Charlie Brown by Coldplay

Album: Mylo Xyloto (2011)

Charted: 22

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Coldplay debuted this song live during their two concerts at the Rock am Ring Festival in Germany on June 3 and 4, 2011. The band premiered the tune on American TV on the August 3, 2011 Jimmy Kimmel Live! show.
The song features frontman Chris Martin gloomily observing, "I stole a key and took a car downtown where the lost boys meet/ Took a car downtown and took what they offered me." Drummer Will Champion told Q magazine, "At one point there was a lyric that alluded to Charlie Brown, the Peanuts character, but it's just a name really."
Think you've come across another song with the same title? Back in 1959 The Coasters had an international hit with a song also called "Charlie Brown." Though that tune had nothing to do with the loveable loser character from the Peanuts cartoon strip, there have been a number of songs that have been inspired by the characters created by Charles M. Shultz. They include The Vince Guaraldi Trio's "Linus and Lucy" and of course The Royal Guardsmen, whose songs based on characters and themes from the strip included "Snoopy Vs. The Red Baron" and "Snoopy's Christmas."
Chris Martin penned the song after attending a Bruce Springsteen concert in LA. He told Music Week, "I was like, 'Okay, let's see if anything came out of that day.'" He added that he wrote it in a friend's Wendy House, which he had turned into a studio because his daughter didn't like it.
Mylo Xyloto is a concept album about two characters - Mylo and Xylotomy - in a scary, oppressive world. The two protagonists fall in love and this song finds them running away together.
The track holds a special place in Chris Martin's heart. "I know our lyrics are a bit s--t," he told NME. "But [the ones for 'Charlie Brown'] I like them a lot."

Comments: 5

B0rk from ScotlandAn early version of the song had a line in it which mentioned Charlie Brown from Peanuts, however it was taken out and the band couldn't think of anything better to call the song (they did try 'Cartoon Heart', but ultimately came back to Charlie Brown).

The song itself was written in Chris's daughters doll house (Wendy house) and the doll house itself was renovated and turned into a studio when she told Chris she no longer liked it.
Bevan Borges from Sydney, AustraliaThe song is initially about a person who seems to be down on his luck no matter how hard he tries (like the Peanuts Charlie Brown) and I believe the lyrics originally contained an explicit reference to Peanuts' Charlie Brown.
Exaltvanline from Aix En Provence - Fr<3 In my scarecrow dreams
When they smashed my heart into smithereens
Be a bright red rose come bursting the concrete... <3
Exaltvanline from Aix En Provence - FrOk so let's give the artists a break while asking them what message they'd eventually be trying to deliver when they wrote song X or Y... To me, some songs are just like paintings : We all witness them in a very different way because of where we each stand in time and place in our lives when they hit us. I also believe each time Coldplay performs a song such as "Charlie Brown" (or any other as a matter of fact) context will always bring a particular, unic, dimension to the original creation. In my case, I will always remember these words during the Glasgow concert as my bracelet (and the magical fluorescent sparkling live crowd around me) started to illuminate : "We'll be glowing in the dark"... Anyways long live Coldplay!!!
Alejandro from Miramar, FlSo this song has nothing to do with Charlie Brown from Peanuts, then?

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