If you are a creative soul, then you know that no one place or thing strikes inspiration. To many, actively searching for inspiration gets you nowhere because you either just have to start on a certain work or wait until a lightning bolt of creativity just randomly strikes you. That is just the way the world goes round, and there is no telling when your next best idea can come. Thousands upon thousands of creative souls would seemingly attest to this, including the acclaimed songwriter and frontman of Coldplay, Chris Martin.
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When you are as big a songwriter as Chris Martin, there is certainly some semblance of a structure when it comes to the creative process. However, when Chris Martin discovered the idea for Coldplay’s 2000 single and top 50 hit, “Yellow”, there was seemingly no structure involved. Rather, it was a happy accident, a happy accident brought on by Neil Young‘s unique voice and Chris Martin’s impression of it.
While Thinking of Neil Young, Chris Martin Wrote “Yellow” in Just 10 Minutes
During an interview on The Howard Stern Show, Christ Martin recalled the bizarre context behind the creation of “Yellow”. In essence, what started as a joke turned out to be one of the most memorable songs of the 21st century, and here is how Chris Martin did it.
After Stern asked Martin how long it took him to write it, he replied, “10 minutes…That just came out.” “I tell you exactly how it happened, we were in Wales, and my microphone was broken or something. So I was waiting to record something else, and I was thinking about Neil Young, and I was starting to do a Neil Young impression just to try and make everyone giggle.”
After doing his Neil Young impression for Stern, Martin concluded, “I can’t do Neil Young for s—t, but that’s how it came out…I never told anyone that.” Who would have thought that one of the most recognizable songs of all time would have come from a gag? Truly, who would have thought?
While Chris Young was seemingly making an innocent jab at Neil Young’s peculiar yet pleasant voice, the “Heart Of Gold” singer certainly wouldn’t be all that mad at the fact. After all, passing along inspiration to another artist is one of the many beauties of being an artist. So, thanks to Neil Young’s ever-so unique voice, the world has Coldplay’s ever-so memorable “Yellow”.
Photo by Anthony Harvey/Shutterstock
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