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In My Place

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"In My Place"
Single by Coldplay
from the album A Rush of Blood to the Head
B-side
  • "One I Love"
  • "I Bloom Blaum"
Released5 August 2002 (2002-08-05)
Recorded2001–2002
GenreAlternative rock
Length3:48
Label
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)
Coldplay singles chronology
"Don't Panic"
(2001) 		"In My Place"
(2002) 		"The Scientist"
(2002)
Music video
"In My Place" on YouTube

"In My Place" is a song by British rock band Coldplay. The song was written collaboratively by all the band members and released on their second album, A Rush of Blood to the Head. The track is built around thumping drums and chiming guitars. It was released on 5 August 2002 as the lead single from A Rush of Blood to the Head and reached number two on the UK Singles Chart. The song also reached number 17 on Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks.

"In My Place" was well received by critics, who complimented its arrangement and profound lyrics. The song won the award for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal at the 45th Annual Grammy Awards.

Background and composition

[edit]
"In My Place"
"In My Place" builds around three-note guitar lines and thumping drums.
Problems playing this file? See media help.

In an interview with Q magazine, lead singer Chris Martin stated that "In My Place" was a song Coldplay had left after recording their debut album Parachutes (2000).[1][2] When the band finished recording their second album A Rush of Blood to the Head, Martin said that the album was complete.[1] However, after guitarist Jonny Buckland played the song on his guitar, Martin said that they now needed to record it and include it on the album.[1] Martin also said that: "That's about where you're put in the world, and how you're given your position, and the way you look, and how you have to get on with it."[3] In an interview, Buckland revealed that the song was hard to record, as the band had played the song live.[4] He also commented that when they started recording the song, they did not know how it should sound, due to the band members' contrasting ideas.[4]

The song opens with a single crash cymbal followed by two bars of 4/4 drumming, then a plaintive three-note guitar line rings through a strummy rhythm, and Martin's vocals.[5][6] Its instrumentation is varied with the sound of thumping drums, chiming guitars, a singalong chorus, and a string arrangement.[5][6][7] The song also features guitar licks.[8][9] The lyrics emphasise: "But I wait for you/if you go, if you go/leave me down here on my own/then I'll wait for you."[10] The song's lyrics also include references to a desire for weary optimism.[11]

The song is written in the key of A major.[12] It has been noted that the song's drum intro bears a close resemblance to the beginning of the Ride song "Dreams Burn Down".[13][14]

Critical reception

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Coldplay's performance of "In My Place" during the band's Viva la Vida Tour.

Critics were positive towards the song. In the Entertainment Weekly review of the album, critic David Browne wrote: "Songs like 'In My Place' and 'Warning Sign' marry lyrics imbued with deep regret and mistakes (''...You were an island / And I passed you by'' in the touching latter song) with lyrical melodies and guitar hooks that twinkle and sparkle."[15] Adrien Begrand of PopMatters wrote: "When the shimmering, pretty lead-off single 'In My Place' represents the album's weakest moment, you know you've got something extraordinary. Currently storming the charts a la 'Yellow', 'In My Place' is another surprisingly simple song, carried by Jonny Buckland's chiming guitar and Chris Martin’s heartfelt vocals. It really shouldn't amount to much, but Coldplay make it work very well. When Martin sings, "Please, please, please/Come back and sing to me," he totally sells it, and you buy it. And why not? The song's lovely.[16]

Amy M. Bruce of The Towerlight wrote: "With a slew of introspective rock songs like 'In My Place' and 'God Put a Smile upon Your Face,' this album is worthy of the hype surrounding the band's first album."[17] Jules Willis of the BBC wrote: "The second track, the first written post-Parachutes and sounding like a refugee from that album, is the grower 'In My Place'. It's a fantastic pop tune that justifies Coldplay's status as one of UK's most exciting bands."[18] The A.V. Club and NME ranked the song at number 14 and 43, respectively, on their "Best Songs of 2002" lists.[19]

Release and commercial performance

[edit]

