Hey, let's try to make a list of all the references to The Beatles on Viva la Vida or other Coldplay albums. Here's what I've got so far:

 

- Lovers in Japan hints at The Beatles song 'Lady Madonna'.

- The intro of 'Yes'; inspired by 'I Am the Walrus'. (

) (http://youtu.be/Hpg8Kg2L6NM)

- The song title 'Violet Hill'. Violet Hill is a street in London that joins Abbey Road. The Beatles named some of their songs after streetnames too, like Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields (Forever).

- Strawberry Swing. It's pretty obvious that Strawberry Swing is an ode to The Beatles song 'Strawberry Fields Forever'.

 

Viva la Vida is literally packed with references to The Beatles, but there must be references on other Coldplay albums too. Would you please help me to expand this list? :smiley:

Twisted logic between "37" and "55" but i can't remind the name of the beatles song !

The Scientist and Hey Jude have very similar chords and are in the same key. I can play both songs on the piano, and I like to play the scientist while singing Hey Jude. Then in the middle of the song I switch to singing the scientist and playing Hey Jude.

 

 

"And in the end we lie awake and we dream of making our escape" sounds a lot like "And in the end The love you take Is equal to the love you make."

 

Amsterdam reminds me of Let it be, but with a few extra notes.

Nice. Never consciously see/feel the direct Linkage although I've listened to the both long enough for many songs. I think there are some common "characters" in their songs - simple, sincere, childish humor/joy sometimes, kind of real love, imaginative and quite empathetic. Coldplay is more melody oriented [due to Chris] and Beatles [well, they've changed a lot by years and quite intense in the worldwide whirling 60'] - to me, more evolutionary and universal [sometimes, because of the drug]/spiritual. They are all quite creative without losing an earthy touch. Nevertheless, I do think they carry on [probably subconcsiously] some best heritages of this unique land.

THE BEATLES did a color letter flash-frame film thing for a video/promo intro once, as I recall. Or maybe it was a documentary on The Beatles. It's been a while!

not because they used the same word in a song, etc it can be considered a reference. You know, the english language is limited and there's not an infinite amount of words. Also there's just a few notes that musicians can combine to make music.

 

The only interesting reference in this thread would be this one:

 

"And in the end we lie awake and we dream of making our escape" sounds a lot like "And in the end The love you take Is equal to the love you make."

not because they used the same word in a song, etc it can be considered a reference. You know, the english language is limited and there's not an infinite amount of words. Also there's just a few notes that musicians can combine to make music.

 

The only interesting reference in this thread would be this one:

> A reference in the sense of the use of 'flashcard' intro - with the beatles, it was just color letters in repetition on the screen as "THE BEATLES" - I remember seeing it in high school. But the similarity is there, perhaps a 'flashback' from the past.;)

I think I see what you're saying, and with all the loopy lawyer issues, it is a bit ridiculous - only so many ways to phrase things in English, only so many notes and combinations thereof. Hard to even come up with something, since someone will say you borrowed from this or that, and then the Joe Satriani's and others come after you, which is quite ridiculous as well - everyone wants credit for simple simple riffs.

Although, maybe Coldplay's Yellow really is a reference to Yellow Submarine :laugh3:

Amsterdam is better than Let It Be. I love both songs but I just think Amsterdam is just fucking quality but the latter is the classic (and so it should be...but it's not Paul McC's best not near!) and the former is an underrated gem.

I Want You (she's so heavy) by The Beatles is pretty similar to Twisted Logic at 0.37 :)