"Guns" is a song by Coldplay from their eighth studio album, Everyday Life. It is the first track of the second side of the album, Sunset.
The song is one of three on the album to contain profanity, along with "Trouble in Town" and "Arabesque".
Background and recording[]
Chris Martin revealed the song was recorded in a basement and was captated exactly as it was, with its way of recording inspired by Bruce Springsteen's 1982 song, "Nebraska". It was also inspired by Chris listening to Paul Simon, Bob Dylan and German dance-metal band, Rammstein.[1]
Composition[]
The song has been described as a political, satirical and sarcastic song several times, in which Chris calls for more guns in the world.[2][3] The Martlet, a university of Victoria student newspaper, said it's a "fast-paced guitar folk song that not only critiques the state and effects of American gun culture but also the general lack of empathy prevalent in the world [...]".[4]
Jonny Buckland said the track is the rawest sounding song the band ever made, consisting of Chris playing an acoustic guitar while Jonny plays a keyboard during the chorus.[5]
Promotion[]
On November 6, 2019, the band uploaded a 31 second preview video of the song on their social media accounts. It is a lyric video accompanied by a black, white and red pistol target animation, designed by Diane Martel. The song's cover artwork came from it.[6]
Lyrics[]
[Verse 1]
Take it from the playgrounds and take it from the bums
Take it from the hospitals and squeeze it from the slums
All the kids make pistols with their fingers and their thumbs
Advertise a revolution, arm it when it comes
We're cooking up the zeros, we've been doing all the sums
The judgment of this court is we need more guns
[Refrain]
Stop
[Chorus]
Everything's gone so crazy
Everything tangled in blue
Everyone's gone fucking crazy
Maybe I'm crazy too
[Verse 2]
Melt down all the trumpets, all the trombones and the drums
Who needs education or A Thousand Splendid Suns?
Poor is good for business, cut the forests, they're so dumb
Only save your look-alikes and fuck the other ones
It's the opinion of this board that we need more guns
[Refrain]
Stop
[Chorus]
Everything's gone so crazy
Everybody but you
Everything's gone fucking crazy
Maybe I'm crazy too
Official Audios[]
Critical reception[]
In a ranking of the band's entire discography, in celebration of the 20th anniversary of the release of Parachutes, NME described the song as "simple and playful", adding: "‘Guns’ is a rare Coldplay track on which there is a sense of humour – while still serving an angry political agenda. A wry satire of excessive military spending, of America's ludicrous gun control policies and a lack of care for young people and the arts, the tight acoustic track bottles everything you need to know about Coldplay's riled up feelings on today's world."[7]
Trivia[]
- The song mentions Khaled Hosseini's 2007 novel, A Thousand Splendid Suns.
References[]
- ↑ https://soundcloud.com/user-907163010/everydaylifetrackbytrack
- ↑ https://apnews.com/41ea622628e44b65b8dc8ef48f5f63e0
- ↑ https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2019/11/coldplay-everyday-life-album-review-vague-saviors/602605/
- ↑ https://www.martlet.ca/coldplay-everyday-life-album-review-a-welcoming-change-of-pace-and-sound/
- ↑ https://youtu.be/WxwxHBrCbeQ
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ys_cqHxVaao
- ↑ https://www.nme.com/features/every-coldplay-song-ranked-in-order-of-greatness-2704676