11: yellow-- coldplay

first off, i am being serious. 'yellow' is a great song and coldplay is a good band. i can admit that. i am not clear as to what made me place this song at this point on the list. perhaps now, after getting to song number 11, i should better explain how i made my list. after racking my brain, scouring my cd collection, sifting through my ipod, i came up with a list of 156 possible songs. then i whittled the list down and down and down, got it to 40something, then ranked them, in almost a firstimpulse/streamofconsciousness (which i think is the best way to do things) kind of way. and this song, for better or worse, landed here. i believe there is something behind it.

now for the backstory. this song was one of the first new ones i heard in 10th grade, my first year at boarding school. (i feel this has something to do with my attachment). at the time, i had never heard of coldplay, but i instantly thought they were awesome. they were in some ways smoothly mellow and hopelessly romantic. which i kind of liked. this song plods (in a beautiful way) and has these very windswept sappy-eyed heart-tugging lyrics and sound that convey a sort of longing that i found sublime. and perhaps i still do. i hung on this song and the album 'parachutes' for quite a while during those first few months. they still take me back.

this song is for me a time and a place and a feeling. things that are both concrete and vague. i think this song was an expression of beauty for me, something i wanted to seek out. and before this song and this band blew up, i felt it to be very personal and close to me. it also introduced me to a band that i still think makes quality stuff. so i guess, even though my perspective has changed, i can still appreciate what this song once did for me.

the video, with love: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qI8I6qcxWyU

p.s. alas. i am going away for a few days, so you will have to wait on the top 10 until next week.