Released	19 October 2011 (see release history)
Recorded	2009–11 at The Bakery and The Beehive, London, England, United Kingdom
Genre	Alternative rock, post-Britpop,electronic rock
Length	44:09
Label	Parlophone
Producer	Markus Dravs, Brian Eno, Rik Simpson, Dan Green

Mylo Xyloto (pronounced /ˈmaɪloʊ ˈzaɪlətoʊ/) is the fifth studio album by British alternative rock band Coldplay. It was first released on 19 October 2011 by EMI, and later worldwide on 24 October. The band collaborated closely with acclaimed producer Brian Eno following their successful collaborations on Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends, the band’s fourth studio album.

Conceptually, Mylo Xyloto is a concept album, and a thematic rock opera.^[1] Written by filmmaker Mark Osborne and singer Chris Martin, the album tells the story of a war against sound and colour by a supremeist government, set in the world of “Silencia”, an Orwellian society. Silencia has been taken over by a supremist government, led by Major Minus, who controls the population through media and propaganda. His aim is to take sound and colour off the streets in hope to draw away “feeders”, creatures that use such energy to hunt its prey. The album follows two lead characters – Mylo, a “silencer”, who is one of an army tasked to hunt and track down “sparkers”, people who harness light and energy and use it to create “sparks”, comparable to graffiti in real life. He comes across Xyloto, a sparker who is the most wanted by Major Minus. Through Xyloto, Mylo discovers his sparker abilities and his affiliation with the “Car Kids”, a major sparker faction founded by Mylo’s parents Akio and Leela. Drummer Will Champion has noted that the album is a story of the characters “falling in love and trying to escape together”, with a general theme of “love conquering all”.

Internationally, Mylo Xyloto charted at number one in thirty-four countries.^[2] In the United Kingdom, Mylo Xyloto became their fifth album to debut at number one, selling 208,000 units in its first week, and it set a one-week digital sales record with 83,000 copies sold.^[3] The album became the group’s third to debut at number one on the US Billboard 200, selling 447,000 units in the first week. It was the UK’s best-selling rock album of 2011, selling 908,000 copies.^[4] To date, it has sold over 8 million copies worldwide.^[5]

Mylo Xyloto received mixed-to-positive reviews from music critics, with a score of 65/100 on Metacritic. While some found it to be overproduced, others praised its uplifting tone and new electronic sound. “Paradise” and “Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall” received a total of three Grammy Award nominations in 2011, while the album and “Charlie Brown” received two nominations in 2012.

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Guy Berryman, Jonny Buckland, Will Champion and Chris Martin. “Enoxification” and additional composition by Brian Eno^[74][75].

No.	Title	Length
1.	“Mylo Xyloto”	0:43
2.	“Hurts Like Heaven“	4:02
3.	“Paradise“	4:37
4.	“Charlie Brown“	4:45
5.	“Us Against the World“	3:59
6.	“M.M.I.X.”	0:49
7.	“Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall“	4:00
8.	“Major Minus“	3:30
9.	“U.F.O.“	2:17
10.	“Princess of China” (feat. Rihanna)	3:59
11.	“Up in Flames“	3:13
12.	“A Hopeful Transmission”	0:33
13.	“Don’t Let It Break Your Heart“	3:54
14.	“Up with the Birds“	3:45

Lyrics

1. Mylo Xyloto

[Instrumental]

2. Hurts Like Heaven

Written in graffiti on a bridge in a park
‘Do you ever get the feeling that you’re missing the mark?’
It’s so cold it’s so cold
It’s so cold it’s so cold
Written up in marker on a factory sign
‘I struggle with the feeling that my life isn’t mine’
It’s so cold it’s so cold
It’s so cold it’s so cold
See the arrow they shot
Trying to tear us apart
Take the fire from my belly and the beat from my heart
Still I won’t let go
Still I won’t let go

Of you- ooh ooh
Cos you do
Oh you use your heart as a weapon
And it hurts like heaven

On every street every car every surface a name
Tonight the streets are ours
And we’re writing and saying
Don’t let em take control
No we won’t let em take control
Yes I feel a little bit nervous
Yes I feel nervous and I cannot relax
How come they’re out to get us
How come they’re out when they don’t know the facts
So on a concrete canvas under cover of dark
On a concrete canvas I’ll go making my mark
Armed with a spraycan soul
I’ll be armed with a spraycan soul
And you ooh ooh
You ooh ooh
Cos you use your heart as a weapon
And it hurts like heaven

