Strawberry Swing
| "Strawberry Swing" | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
||||||||||
| Single by Coldplay | ||||||||||
| from the album Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends | ||||||||||
| Released | 13 September 2009 (see release history) |
|||||||||
| Format | Digital download, promo CD | |||||||||
| Recorded | 2008 | |||||||||
| Genre | Alternative rock | |||||||||
| Length | 4:09 | |||||||||
| Label | Parlophone | |||||||||
| Writer(s) | Guy Berryman, Jonny Buckland, Will Champion, Chris Martin | |||||||||
| Producer | Markus Dravs, Brian Eno, Rik Simpson | |||||||||
| Coldplay singles chronology | ||||||||||
|
||||||||||
"Strawberry Swing" is a song by British alternative rock band Coldplay and is the fifth and final single from the band's fourth studio album, Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends.
A promo CD single for the song was released on 6 July 2009.[1] The official single was released on 13 September on digital download.[2] On 31 July 2009, the free "Strawberry Swing" application was launched on iTunes.[3] The single made to the A-list of BBC Radio 1[4] and the C-List on BBC Radio 2.[5]
A live version of the song appeared on Coldplay's live album, LeftRightLeftRightLeft.[6]
The song is part of the international soundtrack to the Brazilian soap opera Tempos Modernos.[7]
Contents |
[edit] Writing and composition
"Strawberry Swing" contains influences from afro-pop and highlife music, and is built around finger-picked, distortion-free guitars with a heavy bassline and psychedelic synths. Lead singer Chris Martin explained how the song's musical style came into existence: "My mum comes from Zimbabwe, so I spent a lot of time there. I used to work in a studio where people played that."[8] The overall sound of the song was also inspired by Delakota song "The Rock", which utilizes a backward guitar loop.[9][10]
In an interview with coldplay.com, Martin stated that he thought "Strawberry Swing" is arguably the best song on Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends.[10]
[edit] Music video
The music video for "Strawberry Swing" is a stop motion video featuring Chris Martin lying on the ground against animated chalk drawings. The video premiered on 4Music and Channel 4 on 29 July 2009. The video begins with Martin waking up in his house. Once he sees that a woman is being held hostage by a giant squirrel, he turns into a superhero and attempts to save her. Along the way, Martin faces attacks from the squirrel and a giant fish in the ocean. When Martin finally gets to the squirrel's home, he rescues the lady by drawing a nut-shaped bomb that blows the squirrel up. The two then fly away and begin to kiss. The animation suddenly stops and Martin gets up off the chalk-colored floor in real speed and walks away.[11] The music video was directed by Shynola. The video was nominated in the Best Animation in a Video category at the UK Music Video Awards 2009.[12] In August 2010, the video was nominated for "Breakthrough Video" at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards.[13]
In September 2009, the originality of the Shynola-directed video was questioned by singer-songwriter Andy J Gallagher; he argued that "Owen Trevor [who directed Something Else] had virtually the same idea at least a year before."[14] In an official PDF statement, Shynola stated "Having never seen Mr. Trevor's video before, we can categorically deny that his video was any influence on our video. Any similarities are purely coincidental."[15] The PDF also contained image-by-image rebuttals of Gallagher's claims, and added that the video was mainly inspired by the "dreamlike weirdness" of animator Winsor McCay's artwork.[16]
[edit] Track listing
- Digital download:
- "Strawberry Swing" - 4:09
- Promotional CD:
- "Strawberry Swing" (Radio edit) – 4:07
- "Strawberry Swing" (Album version) – 4:11
- "Strawberry Swing" (Instrumental) - 4:11
[edit] Release history
| Date | Country | Format |
|---|---|---|
| 2008-07-06 | United Kingdom | Promotional CD |
| 2009-09-13 | United Kingdom, Germany[17] | Digital download |
| 2009-07-29 | United Kingdom | Music video (airplay) |
| 2009-08-03 | Worldwide | Music video (digital download)[18] |
[edit] Charts
| Chart (2009) | Peak Position |
|---|---|
| Dutch Tipparade[19] | 5 |
| UK Singles Chart[20] | 158 |
[edit] References
- ^ "Coldplay - Strawberry Swing (Song)". Swisscharts.com. http://swisscharts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=Coldplay&titel=Strawberry+Swing&cat=s. Retrieved 18 February 2010.
