User:Luckich/sandbox

я взглянул в очи твои далекие

и вижу я в них голубые небеса

бесгранные просторы и птички полубокие

в поле, врагами битом, где не зарастёт трава

сколько не пытался я перевести дуг

я все еще таю от своих подруг

взгляну на их бюст сразу ссуся кипятком

такого чувства я не испытывал очень давно

недавно совсем недавно был звездопад

и их еще будет немало

посмотреть на них с тобой я был бы рад

Боже, как бы у меня щас не встало

У господина был дворец

А у дворца стол игриво

Старинный каменный ларец

и золотой как у льва грива

Ну вот вернемся ко столу

и там стоит бедняга путник

и смотрит он на любовь свою

Ой не на неё, а на её нагрудник

а грудь её была полна

хотел на неё вдоволь разместиться

Вот только боялся он что она

начнет на него бездумно злиться

Но вот он решил сердце завоевать

немного приспутился надумал приобнять

но тот жу царь воскликнул

А НУКА СТОЯЯЯТЬ

Стопэ я чёт не понял что это за херня

или ты че к дочке моей намерен приставать

тогда тебе конец никчемная ты сволочь

тебя тут щас растопчат тебе не убежать

Ocean Rain is the fourth studio album by the English post-punk band Echo & the Bunnymen. It was released on 4 May 1984 and reached number four on the UK Albums Chart, number 87 on the United States Billboard 200, number 41 on the Canadian RPM 100 Albums and number 22 on the Swedish chart. Since 1984 the album has been certified gold by the British Phonographic Industry. Ocean Rain includes the singles "The Killing Moon", "Silver" and "Seven Seas".

The band wrote the songs for the new album in 1983. In early 1984 they recorded most of the album in Paris using a 35-piece orchestra, with other sessions taking place in Bath and Liverpool. Receiving mixed reviews the album was originally released as an LP and a cassette in May 1984 before it was reissued on CD in August. The album was reissued on CD in 2003, along with the other four of the band's first five studio albums, having been remastered and expanded before again being reissued in 2008 with a live bonus disc. The artwork for the album was designed by Martyn Atkins and the photography was by Brian Griffin. Echo & the Bunnymen played a number of concerts in 2008 where they performed Ocean Rain in full and with the backing of an orchestra.

Background
Following the poor reception of Echo & the Bunnymen's third album, 1983's Porcupine, the band recorded the single "Never Stop". The title track of the single was produced by Hugh Jones, who had produced the band's second album, 1981's Heaven Up Here. The single introduced a new sound for the band with an expanded arrangement including congas, marimbas, violins and cellos. After "Never Stop" was released on 8 July 1983 the band toured the Outer Hebrides in Scotland before two successful concerts at the Royal Albert Hall in London on 18 and 19 July. Also that month, the band was filmed by RPM Productions for the Channel 4 documentary series Play at Home. Filmed in a café used by the band they recorded acoustic versions of two old songs, "Stars Are Stars" and "Villiers Terrace", as well as two new songs, "The Killing Moon" and "Silver", for their episode of Play at Home titled Life at Brian's.

After spending some time in Liverpool writing new songs for the album, the band recorded their sixth session for John Peel's radio show on BBC Radio 1 on 6 September 1983. The songs recorded were "Nocturnal Me", "Ocean Rain", "My Kingdom" and "Watch Out Below", which would all later appear on the band's fourth album Ocean Rain – "Watch Out Below" was later renamed "The Yo Yo Man". When the band's John Peel session was broadcast on 10 October 1983, the punk zine Jamming said, "[The songs] hint at a readjustment and a period of new positive recovery."

Echo & the Bunnymen were booked to headline a two-week youth festival at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon on the evening of 23 October 1983. Due to a high demand for tickets a matinee performance was added. The matinee concert at Stratford-upon-Avon saw the live debut of "Seven Seas". With representatives from the band's record company and lead singer Ian McCulloch's mother in the audience, the performance was nervous and uncertain; although the evening performance, without the record company representatives and McCulloch's mother, was much improved.

At the end of 1983 Echo & the Bunnymen recorded a live special called A Crystal Day for the Channel 4 programme The Tube. Ignoring their old material, the band played "The Killing Moon", "Nocturnal Me", "Ocean Rain" – which had now developed into a ballad – and an early version of "Thorn of Crowns" called "Cucumber".

Recording and music
The band recorded and self-produced "The Killing Moon" – which was released on 20 January 1984 – at Crescent Studio in Bath, Somerset. After catching a cold, McCulloch completed the recording of the vocals for the song at Amazon Studio in Liverpool, where de Freitas also completed the drumming. The band then went to Paris where they were booked into Les Studios des Dames and Studio Davout. Henri Loustau, the engineer at des Dames, assisted on the string passages and Adam Peters provided the string arrangements and played cello and piano. McCulloch, not happy with the lead vocals he had recorded in Paris, re-recorded most of the vocals at Amazon Studio in Liverpool.

