Moving to Mars (song)

"Moving to Mars"
Song by Coldplay from the album Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall EP
Released 26 June 2011
Format Digital download
Recorded December 2008 – August 2011 at The Bakery and The Beehive, London
Genre Alternative rock
Length 4:18
Label Parlophone
Writer(s) Guy Berryman, Jonny Buckland, Will Champion, Chris Martin
Producer(s) Markus Dravs, Daniel Green, Rik Simpson
Every Teardrop is a Waterfall EP track listing
  1. "Every Teardrop is a Waterfall"
  2. "Major Minus"
  3. "Moving to Mars"

"Moving to Mars" is a song by British alternative rock band Coldplay. It was written by all members of the band for their fifth studio album Mylo Xyloto. However, it failed to make the final track listing. Instead, it was released in the Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall iTunes exclusive EP. The first half of the song is a piano based ballad, while the rest of it is a mid-tempo number with progressive rock influences.

Development

The song was inspired by a documentary of the same name, which is based around two families being forced out of Burma into an entirely new world in the UK.[1] The film was directed by the band's longtime collaborator Mat Whitecross, who also directed some of Coldplay's music videos, such as "Lovers in Japan", "Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall", "Paradise" and "Charlie Brown". During the recording sessions, one of the band's roadies under the pseudonym of "Roadie 42", blogged about Moving To Mars in February 2011, using the acronym 'MTM'. He said:[2]

"Every room had some kind of writing or recording setup on the go - you even had to time your use of the kettle carefully, as a laptop and speakers had been set up in the kitchen and Jonny was in there working on his epic lead for MTM. So, by comparison, the first few weeks of the year felt like a ghost town."

In a cover story run by the American publication Billboard on Mylo Xyloto, the magazine described the track as a "'Major Tom'-meets-Sinatra exercise". With regards to the song, guitarist Jonny Buckland stated:[3]

"It probably won't make it (the record). It was just one of those ones. There was a period where it all worked, then it sat for a bit, we threw (out) lots of ideas, brought them together, pulled them apart, put them back on. We always like the beginning... that intimate sound. And we thought, 'Where can we take it? What can we do?'"

The Kooks' frontman Luke Pritchard said that the track is one of Coldplay's best songs and that it's "bound to be a bootleg classic". He also spoke about a conversation he had had with the band's lead singer Chris Martin about the song and said the frontman looked genuinely disappointed that the track was left off the record.[4]

Release and reception

The song was uploaded onto YouTube for streaming purposes on 24 June 2011 and released on iTunes two days later.[5] It was well received by the fans and the press, with Billboard writing about the song:

"Moving to Mars" is a sparse, vocal-led ballad that gathers steam behind a gentle piano line halfway through."

While the site Pretty Much Amazing said:

"The third song the band chose to share from the EP, 'Moving To Mars' sounds like classic Coldplay, though with some well-timed shifts that sort of brings Bends-era Radiohead to mind. Too bad it lacks the timeless melodies that make cuts like 'The Scientist' and 'Yellow' stand out."[6]

Charts

Chart (2011) Peak
position
Australia (ARIA)[7] 71
Belgium (Ultratop 50 Wallonia)[8] 49
Canada (Canadian Hot 100)[9] 64
Finland (The Official Finnish Downloads Chart)[10] 30
France (SNEP)[11] 70
Spain (PROMUSICAE)[12] 25
UK Singles (Official Charts Company)[13] 163
US Billboard Hot 100[14] 90

References

  1. ↑ Oracle (8 July 2011). "Coldplay: Oracle - I was looking up the song Moving to Mars the other day, when I stumbled across a documentary...". Coldplay.com. Retrieved 10 July 2011.
  2. ↑ Slender Fungus (2011-02-11). "News - Roadie #42 - Blog #127". Coldplay. Retrieved 2012-02-14.
  3. ↑ "Coldplay Reveals 'Mylo Xyloto' Album Art, Release Date". Billboard.com. 2009-09-14. Retrieved 2012-02-14.
  4. ↑ "Luke Pritchard - My New Song, Recording With Andy Rourke and an Unreleased Coldplay Track". The Huffington Post. 13 December 2011. Retrieved 26 May 2012.
  5. ↑ Slender Fungus (2011-06-24). "News - Hear Moving To Mars now". Coldplay. Retrieved 2012-02-14.
  6. ↑ Luis Tovar. "New Coldplay – "Moving To Mars" at Pretty Much Amazing | PMA". Prettymuchamazing.com. Retrieved 2012-02-14.
  7. ↑ "Australian-charts.com – Coldplay – Moving to Mars". ARIA Top 50 Singles. Retrieved 10 January 2016.
  8. ↑ "Ultratop.be – Coldplay – Moving to Mars" (in French). Ultratop 50. Retrieved 10 January 2016.
  9. ↑ "Coldplay – Chart history" Canadian Hot 100 for Coldplay.
  10. ↑ "Suomen Virallinen Latauslista - Viikko 26, ti 28.6 - ma 4.7.2011" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland. Archived from the original on 9 September 2012. Retrieved 4 November 2012.
  11. ↑ "Lescharts.com – Coldplay – Moving to Mars" (in French). Les classement single. Retrieved 10 January 2016.
  12. ↑ "Spanishcharts.com – Coldplay – Moving to Mars" Canciones Top 50. Retrieved 10 January 2016.
  13. ↑ "Archive Chart: 2012-07-12" UK Singles Chart. Retrieved 12 July 2012.
  14. ↑ "Coldplay – Chart history" Billboard Hot 100 for Coldplay. Retrieved 10 January 2016.
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