"Spies" is a song by British rock band Coldplay from their debut studio album, Parachutes (2000). It is the third track on the album.
Recording[]
"Spies" was written in 1999 by all Coldplay members, inspired by British composer and conductor John Barry and by the making of a new James Bond film at the time, The World Is Not Enough.[1]
The backing track of the song was recorded at Rockfield Studios in Wales, taking three days for Coldplay and producer Ken Nelson to get a take they were all satisfied with. Most of the songs for Parachutes were being recorded as live as possible; for "Spies", however, the band were split into separate individual rooms, with Chris Martin recording from "a little cubby hole" type of room, Will Champion in another different room, and Guy Berryman "playing in the control room."
In an interview with Sound on Sound, Ken Nelson recalled the song's recording sessions, "[...] It just took a long time to get a really good take of it. You get to a point where each take they do will be quite good, and you know you're close to it, and you've just got to keep going. It's quite frustrating. The final take of that track is fantastic — the guitar you hear is the guide guitar that he did, and he redid the vocals. So there'll be things like spillage of the vocal onto the guitar track, but it doesn't matter. Trying to redo that guitar would've been very, very difficult — and why do it? That was part of the philosophy. Keep as much live as you can."[2]
Lyrics[]
[Verse 1]
I awake to find no peace of mind
I said, "How do you live as a fugitive
Down here, where I cannot see so clear?"
I said, "What do I know?
Show me the right way to go"
[Chorus]
And the spies came out of the water
But you're feeling so bad 'cause you know
That the spies hide out in every corner
But you can't touch them, no
'Cause they're all spies
They're all spies
[Verse 2]
I awake to see that no one is free
We're all fugitives, look at the way we live
Down here, I cannot sleep from fear, no
I said, "Which way do I turn?"
Oh, I forget everything I learn
[Chorus]
And the spies came out of the water
And you're feeling so bad 'cause you know
That the spies hide out in every corner
But you can't touch them, no
'Cause they're all spies
They're all spies
[Bridge]
And if we don't hide here
They're gonna find us
And if we don't hide now
They're gonna catch us where we sleep
Ah, and if we don't hide here
They're gonna find us
[Chorus]
And the spies came out of the water
But you're feeling so good 'cause you know
Those spies hide out in every corner
They can't touch you, no
'Cause they're just spies
[Outro]
They're just spies
They're just spies
They're just spies
They're just spies
Trivia[]
- An earlier version of "Spies", originally recorded during the sessions of The Blue Room E.P. exclusively appeared in Parlophone's 1999 sampler CD Flavour of the Label.[3]
Official audio[]
Spies