Coldplay released "In My Place" in the US and UK on 5 August 2002 as the album's lead single.[20][21] The single was pressed with two B-sides: "One I Love" and "I Bloom Blaum".[22][23] The single cover features Buckland, with art directed by Sølve Sundsbø.[24]

"In My Place" peaked at number two on UK Singles Chart on 17 August 2002,[25] kept off the top by "Colourblind" by Darius Danesh.[26] It spent one week on the top 10[27] and stayed in the chart until 23 November 2002.[28] The song re-entered the UK top 40 in July 2011.[27] The song reached number seventeen on Billboard's Hot Modern Rock Tracks in 2002.[29] The band were yet to have a number one single.[30] In 2005, "Speed of Sound", the lead single of the band's third album, X&Y, also reached number two, but never the number one position.[30] "Speed of Sound" was marked as Coldplay's most successful single until "Viva la Vida", reached number one in 2008.[31]

Music video

[edit]

The music video for "In My Place" was directed by Sophie Muller. It debuted on 17 June 2002 on AOL.[5][32] It features the band playing in a huge, nearly empty, white studio room, with a bluish light resembling sunlight coming from an off-screen source. The video starts off with a closeup of Will Champion playing the drums as the song begins; while the rest of the band plays, Chris Martin, who is sitting in a corner, gets up and joins them in the song. Throughout the video, Martin sings directly to the camera, interspersed with shots of the other members of the band playing their instruments. During the guitar solo, Martin runs up to two women who are seen sitting on a step in the background, talks to them for a while, and then runs back to sing the rest of the song. The two women in the background were members of the video crew: a makeup artist/wardrobe assistant and the video commissioner.[5]

The video was subjected to a spoof by Bad Lip Reading on their YouTube page. It was dubbed with the song "Yeti" that was composed and recorded, like BLR's other videos, to humorously reinterpret the lip movement and action in the video. "Yeti" has received over three million views on YouTube as of April 2017.[33]

Awards

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"In My Place" won a Grammy Award in the category of Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal at the 2003 Grammy Awards.[34][35] The song was nominated for two MuchMusic Video Awards for Best international video–group and People's Choice: Favorite international group.[36]

Usage in media

[edit]
See also: List of cover versions of Coldplay songs

In 2003, "In My Place" was featured on Coldplay's live album, Live 2003.[37] In 2012, "In My Place" was featured on Coldplay's live album Live 2012. The song appeared in the 2006 episode "Saving Sammy" on CBS' television series Cold Case.[38] The song was used as a closing montage song about a case from 2003.[38] The track appeared again on an episode of the television series Fastlane.[39] The song is also featured in as playable in Guitar Hero 5.[40]

Track listing

[edit]

All versions of the official single included the B-side, "One I Love".[4] This track was performed on the subsequent A Rush of Blood to the Head Tour and is featured on Live 2003.[41]

No.TitleLength
1."In My Place"3:48
2."One I Love"4:35
3."I Bloom Blaum"2:11

Personnel

[edit]
Coldplay
Additional Personnel
  • Audrey Riley - string arrangement, string performer
  • Ann Lines – string performer
  • Chris Tombling – string performer
  • Dan Green – string performer
  • Laura Melhewish – string performer
  • Leo Payne – string performer
  • Peter Lale – string performer
  • Richard George – string performer
  • Susan Dench – string performer

Charts

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Certifications

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Certifications and sales for "In My Place"
Region Certification Certified units/sales
Italy (FIMI)[78] Gold 35,000‡
Portugal (AFP)[79] Gold 20,000‡
Spain (PROMUSICAE)[80] Gold 30,000‡
United Kingdom (BPI)[81] Gold 400,000‡

‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

Release history

[edit]
Release dates and formats for "In My Place"
Region Date Format(s) Label(s) Ref(s).
United States 1 July 2002 (2002-07-01)
Capitol [82]
Australia 5 August 2002 (2002-08-05) CD Parlophone [83]
United Kingdom
  • 12-inch vinyl
  • CD
  • cassette
 [20][21]
United States 7 October 2002 (2002-10-07) Contemporary hit radio Capitol [84]

