The song was inspired by Martin’s daughter, Apple, and English alternative rock singer Kate Bush.
That’s a song where we were listening to a lot of Kate Bush last summer, and we wanted a song which had a lot of tom-toms in it. I just had my daughter up also, and was kind of feeling in a sense of aw...
[Verse 1]
How long before I get in?
Before it starts, before I begin?
How long before you decide?
Before I know what it feels like?
Where to, where do I go?
If you never try, then you'll never know
How long do I have to climb
Up on the side of this mountain of mine?
[Verse 2]
Look up, I look up at night
Planets are moving at the speed of light
Climb up, up in the trees
Every chance that you get
Is a chance you seize
How long am I gonna stand
With my head stuck under the sand?
I'll start before I can stop
Before I see things the right way up
[Chorus]
All that noise, and all that sound
All those places I got found (Got found)
And birds go flyin' at the speed of sound
To show you how it all began
Birds came flyin' from the underground
If you could see it, then you'd understand
[Verse 3]
Ideas that you'll never find
All the inventors could never design
The buildings that you put up
Japan and China all lit up
The sign that I couldn't read
Or a light that I couldn't see
Some things you have to believe
But others are puzzles, puzzling me
[Chorus]
All that noise, and all that sound
All those places I got found
And birds go flyin' at the speed of sound
To show you how it all began
Birds came flyin' from the underground
If you could see it, then you'd understand
Oh, when you see it
Then you'll understand
[Instrumental Break]
[Bridge]
All those signs, I knew what they meant
Some things you can invent
Some get made, and some get sent
(Ooh)
[Outro]
Birds go flyin' at the speed of sound
To show you how it all began
Birds came flyin' from the underground
If you could see it, then you'd understand
Oh, when you see it
Then you'll understand
Speed of Sound was written by Chris Martin & Will Champion & Jonny Buckland & Guy Berryman.
Speed of Sound was produced by Coldplay & Danton Supple.
Coldplay released Speed of Sound on Mon Apr 18 2005.
According to Songfacts, Coldplay said in an interview with The London Times that they were “trying to recreate” Kate Bush’s 1985 hit “Running Up That Hill“ on the song’s bridge.
No, actually they don’t. Sound in room temperature air goes over 700mph. The fastest bird, the stooping peregrine, in actual flight goes at about 200mph.
But this doesn’t take away from the poetry of the song in the least. Simple hyperbole is sometimes the best way to say something. To a child’s wo...