Coldplay debuted this song live during their two concerts at the Rock am Ring Festival in Germany on June 3 and 4, 2011. The band premiered the tune on American TV on the August 3, 2011 Jimmy Kimmel Live! show.
The song features frontman Chris Martin gloomily observing, "I stole a key and took a car downtown where the lost boys meet/ Took a car downtown and took what they offered me." Drummer Will Champion told Q magazine, "At one point there was a lyric that alluded to Charlie Brown, the Peanuts character, but it's just a name really."
Think you've come across another song with the same title? Back in 1959 The Coasters had an international hit with a song also called "Charlie Brown." Though that tune had nothing to do with the loveable loser character from the Peanuts cartoon strip, there have been a number of songs that have been inspired by the characters created by Charles M. Shultz. They include The Vince Guaraldi Trio's "Linus and Lucy" and of course The Royal Guardsmen, whose songs based on characters and themes from the strip included "Snoopy Vs. The Red Baron" and "Snoopy's Christmas."
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