8 - Coldplay – “42”

At first “42” seems to return to the Radiohead sound that many early commentators picked out in Coldplay's work. Playing a piano in a minor key and delivering a particularly reedy vocal, Chris Martin sings a genuinely heartfelt lament that notes the passing of loved ones into memory. But suddenly, about a minute and a half in, the track changes course improbably, and what was once mournful and accepting starts to rail against having people torn from life. Sawing guitars replace the funereal strings and Martin's croon becomes a wail, the cries of “You didn't get to heaven but you made it close” followed by a triplet of cymbal clashes. The piano gets a reprise to close the track, but it makes Coldplay seem more emotionally complex than one note songs like “The Scientist”.

The band have remarked that much of Viva la Vida... deals with the tumultuous emotions involved in losing people close to you as well as fathering children, and “42” deals with that fairly explicitly and directly, which could account for its popularity with Last.fm listeners. As for the title, Martin told MTV “It's called "42" because it's my favorite number. And I think it's probably in Will's top three favorite numbers too”. Fans of the late Douglas Adams perhaps?