Death and All His Friends

2008 song by Coldplay

"Death and All His Friends"

Song by Coldplay
from the album Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends
Released	11 June 2008 (2008-06-11)
Genre	Art rock
Length	3:34 6:18 (with "The Escapist")
Label	EMI Parlophone Capitol
Songwriter(s)	Guy Berryman Jonny Buckland Will Champion Chris Martin
Producer(s)	Markus Dravs Brian Eno Jon Hopkins Rik Simpson

"Death and All His Friends" is a song by British rock band Coldplay. It was written by all members of the band for their fourth album, Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends, and is the tenth and final track on the album. The song begins with Chris Martin singing softly to a piano accompaniment before morphing into an uplifting arrangement featuring drums, chiming guitars, and a choir recorded in an art gallery in Barcelona. After the song fades out, a hidden song featured on the album, entitled "The Escapist", brings the total length of the track up to over six minutes and concludes the album. "The Escapist" is an ambient music piece that consists of a sample of "Light Through the Veins" by Jon Hopkins, with different mixing and with added vocals and lyrics by Chris Martin. A brief 40-second section of the instrumental of "The Escapist" is what begins the first track on the album, "Life in Technicolor", making the album cyclical.

A live version of "Death and All His Friends" was featured on the band's 2009 live album, LeftRightLeftRightLeft.^[1]

Writing and composition

The "quiet half" of the song was originally a separate song altogether named "School". "School" was originally intended to be an introduction to another Coldplay song entitled "Rainy Day" that was later featured on the Prospekt's March EP. However, "School" was eventually re-worked into the current state of "Death and All His Friends".^[2]

Singer Chris Martin also revealed in an interview for MTV that the name of the song was supposed to be the theme of the album. He said, "We're aware of all the bad stuff in life, you know, but that doesn't mean you should ever give in to it, you know? So we all sing that bit together really loudly, as kind of a message to ourselves: never giving up and never focusing on the bad stuff too much."^[3]

While the band was working on the song, producer Brian Eno was the most obsessed with finishing it, even creating the line "I don't want a cycle of recycled revenge".^[2]

The song was recorded in several different places around the world such as Barcelona, London and New York City, taking several months for it to be finalized.^[2]

Credits and Personnel

Chris Martin – composer, performer
Guy Berryman – composer, performer
Jonny Buckland – composer, performer
Will Champion – composer, performer

Charts and certifications

Charts

Chart (2008)	Peak position
Swedish Charts^[4]	50
UK Singles Chart^[5]	183

Certifications


Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
Brazil (Pro-Música Brasil)^[6]	Platinum	60,000^*
^* Sales figures based on certification alone.

References

^ Kreps, Daniel (1 May 2009). "Coldplay Reward Fans With Free Live LP "LeftRightLeftRightLeft"". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 3 May 2009. Retrieved 29 January 2010.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Coldplay Promo Interview on Viva La Vida, Part Six (2008)". YouTube. Archived from the original on 15 December 2021. Retrieved 28 February 2010.
^ "Coldplay Give Track-By-Track Tour Of Viva La Vida, Explain Handclaps, Tack Pianos And The Number 42". MTV. Retrieved 28 February 2010.
^ "Discography Coldplay". Swedishcharts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved 28 February 2010.
^ "Chart Log UK 1994–2008". Zobbel. Archived from the original on 2 May 2012. Retrieved 24 September 2009.
^ "Brazilian single certifications – Coldplay – Death and All His Friends" (in Portuguese). Pro-Música Brasil. Retrieved 17 September 2021.