Yellow

The band wrote it at the Quadrangle studio at Rockfield in Wales while starting Parachutes. After a night's work they went outside, where Ken Nelson pointed out how many stars were visible in the dark, and Guy Berryman came up with the first line, Look at the stars. Martin first sang the tune in what he called his worst Neil Young voice. He told Howard Stern in 2011 that the word yellow has no meaning, and said the song is about all girls. Elsewhere he has said it refers to the mood of the band, brightness and hope and devotion.

Recording it was awkward. Champion said it worked at five or six tempos, and Nelson said a beat either side of the chosen tempo lost the groove. They cut it live with Buckland overdubbing guitar, repeated it two or three times, and used Pro Tools to get the feel right before putting it to two-inch tape. Released as the second single on 26 June 2000, it reached number four in the UK, the band's first top-five hit, and went to 48 in the US. The video is one continuous slow-motion shot of Martin walking along Studland Bay in Dorset, filmed on 23 May 2000 and directed by James Frost and Alex Smith. Only Martin appears because the funeral of Will Champion's mother was held that day. Keeling recalled hearing the song and thinking it sounded like a hit. Rolling Stone's Matt Diehl called it unrepentantly romantic.

Live

The band played it on television for the first time on Later... with Jools Holland on 6 May 2000. Yellow balloons were first seen at a show on 24 September 2002 at the UIC Pavilion in Chicago, and balloons have been dropped on audiences at most shows since. Coldplay played it at Apple's private memorial for Steve Jobs on 19 October 2011. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame included it in its Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll exhibit.