Surprisingly, Chris Martin and Coldplay have only just discovered Scots music legends The Proclaimers, but now they can’t get enough.
The group’s newfound discovery of the iconic Scottish duo inspired them to cover Sunshine on Leith during their recent BBC Radio 2 Piano Room performance.
Coldplay opened Radio 2’s Piano Room month on Monday and began by performing hit classics, Viva La Vida and All My Love.
However, it was their cover song choice that caught everyone’s attention, as they performed their own heartfelt rendition of the well-kent Scottish football anthem.
The Proclaimers song is famously sung by Hibernian fans at every home game, but until recently, neither Chris nor the band’s Scottish bass player Guy Berryman, who hails from Kirkcaldy, had heard the song.
Speaking about how he first came across the song, Chris said he’d been sent it just days before the performance and was “blown away”.
He said: “I’ve never heard it before and it blew me away and then I watched the Hibernian fans singing it in the terraces and it just gets me so much.
“There is a whole other world of music behind that song that I’ve just been discovering, and the wonderful, wonderful band.”
Guy revealed he heard the song just days before the Radio 2 Piano Room session – in a rather unusual place.
He explained: “I was listening to it in the bath three days ago and when it got to the second verse, I was kind of like ‘oh, this is a serious song’. By the time it got to the chorus, I was crying.
“I said to myself, ‘If I listen to it again I wonder if it’ll have the same reaction’,” he continued, before adding: “By the third listen, I was in the bath howling. It’s just one of those perfectly simple songs and I can’t believe I’d never heard it before.”
Reflecting on the timelessness of The Proclaimers, Chris went on: “Now we live in the age where coolness doesn’t mean anything, just quality and soul. The Proclaimers make more sense than ever.”
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Fans took to social media to share their reaction to Coldplay’s emotional rendition of Sunshine on Leith, as one commented: “Still one of the best songs to come out of Scotland. Very decent cover too.”
Another wrote: “Wow, I’m blown away go on Coldplay, my beloved team’s song.”
One added: “As a Scot, how has Guy never heard this song? I love how they’ve kept it like the original and not messed with it. Simply beautiful.”
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