Coldplay are no stranger to plagiarism charges. A couple years back, guitar wizard/nerd Joe Satriani accused the band of ripping off his song “If I Could Fly” on their tune “Viva La Vida.” While on the face of it, the idea of any of the dudes in Coldplay (or anybody really) listening to Satriani is hilarious, the similarities are eerie and though the band claimed the similarities were coincidental, everybody settled of court. Cat Stevens also accused the band of copying his tune “Foreign Suite” for the worldwide hit, while some guy named Dan Gallagher said the band copied their video for “Strawberry Swing” off his “Something Else” (which doesn’t appear to be online). Anyway, long story short, the band are coming out of the gate early with their new single “Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall” and making their influences known right off the bat.
It appears that Chris Martin and company like weird novelty pop hits as the band reveals their latest megahit does indeed riff on “Ritmo de la Noche” by Mystic which in turn sampled Allen and Anderson‘s 1976 tune, “I Go to Rio.” So let’s get to the interesting part shall we? In statement to the Guardian (via Vulture), a spokesman for the band said, “Allen and Anderson are credited as writers on ‘Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall.’ Chris was inspired to write the song after watching the film ‘Biutiful‘ by Alejandro González Iñárritu. In the film, there is a nightclub scene in which a track [Ritmo de la Noche] is playing in the background, based on ‘I Go to Rio.'”
So there you go. It’s probably the most random piece of movie trivia you’ll receive all day. We’re still wrapping our heads around the fact that not only did Martin watch “Biutiful,” but that the thing he remembered was the corny song playing in the club in the movie. Different strokes, different folks right? Check out the single and its inspirations below.
Lorca “Ritmo de la Noche”
If you listen to Satriani then you\’ve got too much time on your hands. Good guitarist but cheesy and cringeworthy as hell
I approve of the shots at Satriani – I stopped listening to him 6 or 7 years ago.
You do have a wrong perspective on the dudes from Coldplay, though – they\’re not idiots with no taste in film or art in general.
Ouch, you guys really need to cut back on the snark. I get that you can call Satriani a nerd, but to say that NOBODY listens to him is just stupid.
I understand that you can\’t write about the almighty Malick everyday, but if you don\’t want to write about it (anyone could tell by this post alone), then DON\’T WRITE ABOUT IT.