Continuing the band's prominent use of strings – which began with the 1982 single "The Back of Love" – they recorded Ocean Rain using a 35-piece orchestra. Lead guitarist Will Sergeant said, "We wanted to make something conceptual with lush orchestration; not Mantovani, something with a twist. It's all pretty dark. 'Thorn of Crowns' is based on an eastern scale. The whole mood is very windswept: European pirates, a bit Ben Gunn; dark and stormy, battering rain; all of that." During recording De Freitas used xylophones and glockenspiels in addition to his usual percussion, bass player Les Pattinson used an old reverb machine at des Dames and Sergeant's solo on "My Kingdom" was played using a Washburn acoustic guitar which he distorted through a valve radio.

Cover


As with their previous albums, the album cover was designed by Martyn Atkins and the photography was by Brian Griffin. With the band wanting to continue the elemental theme of the previous three albums, the photograph used on the front cover of the album is a picture of the band in a rowing boat which was taken inside Carnglaze Caverns, Liskeard, Cornwall. In his 2002 book Turquoise Days: The Weird World of Echo & the Bunnymen, author Chris Adams describes the cover as "a perfect visual representation of arguably the Bunnymen's finest album".

The picture on the front cover of the original album was kept for the 2003 reissue. However, the design was altered slightly by graphic designer Rachel Gutek of the design company guppyart. This release contains an expanded booklet written by music journalist Max Bell giving the background to the album. The booklet contains a number of photographs which are credited to Sergeant and Pattinson.

Releases
Ocean Rain was first released on 4 May 1984 as an LP and on cassette by Korova in Europe. It was subsequently released by Sire Records in the United States on 14 May and on CD in Europe and the United States on 24 August 1984. The album was marketed as "the greatest album ever made" and McCulloch later said it was because they believed it was, although he later claimed it was meant as a joke: "That wasn't my idea! I was on the phone to [ Rob Dickins, managing director of Warner Bros.], just joshing and I said 'Oh, it's the greatest album ever made.' And he used it on the poster." In a 2005 interview for Record Collector magazine, Sergeant asked, "Why not?". After wondering "what all the fuss was about", he went on to ask, "Doesn't every band think that way when they've got a new record out?"

Along with the other four of the band's first five albums, Ocean Rain was remastered and reissued on CD in 2003—these releases were marketed as 25th anniversary editions. Eight bonus tracks were added to the album: "Angels and Devils", which had been recorded at The Automatt in San Francisco, was the B-side to the single "Silver" and was produced by The Bunnymen and Alan Perman; five Life at Brian's – Lean and Hungry tracks ("All You Need Is Love", "The Killing Moon", "Stars Are Stars", "Villiers Terrace" and "Silver"), which had been recorded for the Channel 4 programme Play at Home; and two live tracks ("My Kingdom" and "Ocean Rain"), which were recorded for A Crystal Day, a Channel 4 special for The Tube. The Life at Brian's – Lean and Hungry track, "Silver", and the two A Crystal Day tracks had previously been unreleased. The 2003 reissue was produced by Andy Zax and Bill Inglot.

A collector's edition was released in October 2008 which, while still including "Angels and Devils", replaced the bonus tracks of the 25th anniversary edition with the extended 12-inch single versions of "Silver" and "The Killing Moon". The collector's edition also includes a bonus disc containing a recording of the band's 1983 Royal Albert Hall concert, omitting only two encore tracks, "Heroin" and "Do It Clean", which are included on the Crystal Days box set.

Three tracks from the original Ocean Rain album were released as singles: "The Killing Moon", released on 20 January 1984; "Silver", released on 13 April 1984; and "Seven Seas", released on 6 July 1984. This was the first time Echo & the Bunnymen had released more than two singles from one album.

Reception
The album was released to mixed reviews. Describing Echo & the Bunnymen's change from the more rock sound of their previous albums to the lighter sound of Ocean Rain, music journalist Max Bell said in his 1984 review for The Times newspaper, "This time vocalist Ian McCulloch has tempered his metaphysical songs with a romantic sweetness and the band's melodies are more to the fore. Acoustic guitars, brushes and sparingly used keyboards all add to the album's optimistic warmth and there is a consistency of atmosphere in songs like 'Seven Seas' and 'Silver', the current single, which justifies the departure."

However, Parke Puterbaugh of Rolling Stone rated the album two out of five stars and described it as "too often a monochromatic dirge of banal existential imagery cloaked around the mere skeleton of a musical idea". While finding that the album had some "nifty choruses and nice atmospheres", he went on to say it "evinces too little melodic development and too much tortured soul-gazing". In his 1984 review for NME, Biba Kopf said, "... Ocean Rain has been designed to buttress the notion of the group's importance. Not unnaturally the results have the opposite effect." He went on to criticise McCulloch's lyrics, which he described as "tired juxtapositions of mysterious buzzwords, nonsense, and banality", and the music, "mellotron-style wash of strings and bleating wood winds".

Ocean Rain reached number four on the UK Albums Chart in its first week of release and stayed on the chart for 26 weeks. In the United States it entered the Billboard 200 at number 172 on 9 June 1984 and stayed on the chart for 11 weeks, reaching a peak of number 87. It entered the Canadian RPM 100 Albums chart at number 89 before it reached a peak of number 41. Staying on the Swedish chart for three weeks the album reached a peak of number 22. As of 1984, Ocean Rain has been certified gold by the British Phonographic Industry for having sold more than 100,000 copies.

