"Trouble" is a song recorded by British alternative rock band Coldplay. It was composed for their first album, Parachutes. The band wrote the song and produced it with British record producer Ken Nelson. The word "trouble" is repeated many times in the lyrics of the song.
The song was released on 26 October 2000 as a single. It was the third single of the album. It reached number 10 on the UK Singles Chart. This made it the band's second Top 10 single in the country. "Trouble" did not chart on the main singles chart in the United States. But the music press said it was almost as successful as "Yellow". "Yellow" was the single released before "Trouble". Two different music videos for the single were released.
Production
Chris Martin, the vocalist of Coldplay said that idea for writing "Trouble" came from his own behaviour. Martin said that there were "some bad things going in our band ... the song is about behaving badly towards somebody you really love and I was certainly doing that to some members of the band." The four members of Coldplay are credited as the co-writers of "Trouble". But, it was based on Martin's idea.
British record producer Ken Nelson and the band produced "Trouble" for their first album, Parachutes. The song was recorded four times before the band got the recording they liked most. The band decided that the first three versions were not "working". The last take was recorded into Pro Tools with a shaker. This was done to provide the rhythm to the track. For the backing track, Will Champion played the drums and Martin played the piano. It was recorded in a little wooden room. Guy Berryman recorded the bass and then guitarist Jonny Buckland added the guitar section. In recording the piano section of the track, the band used two microphones. Nelson, who wanted to keep the song simple, chose the microphone which had a fuller sound for the mixing.
"Trouble" was mixed in New York by American mix engineer Michael Brauer. The first mixed version was sent back to the band and Nelson. However, it was not as good as they wanted and had to be mixed again. Nelson found some problems in the version. In spite of this, he did not blame Brauer because he was not present during the mixing. This was because they were recording the album at that time.
Composition
Like in the song "Yellow", in this song the word trouble is used many times. The song's lyrics have "softer emotional themes". This includes apologies and unrequited love, and longing.
The song has a minimalistic approach. The song is mainly built around a piano. It has a snare drum in the background. The sound of the drum was mixed very low. The snare drum cannot be heard when the guitar is played. The song has a tempo of 70 beats per minute. Martin's vocal range in the song is from F4 to A5, the highest note being sung using his falsetto voice.
Release
"Trouble" was released on 26 October 2000 in the United Kingdom, and on 18 December 2001 in the United States. It was the third single of Parachutes. A limited edition CD of the single was released. It had a remix of the songs "Yellow" and "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas". Only 1,000 copies were made. It was given only to fans and journalists.
Coldplay did not accept many offers to use "Trouble" for advertisements. In 2004, the band rejected an offer from Diet Coke and Gap to use the song. The offer was worth many million Euros. American actor Sylvester Stallone wanted to use the song for the soundtrack of his 2001 film Driven. But the band declined.
Reception
"Trouble" was a commercial success. It reached number 10 on the UK Singles Chart. This made it the band's second Top 10 single in the UK after "Yellow". "Trouble" was successful because the previous singles did very well. Also, the album, Parachutes was very successful in the United Kingdom. The British band Lost Witness made a remixed version of the song. It was released and was successful.
In the United States, the single's chart performance was almost as good as "Yellow"s. It reached number 23 on the Billboard Adult Top 40 and 28 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks. Martin has said the single had saved them from being a "one-hit wonder" band. The band thought it was not a "great single". They felt it would not do well in the United States.
Music videos
The original European version of the music video for "Trouble" was directed by British director Sophie Muller. The video was shot in a Newhall, California ranch. Its theme was the Wild West.