“Fix You” by Coldplay

"Fix You" is the heart of X&Y, Coldplay's third studio album, from 2005, and all four members wrote it together. Chris Martin shaped it to comfort his then-wife, the actress Gwyneth Paltrow, after the death of her father, Bruce Paltrow, and it plays as a grave, tender meditation on grief that still leaves room for hope.

The arrangement comes in two acts. It starts small, with Martin's organ, piano and acoustic guitar holding up a fragile falsetto, then the second half lifts off: Jonny Buckland's electric guitar, Will Champion's drums and percussion, Guy Berryman's bass and synth, strings from Susan Dench, Richard George, Peter Lale, Laura Melhuish, Audrey Riley and Chris Tombling, and the band singing together like a congregation. Ken Nelson produced with the band and Michael Brauer mixed.

It reached number 4 in the UK and 18 on the US Modern Rock Tracks chart, and critics praised both its hopeful message and its two-part build. It has become a song for memorials, and Coldplay played it at the One Love Manchester benefit in 2017. Rolling Stone later ranked it 392 on its 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

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