Gwyneth Paltrow Suffered a Tragedy That Inspired Coldplay’s ‘Fix You’

Coldplay released a number of songs whose meanings are difficult to decipher. However, Gwyneth Paltrow revealed one of their hits is about Chris Martin’s reaction to a traumatic experience she went through. Here’s what Martin had to say about how difficult it was to put the song together.

What Gwyneth Paltrow thought about Coldplay’s ‘Fix You’

Paltrow is the daughter of Bruce Paltrow, a television producer who worked on shows like St. Elsewhere, The White Shadow, and Tattinger’s. Unlike his daughter, Bruce was not a household name. However, he indirectly inspired one of Coldplay’s singles.

According to Yahoo! Entertainment, Gwyneth revealed one of Colplay’s tracks was a direct response to her father’s death. “‘Fix You’ was about him trying to put me back together after my dad died,” she said. “I think it’s pretty nice.”

Coldplay’s Martin called ‘Fix You’ ‘a f*cking nightmare to record’

According to Rolling Stone, a death in the family wasn’t the only inspiration behind “Fix You.” The chords from the Pixies’ “Where Is My Mind” — a song famous for its use in Fight Club — inspired “Fix You.” In addition, Martin said “Fix You” had an emotionality similar to R.E.M.’s smash “Everybody Hurts.” Although Martin found inspiration for “Fix You” in multiple places, he still had difficulty putting the song together.

“Every album has a key song around which other things get written and without which you couldn’t do other things,” Martin revealed. “On the third album, it was ‘Fix You.’ And all of them were an absolute f*ckin’ nightmare to record, and it’s horrible, and it takes forever. I don’t know what it is — this pressure or something, because you can hear that it’s good.”

Chris Martin revealed he wasn’t ‘trying to be cool’ while making ‘Fix You’

Martin was pleased with the final product. “I don’t think we could beat that as a direct Coldplay song,” he added. “That song is very special to me, because there’s no element of it trying to be cool. It’s not trying to be edgy. If your f*ckin’ granddad died, it might be something that makes you cry, you know?” Martin said the song might not be as cool as Radiohead’s Paranoid Android, but he’s unashamed of it, and acknowledges that most people aren’t very cool anyway.

How the public reacted to ‘Fix You’

Paltrow called the song “pretty nice.” The public’s response to the song was positive, albeit mildly positive. “Fix You” reached No. 59 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song was a minor hit. However, Coldplay released four top 10 hits — “Something Just Like This,” “Viva la Vida,” “A Sky Full of Stars,” and “Speed of Sound.” With this in mind, “Fix You” is not one of their more popular tracks. The song’s parent album, X&Y, reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200. “Fix You” is not one of Coldplay’s biggest hits, however, Paltrow and Martin both had kind things to say about it.