“Clocks (Royksopp Remix)” by Coldplay

"Clocks" sits on A Rush of Blood to the Head, the second Coldplay album, which arrived in August 2002, and this is it in Röyksopp's remix, one of several it has collected. The whole band shares the writing credit, with Chris Martin supplying the words and Ken Nelson producing, and everything hangs on a piano riff that tumbles forward like it's late for something, while the cryptic lyrics turn over contrast and urgency.

America got it first, as the album's second single late in 2002, and it climbed to 29 on the Hot 100; Britain got it from Parlophone the following March as the third single, and it went to number nine. Critics fell for that piano melody, it won Record of the Year at the 2004 Grammys, and the riff has been sampled time and again. Rolling Stone later slotted it at 490 on its 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.