Of the singles from the album; "The Killing Moon", which was released on 20 January 1984, reached number nine on the UK Singles Chart and number seven on the Irish Singles Chart; "Silver", released on 13 April 1984, reached number 30 on the UK Singles Chart and number 14 on the Irish Singles Chart; and "Seven Seas", released on 6 July 1984, reached number 16 on the UK Singles Chart and number 10 on the Irish Singles Chart.

Legacy
Over the years since its release, the album has attracted more positive commentary and also sometimes more nuanced views. In a highly praising retrospective review on AllMusic, Jason Ankeny gave the album a 5-star rating. He described it as "dramatic and majestic", praising the "sweeping string arrangements and hauntingly evocative production." He felt that in comparison to the band's album Porcupine, the "conventional and simple structural parameters" of Ocean Rain made it Echo & the Bunnymen's "most beautiful and memorable effort" and he asserted that "The Killing Moon" was the band's "unrivalled pinnacle".

"The Killing Moon" is featured in the original theatrical version of the opening sequence of the 2001 cult film Donnie Darko. However, in the director's cut version of the film, the song is replaced by INXS's "Never Tear Us Apart", with "The Killing Moon" being placed later in the movie.

When reissued in 2003, Andrew Harrison in Blender described the album as "a portrait of splendid derangement with spectacular orchestrations". Keith Cameron of Mojo said the album had "effervescent songs, sympathetically orchestrated". Pitchfork critic Joe Tangari found that on Ocean Rain, the band had "mellowed to a degree... but all it did was cause them to get weirder"; he described the album as "stuffed with queasy midtempo tracks and bizarre orchestration", yet also "by no means impenetrable", concluding that "a chilly, haunted ambience settles over the whole recording like a fine dust."

In his 2005 book Rip It Up and Start Again: Post Punk 1978–1984, British music journalist Simon Reynolds describes the album as "lush, orchestrated and [...] overtly erotic". Mark Blacklock, in Robert Dimery's 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, wrote that the album's confidence, lush strings, romance, warmth and poetry means that "it stands the test of time better than any other Bunnymen album".

Reviewing the collector's edition for the BBC, Chris Jones described the album as both "the last truly great record they made" and "the point where the cracks began to show, but were masked with such beauty as to hardly matter". Jones went on to say how the 35-piece orchestra helped on tracks such as "Nocturnal Me" but made others, such as "The Yo-Yo Man", "flounder under the weight of intrusive arrangements". Adam Sweeting wrote that Ocean Rain was "only half a classic album", adding: "If you picture it in its original LP format, side two is superb, while side one sounds like a few extra songs they hastily knocked off to go with it".

In 2013, NME ranked Ocean Rain at number 276 in its list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

In the first season of Stranger Things, the fifth episode, "The Flea and Acrobat" featured "Nocturnal Me" in the end credits. The Swedish heavy metal band Ghost covered "Nocturnal Me" for their Popestar EP, which consisted mainly of cover versions.

Ocean Rain tour
On 16 September 2008, Echo & the Bunnymen played a concert at the Royal Albert Hall in London playing the album with the backing of a 16-piece orchestra. Two similar concerts subsequently took place at Radio City in New York City on 1 October 2008 and at the Liverpool Echo Arena on 27 November 2008. These concerts were played with a 10-piece orchestra which was conducted by Rupert Christie. The posters used to advertise the concerts have the image of the band from the cover of the album overlaying an image of the venue. Further concerts took place in Europe and North America during 2009.

The concerts were received well. Simon O'Hagan, reviewing the London concert in The Independent, described it as "a moving, memorable evening" and went on to describe McCulloch's voice as "torn silk" and "magnificent". Giving the London concert five out of five stars, Angus Batey, writing in The Guardian, described "The Killing Moon" as a "dizzying high" which was "topped by 'Ocean Rain' itself, where the strings are held back until the end of the second verse so that they hit with a euphoric punch of almost physical intensity, sunny melodic optimism piercing the lyrics' chiaroscuro of storm clouds and 'blackest thoughts'." However, Adam Sweeting, for The Daily Telegraph, said the orchestra "often didn't add much beyond a vague sonic sludge".

Reviewing the New York concert for Rolling Stone, Jim Allen described Radio City as an "appropriately dramatic, grandiose setting", and added that McCulloch "was in fine voice, growling and sneering wondrously". Reviewing the Liverpool concert, Jade Wright wrote in the Liverpool Echo that McCulloch "was on form – one part Lou Reed, one part Oliver Reed, with a bit of Jim Morrison thrown in for good measure."

Track listing
All tracks written by Will Sergeant, Ian McCulloch, Les Pattinson and Pete de Freitas except where noted.