- ^ "Strawberry Swing - Single" (in iTunes). http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?id=329376279&s=143444. Retrieved 2009-09-20. Note: Need iTunes to view link/
- ^ "Free Strawberry Swing iPhone app launched". Coldplay.com. http://www.coldplay.com/newsdetail.php?id=456. Retrieved 18 February 2010.
- ^ "Playlist - The A List". BBC. 16 September, 2009. Archived from the original on 2009-09-19. http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bbc.co.uk%2Fradio1%2Fplaylist&date=2009-09-19. Retrieved 2009-09-19.
- ^ "Playlist - Week Commencing: 19 SEPTEMBER 2009". BBC. Archived from the original on 2009-09-23. http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bbc.co.uk%2Fradio2%2Fmusic%2Fplaylist%2Findex.shtml&date=2009-09-23. Retrieved 2009-09-24.
- ^ Kreps, Daniel (2009-05-01). [12632,47590 "Coldplay Reward Fans With Free Live LP “LeftRightLeftRightLeft”"]. Rolling Stone. http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/;kw=[12632,47590]. Retrieved 2009-05-21.
- ^ - Tempos Modernos "Tempos Modernos Soundtrack". Tempos Modernos International Soundtrack. 2010. http://www.somlivre.com/?1985/produto/CD/Tempos-Modernos-Internacional/Varios - Tempos Modernos.
- ^ "Coldplay at Work on "Something Different" for Upcoming Album". Rollingstone.com. http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/18915732/coldplay_at_work_on_something_different_for_upcoming_album/print. Retrieved 18 February 2010.
- ^ "Chris Martin Calls Lawsuits Against Coldplay “Inspiring”". Rollingstone.com. http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/index.php/2009/05/21/chris-martin-calls-lawsuits-against-coldplay-inspiring/. Retrieved 18 February 2010.
- ^ a b "Chris: "LRLRL has to be free because there's so many backing singers"". Coldplay.com. http://www.coldplay.com/newsdetail.php?id=401. Retrieved 18 February 2010.
- ^ "Watch the Strawberry Swing Video". Colplay.com. http://www.coldplay.com/newsdetail.php?id=445&page=0. Retrieved 23 May 2010.
- ^ Knight, David (30 September, 2009). "UK Music Video Awards 2009 – the Technical Achievement Award nominations in full". Promo News. http://www.promonews.tv/2009/09/30/uk-music-video-awards-2009-%E2%80%93-the-technical-achievement-award-nominations-in-full/. Retrieved 2009-09-30.
- ^ """Breakthrough Nominees"". http://www.mtv.com/ontv/vma/2010/breakthrough-video/.
- ^ Frenette, Brad (2009-09-22). """Striking similarities": Singer Andy Gallagher thinks Shynola's video for Coldplay's 'Strawberry Swing' looks a bit familiar"". The National Post. http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/theampersand/archive/2009/09/23/328080.aspx. Retrieved 2009-09-27.
- ^ Hughes, Josiah (2009-09-25). ""Coldplay Video Directors Rebut Plagiarism Claims with Six-Page Breakdown of Influences"". Exclaim!. http://www.exclaim.ca/articles/generalarticlesynopsfullart.aspx?csid1=115&csid2=844&fid1=41423. Retrieved 2009-09-27.
- ^ "originalityexplained.pdf" (pdf) (Press release). Shynola. http://www.shynola.com/originalityexplained.pdf. Retrieved 2009-09-27.
- ^ http://www.amazon.de/dp/B002NITGP2
- ^ http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewVideo?id=285962695&s=143444
- ^ "14 November 2009 Week 46". Top40.nl. http://www.top40.nl/Tipparade.aspx?&jaar=2009&maand=11&week=46. Retrieved 2009-11-22.
- ^ "CHART: CLUK Update 26.09.2009 (wk38)". Zobbel. http://www.zobbel.de/cluk/090926cluk.txt. Retrieved 2009-09-29.
[edit] External links
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