Woah oh oh oh, woah oh oh oh
Yeah it’s true
When you
Use your heart as a weapon
Then it hurts like heaven
And it hurts like heaven
Oh oh oh-oh

And it hurts like heaven
Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh

3. Paradise

When she was just a girl
She expected the world
But it flew away from her reach so
She ran away in her sleep
And dreamed of
Para-para-paradise, Para-para-paradise, Para-para-paradise
Every time she closed her eyes

When she was just a girl
She expected the world
But it flew away from her reach
And the bullets catch in her teeth
Life goes on, it gets so heavy
The wheel breaks the butterfly
Every tear a waterfall
In the night the stormy night she’ll close her eyes
In the night the stormy night away she’d fly

And dreams of
Para-para-paradise
Para-para-paradise
Para-para-paradise
Oh oh oh oh oh oh-oh-oh
She’d dream of
Para-para-paradise
Para-para-paradise
Para-para-paradise
Oh oh oh oh oh oh-oh-oh-oh

Lalalalalalalalalalala
And so lying underneath those stormy skies
She’d say, “oh, ohohohoh I know the sun must set to rise”

This could be
Para-para-paradise
Para-para-paradise
Para-para-paradise
Oh oh oh oh oh oh-oh-oh

This could be
Para-para-paradise
Para-para-paradise
Para-para-paradise
Oh oh oh oh oh oh-oh-oh

This could be
Para-para-paradise
Para-para-paradise
Para-para-paradise
Oh oh oh oh oh oh-oh-oh

4. Charlie Brown

Wooh, ooh ooh ooh

Stole a key
Took a car downtown where the lost boys meet
Took a car downtown and took what they offered me
To set me free
I saw the lights go down at the end of the scene
Saw the lights go down and standing in front of me

Poh ooh ooh

In my scarecrow dreams
When they smash my heart into smithereens
Be a bright red rose come bursting the concrete
Be a cartoon heart
Light a fire a fire a spark
Light a fire a flame in my heart
We’ll run wild
We’ll be glowing in the dark
Oooh ooh ooh
We’ll be glowing in the dark
A-woo-a-wooooo

All the boys, all the girls, all that matters in the world
All the boys, all the girls, all the madness that occurs
All the highs all the lows, as the room a-spinning goes
We’ll run riot, we’ll be glowing in the dark

Ooooh, ooooh, ooooh
So we’ll soar
Luminous and wired
We’ll be glowing in the dark

5. Us Against the World

Oh morning come bursting the clouds amen
Lift off this blindfold let me see again
Bring back the water let your ships roll in
In my heart she left a hole

The tightrope that I’m walking just sways and ties
The devil as he’s talking with those angel’s eyes
And I just want to be there when the lightening strikes
And the saints go marching in

And sing
Slow it down
Through chaos as it swirls
It’s us against the world

Like a river to a raindrop I lost a friend
My drunken hazard daniel in a lion’s den
And tonight I know it all has to begin again
So whatever you do, don’t let go

And if we could float away
Fly up to the surface and just start again
Lift off before trouble just erodes us in the rain
Just erodes us in the rain
Just erodes us and see roses in the rain saying

Slow it down
Through chaos as it swirls
It’s us against the world

Through chaos as it swirls
It’s us against the world

6. M.M.I.X.

[Instrumental]

7. Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall

I turn the music up, I got my records on
I shut the world outside until the lights come on
Maybe the streets alight, maybe the trees are gone
I feel my heart start beating to my favourite song

And all the kids they dance, all the kids all night
Until Monday morning feels another life
I turn the music up
I’m on a roll this time
And heaven is in sight

I turn the music up, I got my records on
From underneath the rubble sing a rebel song
Don’t want to see another generation drop
I’d rather be a comma than a full stop

Maybe I’m in the black, maybe I’m on my knees
Maybe I’m in the gap between the two trapezes
But my heart is beating and my pulses start
Cathedrals in my heart

And we saw oh this light I swear you, emerge blinking into
To tell me it’s alright
As we soar walls, every siren is a symphony
And every tear’s a waterfall
Is a waterfall
Oh
Is a waterfall
Oh oh oh
Is a is a waterfall
Every tear
Is a waterfall
Oh oh oh

So you can hurt, hurt me bad
But still I’ll raise the flag

Oh
It was a wa wa wa wa wa-aterfall
A wa wa wa wa wa-aterfall

Every tear
Every tear
Every teardrop is a waterfall

Every tear
Every tear
Every teardrop is a waterfall

8. Major Minus

They got one eye watching you
One eye on what you do
So be careful who it is you’re talking to
They got one eye watching you
One eye on what you do
So be careful what it is you’re trying to do
And be careful when you’re walking into view
Just be careful when you’re walking into view

