All about Don Quixote - Coldplay's new song (lyrics, meaning, comments, download!) - Coldplay News

Just 48 hours ago, Coldplay revealed Don Quixote, a song that was debuted live at River Plate Stadium in Buenos Aires on 26th February 2010. If you haven't yet heard it you can watch it via YouTube or download the mp3 (including a high quality audience recording courtesy of RolandX (Coldplay Peru).

Coldplayers have been deciphering the lyrics to the song, working out the tabs and... even wondering whether it is a song we already knew the title to, courtesy of The Bakery whiteboard which featured in Melvyn Bragg's Coldplay documentary on the South Bank show back in September 2009. So what do we know about Don Quixote so far, following its Argentinian debut? Below is a run down of the information we have, as well as early comments from Coldplayers around the world...

Don Quixote was introduced by Chris Martin as a song written especially for the Latin America tour 2010. On the C-stage in Buenos Aires, Chris Martin said, "We had such a great time in Argentina, Mexico and Brazil (2007), it would be good for us (Coldplay) if we had a special song that celebrated how much we think of the Latin American audiences. We decided to write a song about the magic escape that the band receives when they come to Latin America".

In the debuted version of Don Quixote, the song contained the lyrics "I heard you never get wet in Spanish rain". Spanish Rain was on the list of songs written on The Bakery wall that featured on the South Bank show in September 2009. It is thought that Don Quixote is a more recent version of Spanish Rain but there is no other evidence yet to prove this link. Coldplay fans have embraced the song, hoping it would make it on to LP5, however there have been several references to it sounding similar to Bruce Springsteen's Dancing In The Dark.

According to Wikipedia, Don Quixote, fully titled The Ingenious Hidalgo Don Quixote of La Mancha (Spanish: El ingenioso hidalgo don Quijote de la Mancha), is a novel written by Spanish author Miguel de Cervantes. Cervantes created a fictional origin for the story by creating a fictional Moorish chronicler for Don Quixote named Cide Hamete Benengeli.

Published in two volumes a decade apart (in 1605 and 1615), Don Quixote is the most influential work of literature to emerge from the Spanish Golden Age and the entire Spanish literary canon. As a founding work of modern Western literature, it regularly appears high on lists of the greatest works of fiction ever published.

Lyrics

So we left La Mancha

Headed out for higher plains

Me and Sancho Panza

Looking for adventure

Rosinante at the reins

To the windmills answer

You'll never be lonely

You'll never be lonely ever again

You'll never be lonely

You'll never be lonely again

I heard you never get wet in Spanish rain

So they sent the doctor, for examining my brain

Said he's not too clear

Oh when the world,

when the world just seems, a little bit too cruel

Gonna leave it better

Make one better

So tell that princess

Tell that princess right down the train

Tell that princess

She'll never be lonely again

I heard you never get wet in Spanish rain

Ooh, ooh

I heard you never get wet in Spanish rain

Woo ooh, Wooh ooh

Heard you never get wet in Spanish rain

Just some of the many Coldplayer comments on the new song, Don Quixote:

Dancing in the Dark and Don Quixote are too close for a self-proclaimed Bruce Springsteen fanatic like Chris not to have noticed so it must have been intentional. Or at least I hope it was. [thanks yeahhright]

And I agree, there's no point denying the Bruce thing, in its current form it's the first thing we heard, chances are if it stays as it is and they released it it would be the first thing everyone else heard too. [thanks mimixxx]

I didn't first get the Bruce reference. But now I do. Guys, please. It's really not a big deal for us to discuss stuff like this. We're Coldplay fans. We aren't people out to get them. I also have to be honest, the continuous riff that's going through reminded me a bit of some stuff going on in viva la vida. on the whole i enjoy the song. i realize it's in concert so we can't be certain how it will turn out exactly, but i liked the speed to the song. it's also nice to see that the photos Roadie 42 puts up of them all with guitars in the studio has translated to new material. i know they've been doing this stuff in concerts, but it'd be cool for some big acoustic stuff like that in LP5. that said, it's certainly possible this was just the acoustic. I DO think this could be an LP5 contender. frankly, they've been working for quite a few months on and off now, and if they're debuting a song i have a feeling it's not just some throw away. maybe the whole don quixote thing is just to protect the song's eventual title - Spanish Rain - as some have said. [thanks footyfan10]

By the way, this song shows me they're serious about the new album not being as mainstream as VLV. It's much different, in a good way, of course. EDIT: This song actually kind of reminds me of their AROBTTH days. Which makes me very, very happy. [thanks coldplay_is_louve.]

WOW. On first listen, I love this song. It's so joyful. Fantastic! Jonny was really enthusiastic about those olé olé olés haha. I had a little spooky moment today, was flicking through my TV channels and I saw the words "Don Quixote", it was the film version of the story haha. If I'd seen it just a day earlier I wouldn't have even thought about it. I switched it on just as it was finishing though. [thanks Laura'93]

I would LOVE to hear a studio version of this, but I would have to agree that it probably won't get past the Latin America touring. :[ Either way, it's FANTASTIC and is definitely a sign of the change in their music that Eno talked about. [thanks xmonstermaggie]

Yeah, great song, but didn't the band say they wouldn't be debuting any of the new album songs on the LA tour? So I'd say the odds of it being tour-exclusive are pretty good, even though I'd love to see a studio version someday even as a B-side or promo. [thanks Corkus]

I agree that this won't show up on the upcoming album. I'll bet it's just a fun little celebratory song they got together to cap off the Spanish-influenced Viva era. And I also agree, that's it's too close to Dancing in the Dark to formally appear without paying official homage to Bruce. Chris likes to act clueless, but I think he's clueless like a fox! Great song, though, and so much fun to be back in touch with the boys! [thanks Pink]

Yeah, I don't know about not being mainstream. This song seems as mainstream as any. If anything I thought Viva was less mainstream than most of their albums. It was pop, but not mainstream pop. I don't see any real difference in this. It's certainly an upbeat song, but Viva was an upbeat despite it's darker lyrics. The thing is, this is also them performing the song live. Songs change a lot in the live presentation. They lose a lot and they gain other aspects. I said in the live thread that I thought this song might make the album. But after reading some of these comments, I'm beginning to think it won't make it past the tour on an album. Maybe it'll be a b-side. Also, as so many have noted, a good deal of it sounds like Bruce. [thanks footyfan10]

New pictures of Coldplay at River Plate stadium, Buenos Aires, Argentina (26th February 2010):