar riffs, drums, and a singalong chorus.

The message throughout the song, in which Martin's sings, is words of encouragement: "Lights will guide you home / And ignite your bones / And I will try to fix you." Michele Hatty of USA Weekend reported that Martin sings about recovering from grief in the song. Travis Gass of the Bangor Daily News wrote that Martin offers his sympathies for the downtrodden, with "When you love someone but it goes to waste / Could it be worse?". Gass goes on to interpret that the "booming drums" and chorus is that of Queen's 1975 song "Bohemian Rhapsody".

Release

Coldplay released "Fix You" in the UK and US on 5 September 2005 as the second single of their third album. The single was pressed with two B-side's: "The World Turned Upside Down" and "Pour Me". On 14 September 2005, the band released the Fix You EP in the iTunes Store. In response to Hurricane Katrina, 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. Promotional singles were released in the UK and US.

The track peaked at number four in the UK Singles Chart on 17 September 2005. As of 30 July 2011, the song had spent 122 weeks on that chart. It peaked at number 59 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 18 on the Billboard Hot Modern Rock Tracks. The song also charted on the Billboard Pop 100 and Hot Digital Songs. The single appeared in Australia's Singles Chart in the number four position on 18 September 2005, after retiring in the 58 spot. It also appeared at number eight on the Irish Singles Chart and spent seven consecutive weeks on the chart. On 14 November 2010, the song re-entered the Australian singles chart at number 37.

In 2009, the song also appeared on Coldplay's live album, LeftRightLeftRightLeft.

Reception

Chris Martin playing "Fix You" on a synthesizer during the band's 2008 Viva la Vida Tour

The song received positive reception from music critics. In the Rolling Stone review of the album, critic Kelefa Sanneh wrote: "One of the best is 'Fix You', an unabashedly sentimental song where Martin delivers words of encouragement in a gentle falsetto [...] Proving once more that no band can deliver a stately rock ballad like this one." Paul McNamee of NME magazine wrote: "It’s a wonderful song that shifts from simple stark piano and voice to a ringing, clattering burst of intent and proto-prog four-part harmony." Adrien Begrand of PopMatters in his review of the album, noted the song as the "best ballad" off X&Y. In 2005, the song appeared at number two on Q magazine's "100 Greatest Tracks of the Year", and was listed as one of the "Tracks of the Year" by NME in 2005.

In 2005, Coldplay performed the song live on Saturday Night Live and the Live 8 event in July. "Fix You" was also played on Shelter from the Storm. It has also become a tribute song for the victims and eventually became the anthem for the event. The song was featured in an episode of the American teen drama television series The O.C., and then in Without a Trace, Cold Case and Brothers & Sisters. The half part of the song was played over the trailer for the 2006 film World Trade Center. It was also featured in the 2006 movie You, Me and Dupree. The track was nominated for an Ivor Novello Award in the category of Best Song musically and lyrically. The song was also nominated for an UK Festival Award in the category of Anthem of the Summer. On 14 March 2009, the band performed a rendition of the song at the relief concert, Sound Relief, in Sydney, Australia. On October 19th 2011, the band played the song at the "Celebrating Steve" event for Apple employees over a global media stream to all the Apple Stores. This event was also available for Apple customers via the company website.

The song appears in The Acoustic Album (2006). It was performed in 2006 by the New England octogenarian chorus group Young@Heart. The group's performance was led by former chorus member Fred Knittle, who suffered from congestive heart failure and breathed with assistance from an oxygen tank. The performance was originally planned to be a duet between Knittle and Bob Salvini, another former chorus member, but Salvini died shortly before the show. Knittle performed it as a solo, as a tribute to his friend. The performance was initially recorded for a British documentary that aired on Channel 4; footage of the performance was uploaded to YouTube in November 2006 to positive response. An expanded version of the film, titled Young@Heart, debuted at the 2007 Los Angeles Film Festival and was released in US theatres in 2008.

Music video

The music video for "Fix You" was directed by Sophie Muller, who had previously worked with the band for their 2002 video "In My Place". The video was filmed at the end of two concerts on 4 July and 5 July 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.

In the first half of the video the bands lead singer, Chris Martin, wanders the streets of London, while the slogan "Make Trade Fair" is projected onto the Royal National Theatre, using the same ITA2 colour scheme on the cover of X&Y. The tunnels that Martin is seen wandering within are located both in and around London St Pancras and King's Cross railway stations, and the filming for the video took place during the time of the redevelopment and expansion of London St Pancras International. Martin is then seen walking across Waterloo Bridge, which crosses the River Thames, connecting the Southbank with The Strand. As soon as the electric guitar kicks in, Martin's walk turns into a run as he darts through streets until finally reaching the Reebok Stadium, where he joins the rest of the band for the song's finale. Here the audience can be clearly heard singing along, and at the end of the video Martin thanks them for their support and wishes them goodnight.

The video debuted on 1 August 2005. The music video was nominated at the 15th annual Music Video Production Association Awards in the category of Adult Contemporary. After its release, the music video was garnered as a tribute to the 7 July 2005 London bombings.

Track listing

1. "Fix You" (edit) – 4:37
2. "The World Turned Upside Down" – 4:32
3. "Pour Me" (Live at the Hollywood Bowl) – 5:01 (featured on the UK Enhanced CD, Australian, and US iTunes EP versions)
4. "Fix You" (video) (featured on the UK Enhanced CD)

Charts

Chart (2005)	Peak position
Australia (ARIA)	25
Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 75)	58
Belgium (Ultratip Flanders)	5
Belgium (Ultratip Wallonia)	3
Canadian Singles Chart	4
Germany (Media Control AG)	65
Italy (FIMI)	13
Ireland (IRMA)	8
Netherlands (Mega Single Top 100)	54
New Zealand (RIANZ)	17
Spain (PROMUSICAE)	6
Sweden (Sverigetopplistan)	26
Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade)	53
UK Singles (Official Charts Company)	4
US Billboard Hot 100	59
US Billboard Hot Modern Rock Tracks	18
US Billboard Pop 100	42

Cover versions

• On June 21, 2011, The Voice contestant and eventual winner Javier Colon sang the song during the semi-finals of season 1 of the show. The studio version of the song was also released the following day as a download.
• On the NBC show, The Sing-Off runners-up, Street Corner Symphony, performed Fix You on the Season 2 finale.
• The song also gets covered by Secondhand Serenade using only guitar riffs during the first half of the cover.
• On July 31, 2011, at "The Black Star Tour" live in Rio de Janeiro, the Canadian singer Avril Lavigne sang the song.
• The song was covered on the October 4, 2011 episode of Glee entitled "Asian F", and is sung by Matthew Morrison and the Glee cast.
• On The X Factor Janet Devlin covered this song on the first Live Show on 8 October 2011.
• Ronan Parke covered this song on his debut album Ronan Parke.
• On The X Factor (U.S.) Drew Ryniewicz covered this song on the third Live Show on 9 November 2011.
• Kelly Clarkson covered this song on one of her shows during her Stronger Tour
• Straight No Chaser covered this song on their album With a Twist
• On January 19, 2011, Rianne Selwyn sang an orchestral, female version to this song.

External links

• Official website