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c "The State of Coldplay". Q. August 2002.
  2. ^ Klein, Joshua (5 August 2002). "Coldplay set for stardom with blend of talent, fun". Chicago Tribune: 3.
  3. ^ "Coldplay Ezine: Issue 6" (PDF). Coldplay. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 April 2008. Retrieved 31 August 2008.
  4. ^ a b c "Coldplay Ezine: Issue 4" (PDF). Coldplay. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 November 2007. Retrieved 31 August 2008.
  5. ^ a b c d Wiederhorn, Jon (12 August 2002). "Coldplay Play On, Thanks To New Single". MTV News. Archived from the original on 25 October 2002. Retrieved 2 September 2008.
  6. ^ a b Parker, Nigel (23 August 2002). "Coldplay's Rush is near-flawless". BBC News. BBC. Retrieved 29 April 2009.
  7. ^ Cheal, David (12 October 2006). "Perfect Playlist: Coldplay". The Daily Telegraph: 030.
  8. ^ McNamee, Paul (30 July 2002). "Coldplay — In My Place". NME. Retrieved 2 September 2008.
  9. ^ Denning, Adrian. "Coldplay album reviews". Adrian Denning.com. Retrieved 1 September 2008.
  10. ^ "In My Place Lyrics". MTV. Archived from the original on 26 May 2012. Retrieved 2 September 2008.
  11. ^ McCormick, Neil (1 August 2002). "Why I'm suddenly warming to Coldplay". The Daily Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 21 September 2002. Retrieved 2 September 2008.
  12. ^ "In My Place by Coldplay – Digital Sheet Music". Musicnotes.com. 2002. Retrieved 10 August 2018.
  13. ^ Cramp, Nathaniel (19 November 2014). "Ride: 10 of the best". theguardian.com. Retrieved 24 September 2020.
  14. ^ "The 50 Best Coldplay Songs: Staff Picks". billboard.com. 21 November 2019. Retrieved 24 September 2020.
  15. ^ Browne, David (2 September 2002). "A Rush of Blood to the Head — Music Review". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on 29 September 2012. Retrieved 2 September 2008.
  16. ^ Begrand, Adrien (6 September 2002). "Coldplay: A Rush of Blood to the Head". PopMatters. Retrieved 2 September 2008.
  17. ^ Bruce, Amy M. (2 September 2002). "Coldplay is not "Yellow" anymore". The Towerlight.
  18. ^ Willis, Jules (20 November 2002). "Coldplay — A Rush of Blood to the Head". BBC Music. BBC. Retrieved 2 September 2008.
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  20. ^ a b "Coldplay Ezine: Issue 3" (PDF). Coldplay. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 November 2007. Retrieved 2 September 2008.
  21. ^ a b Ramsay, Maggie (20 July 2002). "Airborne" (PDF). Music & Media. Vol. 20, no. 30. p. 10. Retrieved 3 May 2021.
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  28. ^ Jones, Alan (17 August 2002). "The official UK singles chart top 75". Music Week. Retrieved 2 September 2008.[dead link‍]
  29. ^ "Artist Chart History — Coldplay". Billboard. Archived from the original on 5 April 2013. Retrieved 2 September 2008.
  30. ^ a b "Week Ending June 28, 2008". Yahoo! Music Blogs. 28 June 2008. Retrieved 2 September 2008.
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  32. ^ "Coldplay Give "Blood"". Rolling Stone. 14 June 2002. Retrieved 4 September 2008.[dead link‍]
  33. ^ Bad Lip Reading (July 2012). Yeti (Spoof).
  34. ^ "The 2003 Grammys: Main winners". BBC News. BBC. 23 February 2003. Retrieved 2 September 2008.
