Title: Coldplay – Spies Piano Sheet Music
Summary: Coldplay’s sixth studio album, “Ghost Stories”, was released on 24 May 2014. Coldplay have been known to take inspiration from the stories and songs of other musicians, so it is no surprise that their song “Spies” has a clear Cold War theme, and was influenced by the Cold War-era spy novels and movies of John le Carré (David John Moore Cornwell), and Ian Fleming (1908-1964).
The Cold War is the name given to a period of conflict between two global superpowers – the USA and Russia. The Cold War lasted from about 1947 until 1991, and tensions developed due to a range of issues including the Soviet Union funding ‘proxy wars’ in countries across Africa and Asia, and Cold War propaganda.
To understand Coldplay’s musical take on Cold War spies, one might need to look into Cold War history further. There were two types of Cold War spies: those that worked for themselves as mercenaries, and those that worked for one side or another as part of an official spy ring. Coldplay’s song doesn’t necessarily refer to either type, rather Coldplay are singing about Cold War spies in a romanticised way.
Coldplay came up with the idea for Coldplay’s song “Spies” after reading John le Carré’s Cold War spy novel “The Spy Who Came In from the Cold”. Coldplay’s song is about Cold War spies with a Cold War-era setting, but Coldplay made no further reference to the Cold War history of John le Carré’s book, instead Coldplay wrote Coldplay’s own take on Cold War spies and what Coldplay feel Cold War spies might be like. Coldplay’s Cold War spy lyrics are more about Coldplay’s Cold War-era fantasies than Cold War history, but it is clear that Coldplay have at least done some research into the Cold War setting for their song.
