Viva la Vida (song)

Infobox Single
Name = Viva la Vida


Artist = Coldplay
Album = Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends
B-side = "Death Will Never Conquer"
Released = 25 May 2008
Recorded = 2007-2008
Format = Digital download, CD
Genre = Alternative rock
Length = 4:04 ("New Edit")
4:01 ("Full Album Version")
Writer = Guy Berryman, Jonny Buckland, Will Champion, Chris Martin
Label = Parlophone, Capitol
Producer = Coldplay, Brian Eno, Markus Dravs, Rik Simpson
Last single = "Violet Hill" (2008)
This single = "Viva la Vida" (2008)
Next single = "Lost!" (2008)Extra musicsample |filename=Viva la Vida.ogg|title="Viva la Vida" (2008)|description=|format=Ogg

"Viva la Vida" is a song written and recorded by English alternative rock band Coldplay. It was produced for their fourth studio album, "Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends". The single was first released on 7 May 2008. It is Coldplay's biggest hit to date, reaching number one in the United Kingdom and the United States.

Background

Vocalist Chris Martin has explained the song lyric "I know Saint Peter won't call my name" in an interview with "Q" magazine: "It's about ... You're not on the list. I was a naughty boy. It's always fascinated me that idea of finishing your life and then being analyzed on it. And this idea runs throughout most religions. That's why people blow up buildings. Because they think they're going to get lots of virgins. I always feel like saying, just join a band (laughs). That is the most frightening thing you could possibly say to somebody. Eternal damnation. I know about this stuff because I studied it. I was into it all. I know it. It's still mildly terrifying to me. And this is serious." [cite web|first=Ian|last=Youngs|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7439967.stm|title=Joining Coldplay's musical journey|quote=Coldplay have hailed their new album, Viva La Vida Or Death To All His Friends, as the start of a new era. The results of their musical journey are now ready for fans to hear, so here is a track-by-track guide to the album.|accessdate=2008-06-25|date=2008-06-06|publisher=BBC] When asked about the song, bass guitarist Guy Berryman said, "It’s a story about a king who’s lost his kingdom, and all the album’s artwork is based on the idea of revolutionaries and guerrillas." [ [http://news.q4music.com/2008/05/coldplay_viva_la_vida_2.html The Q Daily / Coldplay: Viva La Vida ] ]

Unlike the typical arrangement of Coldplay songs, in which either the piano or guitar dominates, "Viva la Vida" mostly consists of a string section playing the song's upbeat riff, along with a steady bass drum beat, percussion (including a timpani and a church bell), bass guitar, and Chris Martin's vocals; there is limited use of electric guitar in the song.

The song's Spanish title, "Viva la Vida" is taken from a painting by 20th century Mexican artist Frida Kahlo. It directly translates into English as "Live Life," meaning "long live life". [cite news|url=http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/index.php/2008/03/18/rolling-stone-exclusive-coldplays-new-album-title-revealed/|title=Rolling Stone Exclusive: Coldplay’s New Album Title Revealed|last=Serpick|first=Evan|date=2008-03-18|pages=Rolling Stone|accessdate=2008-10-04]

Release and promotion

"Viva la Vida" was initially released only with iTunes Store pre-orders of "Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends" on 7 May 2008 as the "New Edit" of the song, which led to the song's temporary exclusion from the UK Singles Chart. It was released as a download-only single on 25 May 2008, and a physical CD single in Europe on 29 July 2008, to coincide with the release of the single's music videos.

The song was used as part of Apple Inc.'s iPod + iTunes advertisement campaign, while Coldplay performed the song live for the first time at the 2008 MTV Movie Awards. It has since gone on to make many media appearances, featuring in the episode "We're Not in Kansas Anymore" of the new teen drama "90210" as a song played on the radio, and also appearing on the international soundtrack to the Brazilian soap opera "A Favorita", as well as being played during the final week of games at Yankee Stadium.

