The lyrics and melody were inspired by the hymn "My Song Is Love Unknown," which was written in 1664 by English composer John Ireland. Lead singer Chris Martin has described this as his favorite hymn. He told Q magazine: "There's quite a big church influence (on the band). Because we all grew up singing in assemblies every morning. Of course. When you think about it, the most music we heard up to the age of 17 was singing hymns every day in school. Didn't most people? In assembly?"
Chris Martin told Rolling Stone July 14, 2005 that he wrote this on a guitar, sitting on a sofa naked. He added: "I made sure that all the right bits were warm. There were about five songs on X&Y that came out of nowhere - it was like pulling them out of a hat. In the middle of the night I thought I was either going to be sick or go write that song. So the song just came up, then I went back to bed."
Coldplay sang this on the charity telethon, Hope for Haiti Now: A Global Benefit for Earthquake Relief, which was held on January 22, 2010.
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