 * Original album
 * 1) "Silver" – 3:22
 * 2) "Nocturnal Me" – 4:57
 * 3) "Crystal Days" – 2:24
 * 4) "The Yo Yo Man" – 3:10
 * 5) "Thorn of Crowns" – 4:52
 * 6) "The Killing Moon" – 5:50
 * 7) "Seven Seas" – 3:20
 * 8) "My Kingdom" – 4:05
 * 9) "Ocean Rain" – 5:12


 * 2003 bonus tracks
 * 1) "Angels and Devils" – 4:34
 * 2) "All You Need Is Love" (Lennon–McCartney) – 6:44
 * 3) "The Killing Moon" (live) – 3:27
 * 4) "Stars are Stars" (live) – 3:07
 * 5) "Villiers Terrace" (live) – 6:00
 * 6) "Silver" (live) – 3:22
 * 7) "My Kingdom" (live) – 4:01
 * 8) "Ocean Rain" (live) – 5:18


 * 2008 bonus tracks
 * 1) "Angels and Devils" – 4:23
 * 2) "Silver (Tidal Wave)" – 5:11
 * 3) "The Killing Moon (All Night Version)" – 9:11


 * 2008 bonus disc
 * 1) "Going Up/With A Hip" – 5:14
 * 2) "Villiers Terrace" – 3:12
 * 3) "All That Jazz" – 2:47
 * 4) "Heads Will Roll" – 3:57
 * 5) "Porcupine" – 4:07
 * 6) "All My Colours (Zimbo)" – 4:12
 * 7) "Silver" – 3:21
 * 8) "Simple Stuff" – 2:38
 * 9) "The Cutter" – 3:40
 * 10) "The Killing Moon" – 3:02
 * 11) "Rescue" – 4:06
 * 12) "Never Stop" – 4:37
 * 13) "The Back of Love" – 3:14
 * 14) "No Dark Things" – 3:35
 * 15) "Heaven Up Here" – 3:54
 * 16) "Over the Wall" – 6:51
 * 17) "Crocodiles" – 7:00

Personnel

 * Echo and the Bunnymen
 * Ian McCulloch – vocals, guitar, piano
 * Will Sergeant – guitar, harpsichord ("Angels and Devils"), sitar (Life at Brian's sessions)
 * Les Pattinson – bass
 * Pete de Freitas – drums
 * Additional musicians
 * Adam Peters – piano, cello
 * Alan Perman – harpsichord (Life at Brian's sessions)
 * Luvan Kiem – clarinet (Life at Brian's sessions)
 * Production
 * The Bunnymen – producer, mixing
 * Gil Norton – producer, engineer, mixing
 * Henri Loustau – producer, engineer
 * Jean-Yves – assistant engineer


 * Adam Peters – orchestral arrangements
 * David Lord – recorded by ("The Killing Moon")
 * Brian Griffin – photography
 * Martyn Atkins – cover design
 * Andy Zax – producer (reissue)
 * Bill Inglot – producer (reissue), remastering (reissue)
 * Dan Hersch – remastering (reissue)
 * Alan Perman – producer ("Angels and Devils")
 * David Frazer – engineer ("Angels and Devils")
 * Rachel Gutek – cover design (reissue)

Background and inspiration
"Yellow" was written in Rockfield's Quadrangle studio near Monmouth in South Wales, where Coldplay began working on their debut album, Parachutes. One night after finishing recording "Shiver", the band took a break and went out of the studio. Outside, there were few lights on and the stars in the sky were visible and "just amazing", according to the song's co-producer, Ken Nelson. He told the band to look at the stars, which they did. Lead singer Chris Martin was inspired by the sight and the song's main melody, consisting of a chord pattern, popped into his head. At first, Martin did not take it seriously and sang the tune to the rest of the band in "his worst Neil Young impersonation voice". Martin has said, "The song had the word 'stars' and that seemed like a word you should sing in a Neil Young voice." The melody "started off a lot slower", according to drummer Will Champion, and it sounded like a Neil Young song. Not long after, despite not taking the song seriously, Martin's idea worked out when he had developed the tempo of the verse. When guitarist Jonny Buckland started playing it and supplemented it with his ideas, they had created the riff, "and it sort of got a bit heavier".

While composing the song's lyrics, Martin could not find the right words. He was thinking of a specific word, which he deemed a missing keyword in the lyrics, to fit the song's concept. He looked around the studio and saw the Yellow Pages. The lyrics progressed from there, with the band collaborating. Bassist Guy Berryman came up with the opening line "Look at the stars". That night, having quickly composed the song, the band recorded it.

On The Howard Stern Show in November 2011, Chris Martin explained to Stern that he was impersonating Neil Young while entertaining guests when he came across the first chord of the song, which stuck with him for a bit; then in a Neil Young voice he sang "look at the stars". Martin went on to further explain that the word "yellow" has absolutely no meaning whatsoever and while writing the rest of the song he tried his best to change "yellow" to something else since every lyric before yellow made no sense but in the end the word "yellow" just sounded right. Martin also told Stern that through the years depending on the attitude and manner of whoever interviews him, he would make up some story about a song or album titles just to move on to the next question. Martin applauded Stern saying "I like you, Howard, so that's the first time I've ever told anyone the truth behind 'Yellow'."