Chart performance

"Viva la Vida" has become the band's most successful song, becoming their first number one in both the U.S. and the UK. Fuelled by high digital sales, the song debuted at #15 on the "Billboard" Hot 100, and later became the band's first #1 single and their second top ten on the Hot 100. It is the first song by a British group to reach #1 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 since "Wannabe" by the Spice Girls in 1997, and it is the first song by a British rock band to top the chart since UB40's 1993 song "Can't Help Falling in Love". Although at first the song was primarily successful in digital sales in the U.S., after being released it went on to become the band's biggest radio hit in the U.S., becoming their first top ten hit on the Hot 100 Airplay, where it peaked at #8. It was also successful on the "Billboard" Modern Rock Tracks chart reaching number one, their first number one on the chart, beating out previous songs "Talk" and "Speed of Sound" which peaked at #5 on the same chart. On the Adult Top 40, the song has become the band's first number one, as well as the first single on the Capitol Records label to ever top the chart. [ [http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/chart_beat/bonus.jsp "Billboard" Chart Beat] ]

Although the song had been disqualified from the UK charts due to initially being available only by pre-ordering the album on iTunes, it became eligible to chart after the album was released and hit #1, becoming Coldplay's first chart-topping single in the UK. After descending to number 2 just a week and number 7 the following week, the single dropped out of the top 10, but over a month later on 17 August 2008, it re-entered the top 10 at number 10, probably due to the release of the Viva La Vida music video on UK music channels.

The song reached the top ten in Germany, Italy, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Turkey, Canada, Ireland and Australia, becoming Coldplay's highest charting single in most of those countries.

Plagiarism allegation

Coldplay were briefly accused of copying portions of "The Songs I Didn't Write" by American alternative band Creaky Boards, for the melody of "Viva la Vida". [ [http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/news/the-song-they-didnt-write-coldplay-are-accused-of-plagiarism-by-american-band-849992.html The Independent] ] Creaky Boards' band member Andrew Hoepfner claimed that Chris Martin had heard the track at one of their shows. Coldplay denied the claims; band spokesman Murray Chambers said "Chris was working in AIR Studios in London" at that time.cite web|url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/celebritynews/2163625/Coldplay-didn%27t-copy-us,-says-American-band.html|title="Coldplay didn't copy us, says American band"|author=Martin, Nicole|date=2008-06-20] Creaky Boards later retracted the accusations and now speculate that both songs may have been inspired by the video game "The Legend of Zelda".

Music videos

The official music video for "Viva la Vida" was directed by Hype Williams and premiered at Coldplay's official website on 1 August. [ [http://www.coldplay.com/vivavideo1.php First video at Coldplay.com] ] The video features the band performing in multi-colour backgrounds, including the album's artwork (used for the majority of the video) and speeding clouds (used in between verses and in parts of the final chorus). The video ends with every band member crumbling to rose petals that fly into the air.

A second, alternate video was shot in the Hague, the Netherlands, directed by Anton Corbijn and released alongside the first. [ [http://www.coldplay.com/vivavideo2.php Second video at Coldplay.com] ] This second version is a tribute to Corbijn's video for Depeche Mode's "Enjoy the Silence" and portrays Chris Martin as the king from whose perspective the song is sung. During the video, he carries a larger framed version of the cover art for the album. At the end, we see him hang the picture up in a white stall on top of a hill. As he sings the last chorus, his band mates surface heading his way, tying in loose ends from the Violet Hill video.

A parody of this music video (Viva la Cheata) was done on the FOX sketch show "MADtv". It starred Jerry O'Connell as John Edwards who sings about how his affair and possible love child has ruined his political career, but is confident that he'll rebound since political sex scandals have been around for a long time.

Track listing

Digital download

#"Viva la Vida (New Edit)" – 4:04

Promotional CD

#"Viva la Vida (Radio Edit)" – 3:45
#"Viva la Vida (Full Album Version)" – 4:01

CD release

#"Viva la Vida" – 4:01
#"Death Will Never Conquer" – 1:17

Chart

References

External links

* [http://www.coldplay.com Coldplay official site]
* [http://wiki.coldplaying.com/index.php/Viva_La_Vida_%28song%29 "Viva la Vida" article] at Wikia