Yellow

Chris Martin (1977–); Jonny Buckland (1977–); Guy Berryman (1978–); Will Champion (1978–)

No, it’s not about Gwyneth Paltrow’s hair. She didn’t know Chris Martin when he wrote it. He probably was aware of her at the time, but it still wasn’t about her hair. 

The four members of Coldplay met at University College London (UCL), one of the top two institutions of higher learning in London, along with Imperial College London. Incidentally, these two rank with the top 10 universities in the world. Incidentally, I had never heard of either of them before researching this song. Incidentally, I was kicked out of University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in my second year, for the second and final time in 1958, about 20 years before these guys were born. Chris Martin graduated with first class honors in Greek and Latin. Their band was originally called Pectoralz, then Starfish, and finally, Coldplay. “Yellow “was their breakout hit in both the UK and the US, also topping charts in a number of other countries. The NME Carling Awards voted it Best Single Of The Year for 2001. Early on, the band played the song for Steve Jobs, who said it was “shit” and that “They would never make it.” Everything about this song charmed me, the melody, the arrangement, the guitar lines, the works. Dare I say perfect, again?