Recording and production
The band and Nelson produced the track. Nelson was acquainted with the band's music through the former's manager. Nelson's manager gave him a copy of an EP and single by Coldplay, and showed interest in working with them after seeing the band perform live. "Yellow" was initially recorded upstairs in the project studio, basically a demo room in Liverpool's Parr Street Studios. The track was later mixed in New York City.

Nelson and the band encountered problems in producing some aspects of the song. According to Champion, "... it was really difficult to record because it worked at about five or six different tempos. It was a tough choice of choosing which tempo to play, because sometimes it sounded too rushed, and sometimes it sounded as if it was dragging..." The band was trying to get the right tempo, according to Nelson, "because a beat either side of the tempo we picked didn't have the same groove". To improve the song, they recorded this part live and Buckland overdubbed his guitar. They recorded it two or three times until Nelson and the band were happy at the output. The backing vocals were recorded in the control room of Quadrangle.

Nelson used an analogue 2-inch type tape in recording most of the tracks on the album. As the recording progressed, "Yellow" was one of a couple of songs that they "couldn't quite get on analogue". They recorded different versions but it did not satisfy their taste. So Nelson used Pro Tools "to get the feel of [the track] just right"; once all takes were recorded into the computer, "we then put it down to the 2-inch, which I found was a great way to do it", according to Nelson.

Composition
"Yellow" has been called an alternative rock and post-Britpop song. Martin has explained, "Yellow' refers to the mood of the band. Brightness and hope and devotion." The references in some of the lyrics, including swimming and drawing a line, "are all metaphorical slants on the extent of his emotional devotion". The drawing of a line refers to Martin's habit of writing lists, and underlining those important things on the list. Martin has commented that the song is about devotion, referring to his unrequited love for someone or something. Despite its lyrical theme, many fans have considered "Yellow" to be an upbeat track, although it is often interpreted as melancholy as well. The song is written in the key of B major with a tempo of 88 beats per minute.

Release
"Yellow" and "Shiver" were initially released as EPs in the spring of 2000 along with the songs "Help Is Round the Corner" and "No More Keeping My Feet on the Ground", the third taken from the band's first EP, Safety. In the United States, it was released as the lead single from the album. In October 2000, the track was sent to US college and alternative radio outlets. The band released a limited-edition CD, Mince Spies, which features a remix of "Yellow". It was pressed to 1,000 copies and issued only to fans and journalists.

The single, accompanied by its TV reception through its music video, received massive radio airplay, particularly at BBC Radio 1. The reaction was chiefly positive and even the newly revitalised BBC Radio 2 played the track repeatedly. This heavy rotation continued for months after its release, eventually ending as 2000's most-aired song. A month after the album was released in the United States via record label Nettwerk, "Yellow" was used as the theme song for ABC autumn television promotions. The song was also used as the theme music for The Cancer Council Australia's "Daffodil Day", in recognition of that organisation's official flower's yellow hue.

Critical reception
The song received critical acclaim. Matt Diehl of Rolling Stone has noted "Yellow" is "unrepentantly romantic", adding that "the band creates a hypnotic slo-mo otherworld where spirit rules supreme". "Yellow" has also won Best Single at the 2001 NME Awards and got nominated at the 2002 Grammy Awards for Best Rock Song and Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal. Billboard said that "every time that electric-guitar riff barges in, you're hooked all over again." In October 2011, NME placed it at number 139 on their "150 Best Tracks of the Past 15 Years" list. In a retrospective article from 2020, The Independent praised the band for how the song "made being heartfelt seem effortless". In 2021, Billboard included "Yellow" at 35th place in their "Greatest Songs of 2001" list.

Chart performance
In the United Kingdom, its midweek sales suggested that the single would reach the Top 10 of the chart. Although the band supposed "Yellow" would decline inside the Top 20, they would have considered its performance a triumph since the album's lead single, "Shiver", had only reached the 35th position. "Yellow"'s second-week sales were stronger than the first week, and the song eventually reached number four, giving the band their first Top 10 single in the United Kingdom. The popularity of the song in British clubs, pubs and sporting events bolstered the album to debut at number one on the UK Albums Chart. As of February 2015, the song has sold 530,000 copies in the UK.

"Yellow" achieved popularity in the United States and was Coldplay's first American hit. The single charted on eight different Billboard singles charts; it also topped various US modern-rock radio playlists in the spring of 2001. The single performed as it did in Europe and has helped Parachutes be certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America during the single's stay on the chart. As of October 2014, the song has sold over 2 million copies in the US.

After Coldplay's appearance at Sound Relief in Australia, in the charting week starting 22 March 2009, the single made a return to the Australian ARIA Top 50, after almost eight years since its last appearance in the Top 50. It re-entered the chart at number 48.

Music video
The music video for "Yellow" was filmed at Studland Bay in the county of Dorset, South West England on 23 May 2000. The video is minimalistic, featuring only Martin singing the song as he walks along the beach. He is seen wearing a set of waterproofs with his hair wet. The video is one continuous shot with no cuts. The entire sequence is in slow motion.