  35. ^ "Complete list of Grammy winners". CNN: Showbiz/Music. Associated Press. 24 February 2003. Archived from the original on 23 May 2008. Retrieved 2 September 2008.
  36. ^ Jeckell, Barry A. (21 May 2003). "Our Lady Peace Leads Muchmusic Video Nominees". Billboard. All Business. Retrieved 10 February 2009.[dead link‍]
  37. ^ Snodgrass, Michael (12 November 2003). "Coldplay Becomes Our Friend And Buys Us Ice Cream". The Buffalo News: N4.
  38. ^ a b Tyler Bensinger and Paris Barclay (22 October 2006). "Saving Sammy". Cold Case. Season 4. Episode 74. 45 minutes in. CBS.
  39. ^ Kim Newton and Paris Barclay (25 September 2002). "Girls Own Juice". Fastlane. Season 1. Episode 2. 60 minutes in. Fox.
  40. ^ "Activision Unveils Epic 85 Song Guitar Hero(R) 5 Set List Featuring Widest Variety of Today's..." Forbes. PR Newswire. 30 July 2009. Retrieved 16 October 2009.[dead link‍]
  41. ^ Live 2003 (DVD). Capitol Records and Parlophone. 2003.
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  68. ^ "Coldplay – In My Place". AFP Top 100 Singles. Retrieved 2 June 2023.
  69. ^ "Canada's Top 200 Singles of 2002". Jam!. 14 January 2003. Archived from the original on 6 September 2004. Retrieved 22 March 2022.
  70. ^ "BDS CHART : Top 100 of 2002". Jam!. Archived from the original on 6 September 2004. Retrieved 3 April 2024.
  71. ^ "Top 100 Songs of 2002". Raidió Teilifís Éireann. 2002. Archived from the original on 2 June 2004. Retrieved 16 March 2022.
  72. ^ "Top of the Music – Mix e Singoli" (PDF) (in Italian). FIMI. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 May 2006. Retrieved 14 December 2020.
  73. ^ "2002 UK Year-end Charts" (PDF). UKChartsPlus. Retrieved 28 December 2015.
  74. ^ "Most Broadcast of 2002 – Airplay Top 50" (PDF). Music Week. 18 January 2003. p. 31. Retrieved 4 August 2023.
  75. ^ "Most-Played Adult Top 40 Songs of 2002". Airplay Monitor. Vol. 10, no. 51. 20 December 2002. p. 16.
  76. ^ "Most-Played Modern Rock Songs of 2002". Airplay Monitor. Vol. 10, no. 51. 20 December 2002. p. 44.
  77. ^ "The 2002 Allstars: Most-Played Triple-A Songs". Airplay Monitor. Vol. 10, no. 51. 20 December 2002. p. 52.
  78. ^ "Italian single certifications – Coldplay – In My Place" (in Italian). Federazione Industria Musicale Italiana. Select "2021" in the "Anno" drop-down menu. Type "In My Place" in the "Filtra" field. Select "Singoli" under "Sezione".
  79. ^ "Portuguese single certifications" (PDF) (in Portuguese). Associação Fonográfica Portuguesa. Retrieved 17 September 2023.
  80. ^ "Spanish single certifications" (in Spanish). Productores de Música de España. Retrieved 10 January 2024. Select Canciones under "Categoría", select 2023 under "Año". Select 45 under "Semana". Click on "BUSCAR LISTA".
  81. ^ "British single certifications – Coldplay – In My Place". British Phonographic Industry.
  82. ^ "Going for Adds" (PDF). Radio & Records. No. 1459. 28 June 2002. p. 26. Retrieved 3 May 2021.
  83. ^ "The ARIA Report: New Releases Singles – Week Commencing 05/08/2002" (PDF). ARIA. 5 August 2002. p. 26. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 August 2002. Retrieved 3 May 2021.
  84. ^ "Going for Adds" (PDF). Radio & Records. No. 1473. 4 October 2002. p. 27. Retrieved 3 May 2021.

Bibliography

[edit]
  • Roach, Martin (2003). Coldplay: Nobody Said It Was Easy. Omnibus Press. ISBN 0-7119-9810-8.
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