Yes (Coldplay song)

"Yes" is the sixth track from Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends, the fourth studio album by British rock band Coldplay. The track actually consists of two songs: the eponymous "Yes" (0:00–4:04) and the hidden "Chinese Sleep Chant" (4:04–7:06). Both compositions were written by all band members.

"Yes"
Song by Coldplay
from the album Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends
Released11 June 2008 (2008-06-11)
RecordedNovember 2006 – 2008
Length
  • 7:06 (track)
  • 4:04 ("Yes")
  • 3:02 ("Chinese Sleep Chant")
Label
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)

Writing and composition

One of the main things we tried to focus on with this record is changing vocal identities, because Chris has a very recognizable voice. Just the idea that you can totally change the sound of a song and the sound of a band, just by treating the vocals a different way. So in a song like "Yes," Chris is singing in a lot lower register, and then in "Chinese Sleep Chant," it's drowned in reverb, and he's trapped behind all these guitars.[1]

— Will Champion in an interview for MTV

"Yes"

The title song, especially its tuning, was originally inspired by The Velvet Underground.[2] Its main characteristic are the low vocals by Chris Martin; this was suggested by producer Brian Eno, to add to the variation between the songs on the album. "Yes" also features strings arranged and played on an electric violin by musician Davide Rossi, a frequent collaborator of the band.[3]

In an article for Rolling Stone anticipating the album, Evan Serpick writes: "Martin’s vocals take center stage like never before: sounding more aggressive and strong than ever, they sit on top of an irresistible North African string-and-tablas arrangement and ache more convincingly than all the lilting falsetto in the world", describing the piece as Coldplay's freshest song since their debut album.[4]

Lyrically the song is about love, sensuality, temptation (as in the passage: "'Lord lead me not into temptation' / But it's not easy when she turns you on / Sin, stay gone") and loneliness ("I've become so tired of this loneliness").[5] Chris Martin himself called "Yes" a "sexy" song, but "written for another character", saying that he's "just pretending to be someone else in there."[2]

"Chinese Sleep Chant"

The hidden song "Chinese Sleep Chant" was described as "a self-conscious parody of shoegaze" with My Bloody Valentine influences. Critics also noted the "wall of sound, heavily processed guitar-swirl and falsetto vocals through reverb."[6][7] Describing the composition, Serpick from Rolling Stone says: "Opening with a jagged guitar riff, the song quickly settles into a propulsive dance-track loop with low-mixed, angelic vocals."[4] Will Champion also commented the experimantation on Martin's voice which was "drenched in vocal effects and backwards and [subject to] all kinds of weird and kind of wonderful vocal treatments" to make it sound unique.[2]

In an interview Martin defined the song as Brian Eno's favourite, as well as Guy Berryman's favourite and Champion's least favourite from the album.[2]

"Yes" is not the only example of double song on Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends. The band discussed the reason for including two songs on the same track, explaining that they hoped to add more value to the whole recording, in response to the decline of music sales. They also expressed the desire to keep the album concise with a total of ten tracks.[1][8]

Personnel
Coldplay
Technical personnel

References
  1. "Coldplay Give Track-By-Track Tour Of Viva La Vida, Explain Handclaps, Tack Pianos And The Number 42 - Music, Celebrity, Artist News". MTV.com. 9 June 2008. Retrieved 31 October 2013.
  2. Interview on YouTube
  3. "All sizes | QJul2008coldplay4 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!". Flickr. Retrieved 31 October 2013.
  4. "Coldplay at Work on "Something Different" for Upcoming Album". www.rollingstone.com. Retrieved 26 January 2020.
  5. "Coldplay Lyrics - "Yes"". www.coldplay.com. Retrieved 26 January 2020.
  6. Breihan, Tom (12 June 2008). "First Impressions of Coldplay's Viva la Vida". The Village Voice. Retrieved 3 June 2014.
  7. Knott, Adam (18 March 2011). "Coldplay - Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends". Sputnikmusic. Retrieved 3 June 2014.
  8. "Coldplay — Viva la Vida". Q. Bauer Media Group. 15 May 2008. p. 2. Retrieved 19 February 2009.
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