Originally, it had been intended for the whole band to appear in the video. However, Champion's mother's funeral was held on the day of the filming, so it was decided that only Martin would appear in the video, which was also the immediate explanation of his mood during this part. The weather also opposed the original plan, with harsh winds and rain instead of the sunny day that had been envisioned. It had also been originally intended for there to be moving stars in the sky, as if in a time-lapse. The directors agreed that the moving stars would distract the focus of the video from Martin. The plan of time advancing was kept. The video begins with the beach being somewhat dark until sunlight arrives nearly at the video's midway point.

The video was directed by British directing duo James Frost & Alex Smith of The Artists Company. It was shot at 50 frames per second, twice the regular speed. At the shoot, Chris Martin had to sing the song at double speed so that the audio and visual content would be in sync, a common yet difficult practice of music videos. The final product is slowed to 25 frames per second, giving the slow-motion effect of the video. The transition of the video from night to day was achieved during the telecine process. During the transfer from film to videotape, an operator manually adjusted from a monochromatic, grainy look at the start, to a warm, colourful and bright look at the end of the video. The look was inspired by the night swimming scenes in the movie Jaws.

In 2022, Tegan and Sara paid homage to the music video for their new single, also called "Yellow", the pair walking in slow motion along a beach in rain clothes as the sun rises behind them.

Live performances


Coldplay have performed the song throughout their career, and it is a firm audience favourite. An early version of the song with different lyric arrangement and instrumentals was performed during the band's NME Tour in January 2000. The song had its debut performance on television on the show Later...with Jools Holland on 6 May 2000. They performed Parachutes ' lead single, "Shiver", and the new song, "Yellow"; but it was the latter that had an immediate studio audience impact. They have also performed it at the Glastonbury Festival, one of the prominent festivals in Europe. During their second appearance in June 2000, Coldplay performed "Yellow" and "effortlessly" captured over 10,000 spectators. Coldplay's popularity at this time was still growing and "Yellow" has helped cultivate it; Martin has said it was the best day of their year. During most concert performances, large yellow balloons are dropped on the audience. The first known sighting of yellow balloons was on 24 September 2002 at the UIC Pavilion in Chicago. Chris Martin noticed the balloons in the air with a surprised look. In more recent years, (January 2013) the balloons are filled with confetti, and at the end of the song Chris Martin would pop one with his guitar causing confetti to fly everywhere.

A live acoustic version performed on Jo Whiley's The Lunchtime Social was included on the Acoustic EP. Another live version featuring only piano and vocals performed and broadcast in Los Angeles on KCRW's Morning Becomes Eclectic was included on the Japanese "Clocks" EP. More recently an acoustic piano version the song was recorded in the studio for Starbucks charity compilation album Every Mother Counts 2012.

Coldplay performed the song at the Celebrating Steve event at the Apple campus on 19 October 2011. Before the performance, Martin revealed that, when they first played it for Steve Jobs 10 years ago, Jobs said the song was "shit" and that "they would never make it". The song was later performed on 7 July at the G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany with guest vocals from Shakira.

Martin performed a rearranged version of song acoustically and unaccompanied via video link for the late Australian cricketer Shane Warne's memorial service, as it was one of his favourite songs. Warne was personal friend of Martin, and he had previously accompanied Coldplay for a live performance of "Don't Panic" on the harmonica during a Melbourne concert in 2016.

Legacy
The song is regarded as a career-making record by Rolling Stone magazine and has since been considered the centrepiece of the Parachutes album. Martin Roach claimed in his book Coldplay: Nobody Said It Was Easy that although "Shiver" earned the band their first UK Top 40 single, it was "Yellow" that changed "everything"; he also mentioned how the track "exemplifies much of what made [them] popular". In a 20th-anniversary article, The Independent credited the song for altering the course of 21st-century rock, given how it was responsible for beginning Coldplay's trajectory as one of the biggest bands in the world. Similarly, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame included "Yellow" on their "Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll" list for being one of the most successful and important recordings in music, while Barry Walters from Spin magazine noted that Coldplay is still known in the United States for their "surprise smash". The track is considered one of the best from the 2000s decade by Pitchfork and The Guardian, being also listed amongst the best of all-time by NME on their 2014 list. In the same year, the song was featured in Richard Linklater's film Boyhood. In 2019, Billboard ranked the song number two on their list of the 50 greatest Coldplay songs, and in 2021, American Songwriter ranked the song number three on their list of the 10 greatest Coldplay songs.

Personnel

 * Chris Martin – vocals, acoustic guitar, keyboard
 * Jonny Buckland – electric guitar
 * Guy Berryman – bass guitar
 * Will Champion – drums, percussion, tambourine

Notable cover versions and samples
"Yellow" has been covered by many musicians across languages and musical styles.
 * A Mandarin Chinese cover by Katherine Ho featured in the 2018 movie Crazy Rich Asians. Both Warner Bros. and Coldplay were initially opposed to using the song, but director Jon M. Chu convinced them otherwise, adding that "a white director couldn't do it," but he could. Coldplay was convinced after Chu wrote a moving letter to the band.
 * In 2019, Jodie Whittaker covered "Yellow" for the BBC Children in Need album Got it Covered, assisted by Will Champion and Jonny Buckland.
 * Lizzo sampled "Yellow" on her song "Coldplay" from her 2022 studio album Special.
 * Australian rock band King Stingray covered "Yellow" on triple J Like a Version in 2022. The song later ranked in at number 43 on that year's Triple J Hottest 100.

