Released 21 November 2008 Genre Alternative rock | Recorded 2007-2008 Length 4:44 | |
Label EMI, Parlophone, Capitol Writer(s) Guy Berryman, Jonny Buckland, Will Champion, Chris Martin | ||
"Glass of Water" is a song by British alternative rock band Coldplay. Included on their 2008 EP Prospekt's March, it was written by all members of the band during recording sessions for their fourth album, Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends (2008). The song starts with and is built around a repeating guitar riff, with additional instruments added to the song's mix over the course of its duration.
Contents
Although the song was not released as a single, it appeared on the UK and Canadian singles charts as well as on the Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart. A live version of the song was included on the band's live album LeftRightLeftRightLeft (2009).
Background
Coldplay vocalist Chris Martin revealed that during the recording sessions for the band's fourth album, Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends, the band intended to record and write extra songs not meant for inclusion on the album, and "Glass of Water" was one of these songs.
Martin said that the songs from Prospekt's March, including "Glass of Water", and the songs from Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends are "all part of the same family." Indeed, the song contains similar lyrical themes to songs from Viva la Vida and is referenced in the booklet of the album; its title and some of its lyrics appear on a painting in the album booklet's centrefold, and the first page of the booklet is a map of Brazil with lyrics from "Glass of Water" scribbled over it in crayon.
Before the release of a studio recording of the song, "Glass of Water" was debuted to the public during the final concert of Coldplay's 2008 European leg of the Viva la Vida Tour, at the Sportpaleis in Antwerp, Belgium, and eventually become a regular part of the tour's set list.
Writing and composition
The song's title was introduced along with an unreleased song, "Famous Old Painters", in a journal dated 26 October 2007, and released to the public on Coldplay's official website on 30 October. The announcement suggested further delays of the release of Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends, while assuring readers that "the self insured deadline...still stands".
"Glass of Water" carries a heavy and massive mood, different of most Coldplay songs released until that date. In a journal naming "Glass of Water", a writer for Coldplay's official website, using the pseudonym "Prospekt", wrote: "Chris [Martin] is up and down like a yo-yo." Martin himself has described the song as "heavier" than tracks from Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends. The song starts with a repeating guitar riff, which the track is built around. Its chorus moves in a 7⁄4 time signature and has piano rolls in softer sections of the song. The ending of "Glass of Water" also has a coda instead of a generic tonic crash ending.