"Life in Technicolor II" (stylised as "Life in Technicolor ii") is a song by British rock band

Coldplay Coldplay are a British Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1997. They consist of vocalist and pianist Chris Martin, guitarist Jonny Buckland, bassist Guy Berryman, drummer and percussionist Will Champion, and manager Phil Harvey (band m ...

released as the first single from the '' Prospekt's March EP.'' It is the full-vocal version of the

instrumental An instrumental or instrumental song is music without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through Semantic change, semantic widening, a broader sense of the word s ...

track "Life in Technicolor", from the band's fourth studio album, '' Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends''. The songs starts with a loop consisting of a santoor accompanied by tabla-like percussion. The loop is then repeated through the verses and part of the chorus. A promotional CD single was released in December 2008 while the 7-inch vinyl and digital download came out on 2 February 2009. While the promotional CD includes two different edits of the song ("Radio edit" & "Prospekt's March Version"), the vinyl includes a previously unreleased and unheard track called "The Goldrush", one of the few Coldplay songs featuring lead vocals by drummer

Will Champion William Champion (born 31 July 1978) is an English musician and songwriter. He is best known as the drummer and percussionist of the Rock music, rock band Coldplay. Raised in Southampton, he learned to play numerous instruments during his yout ...

. The track was nominated for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal and Best Music Video at the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards.

Music video

The music video premiered on 20 January 2009 on 4Music and

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

. The director of this video is Dougal Wilson. It starts out with a group of children sitting and awaiting a traditional

Punch and Judy Punch and Judy is a traditional puppet show featuring Mr Punch and his wife Judy. The performance consists of a sequence of short scenes, each depicting an interaction between two characters, most typically the anarchic Mr Punch and one other ...

puppet show in the Aldenham War Memorial Hall. Suddenly, the band appears as puppets "onstage" and begins performing the song, which confuses and somewhat unsettles the children and the adults in the room. A girl in the audience recognizes the band members as she looks back and forth between them and the cover of a book she is holding, which is a fictional "unofficial biography" of Coldplay called ''Playin' It Cool''. The puppet show becomes increasingly extravagant as the video goes on, eventually featuring

pyrotechnics Pyrotechnics is the science and craft of creating fireworks, but also includes safety matches, oxygen candles, Pyrotechnic fastener, explosive bolts (and other fasteners), parts of automotive airbags, as well as gas-pressure blasting in mining, q ...

, frontman Chris Martin crowd surfing over the children, and Punch and Judy performing

motorcycle A motorcycle (motorbike, bike; uni (if one-wheeled); trike (if three-wheeled); quad (if four-wheeled)) is a lightweight private 1-to-2 passenger personal motor vehicle Steering, steered by a Motorcycle handlebar, handlebar from a saddle-style ...

stunts across the stage. Finally, after finishing the song, the puppet band members board a miniature

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which Lift (force), lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning Helicopter rotor, rotors. This allows the helicopter to VTOL, take off and land vertically, to hover (helicopter), hover, and ...

and after taking off,

drummer A drummer is a percussionist who creates music using drums. Most contemporary western music ensemble, bands that play Rock music, rock, Pop music, pop, jazz, or Contemporary R&B, R&B music include a drummer for purposes including timekeepi ...

tosses his drumsticks to the girl in the audience before the helicopter crashes through a window as they fly away. The girl looks down at the tiny drumsticks in her hands and smiles. James Clarkson and Coldplay's fifth member, Phil Harvey, can be seen in the video.

Reception

The video was nominated for Best Art Direction in a Video and Best Visual Effects in a Video categories at the UK Music Video Awards 2009, and for Best Music Video at the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards. ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork or hay fork is an agricultural tool used to pitch loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. It has a long handle and usually two to five thin tines designed to efficiently move such materials. The term is also applie ...

'' included the track on their unranked "Top Music Videos of 2009" list. In the same year, NPO Radio 2 ranked the song at number 418 on their annual '' Top 2000''.

In popular culture

The short instrumental version of this song (released on ''Viva la Vida'') can be heard as the film '' Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian'' ends during a scene with Ben Stiller and Amy Adams. It was also used on

Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British broadcasting of sports events, subscription sports channels operated by the satellite television, satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television ...

' "Ford Super Sunday" coverage during the 2008/2009 as well as "Match of the Day" during the same season. This version was used at the beginning of the Great Yarmouth (UK) Hippodrome Circus show 2009. NFL Network also used it for their coverage of the 2009 NFL Scouting Combine and also for their coverage of the 2009 NFL draft. The song was also played during the opening montage of the 2009 ESPY Awards. The instrumental version of the song is used in London Eye's pre-flight 4D Experience show. A portion of the instrumental version is also used in Apple Inc.'s introduction of the 2008 MacBook Air, as well as the introduction of the Late 08 MacBook. The song was also used in a promotional on

Public Broadcasting Service The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia Arlington County, or simply Arlington, is a County (United States), county in the ...

(PBS) for PBS's primary programming. Life in Technicolor II was used in an advertisement for Wimbledon 2013 on ESPN.

Track listing

Personnel

* Chris Martin – composer, performer * Guy Berryman – composer, performer * Jonny Buckland – composer, performer *

– composer, performer *

Jon Hopkins Jonathan Julian Hopkins (born 15 August 1979) is an English musician and producer who writes and performs electronic music. He began his career playing keyboards for Imogen Heap, and has produced but also contributed to albums by Brian Eno, Co ...

– organ, harmonium, synthesizers * Mike Kezner –

sitar The sitar ( or ; ) is a plucked stringed instrument, originating from the Indian subcontinent, used in Hindustani classical music. The instrument was invented in the 18th century, and arrived at its present form in 19th-century India. Khusrau K ...

* Davide Rossi – strings

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Release history

References

External links

* * {{Authority control Coldplay songs 2009 singles 2008 songs Music videos featuring puppetry Parlophone singles Song recordings produced by Brian Eno Song recordings produced by Jon Hopkins Song recordings produced by Markus Dravs Song recordings produced by Rik Simpson Songs written by Guy Berryman Songs written by Jonny Buckland Songs written by Will Champion Songs written by Chris Martin