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

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

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

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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" 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. The track was nominated for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal and

Best Music Video The Grammy Award for Best Music Video is an honor presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to performers, directors, and producers of quality short form music videos. Hon ...

at the

52nd Annual Grammy Awards The 52nd Annual Grammy Awards took place on January 31, 2010, at Staples Center in Los Angeles honoring the best in music for the recording year beginning October 1, 2008 through September 30, 2009. Neil Young was honored as the 2010 MusiCares Pe ...

Music video

The music video premiered on 20 January 2009 on

4Music 4Music is a British music television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. The original incarnation was launched on 15 August 2008, and until 29 June 2022, showed a mix of music and entertainment programming. It ...

and Channel 4. The director of this video is Dougal Wilson. It starts out with a group of children sitting and awaiting a traditional Punch and Judy 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

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frontman The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of the ...

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

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across the stage. Finally, after finishing the song, the puppet band members board a miniature helicopter and after taking off,

drummer A drummer is a percussionist who creates music using drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one mem ...

Will Champion 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 Phil Harvey (April 25, 1938 – December 2, 2021) was an American entrepreneur, philanthropist and Libertarianism, libertarian who set up large-scale programs that delivered subsidized contraceptives in poor countries. Harvey was the founder an ...

, 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

at the

. '' Pitchfork'' included the track on their unranked "Top Music Videos of 2009" list.

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' "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 2009 NFL Draft was the seventy-fourth annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible football players. The draft took place at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, New York, on April 25 and 26, 2009. T ...

. 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 The London Eye, or the Millennium Wheel, is a cantilevered observation wheel on the South Bank of the River Thames in London. It is Europe's tallest cantilevered observation wheel, and is the most popular paid tourist attraction in the United ...

'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. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educati ...

(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 – lead vocals, piano, keyboards, acoustic guitar * Guy Berryman – bass guitar, santoor, backing vocals * Jonny Buckland – electric guitar * Will Champion – drums, percussion, backing vocals

Additional Personnel

* Jon Hopkins – organ, harmonium, synthesizers * Mike Kezner – sitar * 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