Background
By early 1983, the Smiths had gained a large following on the UK live circuit and had signed a record deal with the indie label Rough Trade. The deal, along with positive concert reviews in the weekly music press and an upcoming session on John Peel's radio show on BBC Radio 1, generated a large media buzz for the band. In a music scene dominated by corporate and video-driven acts, the Smiths' camp and bookish image stood out, and many expected the band to be the breakthrough act of the UK post-punk movement. The previous October, Frankie Goes to Hollywood released their iconic track "Relax", which was seen as an anthem to an out alpha male self-assertiveness, and alien to many UK homosexuals. However, the Smiths' May 1983 debut single "Hand in Glove" failed to live up to critical and commercial expectations, mostly due to its perceived low production values. When Rough Trade label mates Aztec Camera began to receive day-time national radio-play with their track "Walk out to Winter", Marr admitted to "feeling a little jealous, my competitive urges kicked in". The guitarist believed the Smiths needed an up-beat song, "in a major key", to gain a chart positioning that would live up to expectations.

Marr wrote the music to "This Charming Man" especially for the Peel session on the same night that he wrote "Still Ill" and "Pretty Girls Make Graves". Based on the Peel performance, Rough Trade label head Geoff Travis suggested that the band release the song as a single instead of the slated release "Reel Around the Fountain", which had gathered notoriety in the press due to what were seen as lyrical references to pedophilia. The Smiths entered Matrix Studios in London on September 1983 to record a second studio version of the song for release as a single. However, the result—known as the 'London version'—was unsatisfactory and soon after, the band travelled to Strawberry Studios in Stockport to try again. Here, they recorded the more widely heard A-side.

Music and lyrics
The lyrics of "This Charming Man" comprise a first person narrative in which the male protagonist punctures one of his bicycle's tyres on a remote hillside. A passing "charming man" in a luxury car stops to offer the cyclist a lift, and although the protagonist is at first hesitant, after much deliberation he accepts the offer. While driving together the pair flirt, although the protagonist finds it difficult to overcome his reluctance: "I would go out tonight, but I haven't got a stitch to wear". The motorist tells the cyclist: "it's gruesome that someone so handsome should care".

Morrissey deliberately used archaic language when composing the voice-over style lyrics for "This Charming Man". His use of phrases and words such as 'hillside desolate', 'stitch to wear', 'handsome' and 'charming' are used to convey a more courtly world than the mid-Eighties north of England, and evoke a style that has, in the words of the music critic Mat Snow, "nothing to do with fashion". Morrissey had already used the word 'handsome' in a song title—in "Handsome Devil", the B-side to "Hand in Glove"—and observed in a 1983 interview with Barney Hoskyns that he used the word to "try and revive some involvement with language people no longer use. In the daily scheme of things, people's language is so frighteningly limited, and if you use a word with more than 10 letters it's absolute snobbery." Snow puts forward the case that through the use of the dated word 'charming', Morrissey sought to rebel against the then mainstream gay culture from which he felt alienated. Morrissey told Hoskyns: "I hate this 'festive faggot' thing ... People listen to "This Charming Man" and think no further than what anyone would presume. I hate that angle, and it's surprising that the gay press have harped on more than anyone else. I hate it when people talk to me about sex in a trivial way."

As with many of Morrissey's compositions, the song's lyrics features dialogue borrowed from a cult film. The line "A jumped-up pantry boy who never knew his place" is borrowed from the 1972 film adaptation of Anthony Shaffer's 1970 homoerotic play Sleuth, in which Laurence Olivier plays a cuckolded author to Michael Caine's 'bit of rough'.

Both studio versions begin with an introductory guitar riff, joined by the rhythm section. Morrissey's vocals are first heard eight seconds into the track. His vocal melodies are diatonic, and consciously avoid blues inflections. The chorus is played twice; the first time it is followed by a brief pause, the second by the closing of the song. The rhythm section of Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce provide a beat more danceable than usual for a Smiths track. The drums were originally programmed on a Linn LM-1, under the direction of producer John Porter. Porter used the programme to trigger the sampled sounds of the live drum kit, featuring a Motownesque bassline. Marr's guitar part consists of single notes and thirds as opposed to strummed barre chords, and his guitar serves to creates a counter-melody throughout the song. Marr overdubbed numerous guitar parts onto the song, and in a December 1993 interview, told Guitar Player magazine:

"I'll try any trick. With the Smiths, I'd take this really loud Telecaster of mine, lay it on top of a Fender Twin Reverb with the vibrato on, and tune it to an open chord. Then I'd drop a knife with a metal handle on it, hitting random strings. I used it on "This Charming Man", buried beneath about 15 tracks of guitar ... it was the first record where I used those highlife-sounding runs in 3rds. I'm tuned up to F# and I finger it in G, so it comes out in A. There are about 15 tracks of guitar. People thought the main guitar part was a Rickenbacker, but it's really a '54 Tele. There are three tracks of acoustic, a backwards guitar with a really long reverb, and the effect of dropping knives on the guitar – that comes in at the end of the chorus."