Ooh ooh ooh, ooh ooh ooh oooh
Got one eye on the road and one on you
Ooh ooh ooh, ooh ooh ooh oooh
Got one eye on the road and one on

They got one eye watching you
One eye on what you do
So be careful ‘cos nothing they say is true
No don’t believe a word
It’s just us against the world
And we just got to turn up to be heard
Hear the crocodiles ticking round the world
Hear those crocodiles ticking, they go ticking round the world

Ooh ooh ooh, ooh ooh ooh oooh
Got one eye on the road and one on you
Ooh ooh ooh, ooh ooh ooh oooh
Got one eye on the road and
You could hear them climbing the stairs
Got my right side fighting while my left hides under the chairs

Ooh ooh ooh, ooh ooh ooh oooh
Got one eye on the road and one on you
Ooh ooh ooh, ooh ooh ooh oooh
Got one eye on the road and one on you

9. U.F.O.

Lord I don’t know which way I am going
Which way the river’s going to flow
It just seems that upstream I keep rowing
Still got such a long way to go
Still got such a long way to go

And that light hits your eyes
I know I swear we’ll find somewhere
The streets are paved with gold

Bullets fly split the sky
But that’s alright sometimes sunlight comes streaming through the holes

Ohohoh

10. Princess of China (feat. Rihanna)

Once upon a time somebody ran
Somebody ran away saying ‘fast as I can
I got to go, I got to go’
Once upon a time we fell apart
You’re holding in your hands the two halves of my heart
Oh oh oh, ohohohoh

Oh ohohohoh, ohohohohoh, ohohohoh, oh

Once upon a time we burned bright
Now all we ever seem to do is fight
On and on, and on and on and on
Once upon a time on the same side
Once upon a time on the same side in the same game
Now why d’you have to go
Have to go and throw water on my flame?
I could have been a princess, you’d be a king
Could have had a castle and worn a ring

I could have been a princess, you’d be a king
Could have had a castle and worn a ring
But no o o o oh you let me go o o o oh
You stole my star
La, lalala lalalala, lalalalalalala, lalalalalalala,
You stole my star
La, lalala lalalala

‘Cos you really hurt me, no you really hurt me
‘Cos you really hurt me, no you really hurt me
‘Cos you really hurt me, oh-oh you really hurt me
‘Cos you really hurt me, oh-oh you really hurt me

11. Up in Flames

So it’s over
This time I know it’s gone
Saltwater
Tasted it too long

I only know I’m wrong
Now I know it’s gone

Up in flames
Up in flames
Up in flames
We have slowly gone

So it’s over
This time you’re flying on
This time I know no song
Can stop its lonely burn
Can stop it slowly going

Up in flames
Up in flames
Up in flames
We have slowly gone

Up in flames
Up in flames
Up in flames
We have slowly gone
We have slowly gone

Can’t we pour some water on?

12. A Hopeful Transmission

[Instrumental]

13. Don’t Let It Break Your Heart

And if I lost the map
If I lost it all
Or fell into the trap
Then she’d call
‘When you’re tired of racing
And you find you never left the start
Come on baby
Don’t let it break your heart’

Though heavily we bled
Still on we crawl
Try to catch a cannonball
And a slowly burning tide
Through my veins is flowing
From my shipwreck I heard her call

She said ‘When you’re tired of aiming your arrows
Still you never hit the mark
Even in your rains and shadows
Still we’re never going to part
Come on baby
Don’t let it break your heart
Oh oh oh oh oh
Don’t let it break your heart
Oh oh oh oh oh
Don’t let it break your heart

Don’t let it break your heart’

14. Up with the Birds

The birds they sang, break of day
‘Start again’ I hear them say
It’s so hard to just walk away

The birds they sang, all a choir
‘Start again’, a little higher
It’s a spark in a sea of grey

The sky is blue, dream that lie ’til it’s true
Then taking back the punch I threw
My arms turn wings oh those clumsy things
Send me up to that wonderful world
And then I’m up with the birds

Send me up to that wonderful world
And then I’m up with the birds

Might have to go where they don’t know my name
Float all over the world just to see her again
But I won’t show or feel any pain
Even though all my armour might rust in the rain
A simple plot, but I know one day
Good things are coming our way
A simple plot, but I know one day
Good things are coming our way
Oh yeah!