Info[]
"Rainy Day" is an experimental song by British alternative rock band Coldplay. Included on their 2008 EP Prospekt's March, it was written by all members of the band during recording sessions for their fourth album, Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends (2008). The song starts with and is built around a short upright piano riff, with additional instruments added to the song over the course of its duration.
Background[]
Coldplay's lead singer, Chris Martin, said that the songs from Prospekt's March, including "Rainy Day", and the songs from Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends are "all part of the same family". Indeed, the song is similar lyrically and musically to Viva la Vida.
Composition[]
"Rainy Day" carries a nice percolating and upbeat electronic rhythm and suddenly a simpatico staccato string style, which is an unusual and often confusing number for most Coldplay songs released prior. The track begins with a piano sample and drums for a few moments before beginning the song. The first verse is a piano and synthesized xylophone, backed by electronic drum rhythms, a lead electric guitar, an electric bass guitar with delay, a tremolo guitar with delay, and effect laden vocals. The chorus of “Rainy Day” is accompanied entirely by strings, and a lot of the sound is similar to "Viva la Vida". There’s an independently moving cello line in the low mid range, a bass for the rhythm, and violins and violas that hold notes in the mid and high ranges. There is also a high cello riff in the middle of the chorus (right after the words “slow down”). The range of the line (high for a cello) gives it a great deal of tension on the instrument, which, along with the flattened third, makes it jump out of the texture and bring attention to the nature of the song. Violinist Davide Rossi worked with Coldplay on both Viva La Vida and the Prospekt's March EP. He told Coldplaying.com that this tune, "for a certain period, was made as a song just for strings and voice, but then it became a more complete song and it's a 'collage' of different sessions."
School[]
School (also known as Rainy Day/School) was a song that was written during the sessions for "Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends". Drummer Will Champion confirmed later in a radio interview that School was intended to be the intro to Rainy Day, before being re-used as the beginning part of Death And All His Friends.
Album[]
Lyrics[]
- Then there was rain
- The sky wore a veil of gold and green
- Night is the bride of a lonely day
- Time just floated
- Then there was rain
- The sound foundations are crumbling
- To the ground comes a pyramid tumbling
- Time just floated away
- We can watch it and stay
- And we can listen
- Oh rainy day come round
- Sometimes I just want it to slow down
- And we're separated now
- And oh but I love it when you come over to the house
- I love it when you come over to my house
- Then there was rain
- I spent the night with the queen of Spain
- My lonely little heart well it broke again
- Times were vicious
- The deeper that the knife goes in
- The more you win
- You end up with less than where you begin
- The deeper that the knife goes in
- Oh rainy day come round
- Sometimes I just want it to slow down
- We're separated now
- And oh but I love it when you come over to the house
- I love it when you come over to my house
- And I love it when you come over to the house
- I love it when you come over to my house
- I love it when you come over to the house
- I love it when you come over to my house
Trivia[]
- Rainy Day was recorded during the Viva la Vida
sessions but didn't make it on to the album. Along with other tracks that didn't - but almost did - it featured on the Prospekt's March EP. The EP is like an extension of Viva and the Deluxe Edition actually included Prospekt's March.
- All string arrangements / performances on Rainy Day are by Davide Rossi.
- Caroline Dale played the cello on an early version of the track.