The chord progression from the instrumental intro to the lyric "Will nature make a man of me" is: A | Asus4 | A | E | Bm7 | D7 | C#m | E | A | E/A | Asus4 | E

Reception
On release, the song received near unanimous critical praise. Paul Morley of the NME wrote, "'This Charming Man' is an accessible bliss, and seriously moving. This group fully understand that the casual is not enough ... This is one of the greatest singles of the year, a poor compliment. Unique and indispensable, like 'Blue Monday' and 'Karma Chameleon' – that's better!" A contemporary review in The Face asked, "Where has all the wildness and daring got to? Some of it has found its way onto the Smiths' record, 'This Charming Man'. It jangles and crashes and Morrissey jumps in the middle with his mutant choir-boy voice, sounding jolly and angst-ridden at the same time. It should be given out on street corners to unsuspecting passers-by of all ages." Another contemporary review by Treble magazine described the song as a "stellar jangle-pop track," based on one of Marr's first truly iconic guitar licks. While the band was little-known in the United States at the time, Robert Palmer of The New York Times described the song as "sparkling, soaring, superlative pop-rock, and proof that the guitar-band format pioneered by the Beatles is still viable for groups with something to say". The following year, Palmer chose the song as the second best single of 1984. PopMatters described the song musically as "chiming, bouncing rockabilly".

AllMusic's Ned Raggett noted that "Early Elvis would have approved of the music, Wilde of the words", and described the track as "an audacious end result by any standard". Tim DiGravina, of the same organisation, wrote that "Debating the merits of the track here would be a bit pointless, as it's a classic song from one of the last great classic bands. It might as well be called 'This Charming Song'." In 2007, Oasis songwriter Noel Gallagher described the first time he heard the track: "The second I heard 'This Charming Man' everything made sense. The sound of that guitar intro was incredible. The lyrics are fuckin' amazing, too. People say Morrissey's a miserable cunt, but I knew straight away what he was on about." In 2006, Liz Hoggard from The Independent said that "This Charming Man ... is about age-gap, gay sex".

During an appearance on Top of the Pops, Morrissey appeared waving gladioli. A 2004 BBC Radio 2 feature on the song noted that the performance was most people's introduction to The Smiths and, "therefore, to the weird, wordy world of Morrissey and the music of Johnny Marr". Uncut magazine, commentating on the nationally televised debut, wrote that "Thursday evening when Manchester's feyest first appeared on Top of the Pops would be an unexpected pivotal cultural event in the lives of a million serious English boys. His very English, camp glumness was a revolt into Sixties kitchen-sink greyness against the gaudiness of the Eighties new wave music, as exemplified by Culture Club and their ilk. The Smiths' subject matter may have been 'squalid' but there was a purity of purpose about them that you messed with at your peril." Noel Gallagher said of the performance: "None of my mates liked them — they were more hooligan types. They came into work and said 'Fuckin' hell, did you see that poof on "Top of the Pops" with the bush in his back pocket?' But I thought it was life-changing."

Versions and release history
The earliest version of "This Charming Man" was recorded on 14 September 1983, in Maida Vale Studio 4, for John Peel's radio programme (first broadcast: 21 September 1983). Produced by Roger Pusey, and assisted by Ted De Bono, this version of the song was first included on the 1984 compilation Hatful of Hollow. On 28 October 1983, the "Manchester" version was released in the UK in 7" and 12" formats, reaching number 25 in the UK charts. The record sleeve uses a still frame from Jean Cocteau's 1950 film Orphée, featuring French actor Jean Marais. The song was later included as a bonus track on the cassette version of the band's debut album The Smiths in the UK, and subsequently on all American versions.

Following the 1989 bankruptcy of Rough Trade, WEA Records purchased the Smiths' back catalogue. In 1992 WEA re-issued the band's catalogue, and all subsequent pressings of The Smiths have incorporated "This Charming Man". WEA re-released the single itself in 1992 to support the Best... I compilation album. The reissued single reached number 8 on the British singles chart, the band's highest chart placing.

In December 1983, DJ François Kevorkian released a "New York" mix of the single on Megadisc records. Kevorkian geared the song for nightclub dancefloors. The track was intended to be pressed in limited numbers for New York club DJs. However, Rough Trade boss Geoff Travis liked the mix and gave the release wide distribution in the UK. Morrissey publicly disowned the mix, and urged fans not to purchase copies. Travis later claimed, "it was my idea, but they agreed. They said 'Go ahead', then didn't like it so it was withdrawn." He also said, "Nothing that ever happened in the Smiths occurred without Morrissey's guidance; there's not one Smiths record that went out that Morrissey didn't ask to do, so there's nothing on my conscience."

Cover versions
Death Cab for Cutie covered "This Charming Man" for their 1997 demo You Can Play These Songs with Chords. In 2001, Canadian indie pop band Stars covered the song for their debut album Nightsongs.

Personnel

 * Morrissey – vocals
 * Johnny Marr – guitars
 * Andy Rourke – bass guitar
 * Mike Joyce – drums