A Message
From WikiColdplay
A Message is the 8th track on Coldplay's 3rd album, X&Y.
Song Facts
The lyrics and melody to A Message were inspired by the hymn "My Song Is Love Unknown," which was written in 1664 by English composer John Ireland. Lead singer Chris Martin has described this as his favorite hymn. He told Q magazine: "There's quite a big church influence (on the band). Because we all grew up singing in assemblies every morning. Of course. When you think about it, the most music we heard up to the age of 17 was singing hymns every day in school. Didn't most people? In assembly?"
Chris Martin told Rolling Stone July 14, 2005 that he wrote A Message on a guitar, sitting on a sofa naked. He added: "I made sure that all the right bits were warm. There were about five songs on X&Y that came out of nowhere - it was like pulling them out of a hat. In the middle of the night I thought I was either going to be sick or go write that song. So the song just came up, then I went back to bed."
Coldplay sang A Message on the charity telethon, Hope for Haiti Now: A Global Benefit for Earthquake Relief, which was held on January 22, 2010.[1]
The Oracle on A Message
June 26, 2012 - submitted by Gaston, Argentina
Q. Hey Oracle:
I know Coldplay would never do this but I was watching this video and the song seems to be exactly as the studio version. Were they doing lip-syncing? Or the one who uploaded the video put the studio version over this video?
Please answer me! Greetings from Argentina
The Oracle replies:
It's not unusual for musicians to mime on U.K television (especially back then on this particular programme) but I assure you the vocals are live - Coldplay don't lip synch.
I think that's a case of the video not being in perfect time.
May 28, 2009 - submitted by Russ, United States of America
Q. I've heard some folks saying that A Message was loosely inspired by the 1664 Samuel Crossman hymn My Song Is Love Unknown. Is there any truth to that? BTW, my wife surprised me with tix to the Atlanta show. Phenomenal! Thanks for making memories with us.
The Oracle replies:
There's no "loosely" about it, it was inspired by the hymn.
September 16, 2008 - submitted by Rae, United States of America
Q. Was Chris inspired by a hymn when he wrote "A Message?" I heard a hymn with the same lyrics (my song is love unknown... love to the loveless shown).
The Oracle replies:
Indeed he was Rae. The hymn is in fact called My Song Is Love Unknown.
Lyrics
My song is love Love to the loveless shown And it goes on You don't have to be alone Your heavy heart Is made of stone And it's so hard to see you, clearly You don't have to be on your own You don't have to be on your own And I'm not gonna take it back And I'm not gonna say I don't mean that You're the target that I'm aiming at Can i get that message home? My song is love My song is love unknown, But I'm on fire for you, clearly You don't have to be alone You don't have to be on your own And I'm not gonna take it back And I'm not gonna say I don't mean that You're the target that I'm aiming at And I'm nothing on my own Got to get that message home And I'm not gonna stand and wait I'm not gonna leave it until it's much too late On a platform, I'm gonna stand and say That I'm nothing on my own And I love you, please come home My song is love, is love unknown? And I've got to get that message home.
