Fix You

Martin developed it to comfort Gwyneth Paltrow after her father died. He had planned to base it on a church organ but instead powered up a keyboard that had been sitting unused in their house. He said Elbow's Grace Under Pressure influenced it and called it probably the most important song they had written. Berryman said it takes a bit of inspiration from Jimmy Cliff's Many Rivers to Cross. The song is in E-flat major at 69 beats per minute. It opens with a hushed organ and Martin's falsetto, builds with acoustic guitar and piano, then breaks into drums and a singalong chorus.

Released on 5 September 2005 as the second single from X&Y, it reached number four in the UK. In the US it reached 59 on the Billboard Hot 100. Sophie Muller directed the video, filmed at the end of two concerts on 4 and 5 July 2005 at the Reebok Stadium in Bolton, the band's first stadium shows. Kelefa Sanneh of Rolling Stone wrote that no band delivers a stately rock ballad like this one. Pitchfork's Joe Tangari dismissed it as an AOR ballad. Rolling Stone placed it at 392 on its 2021 list of the 500 greatest songs.

Live

The band played it at Live 8 in July 2005 and at Apple's memorial for Steve Jobs on 19 October 2011. On 4 June 2017 they played it at the One Love Manchester benefit concert. Ed Sheeran joined them to cover it at the launch show for Music of the Spheres at Shepherd's Bush Empire on 12 October 2021.