Coldplay: God Put A Smile Upon Your Face

I’ve been featuring numerous older songs recently; however, Wednesday gives me the opportunity to return to the 21st century with a 2003 release by Coldplay, “God Put A Smile upon your Face.” I have found a nostalgic connection to alternative rock that often reminds me of recordings from previous decades – but with a fresh, new, and sparse sound.

If there were an alternative only radio station in my area, I would be tuned to it constantly. Unfortunately, I don’t have XM radio and I generally forget that our cable system offers an alternative channel – which is quite good when I remember to switch to it.

The arrangement of “God Put a Smile upon your Face” builds then suspends, and this makes it interesting. The song starts with an acoustic guitar and moves into a faster tempo joined by the lead guitar, drums, and bass. The song builds nicely and then returns to the ballad treatment from the beginning. I hope you like it, as I certainly do.

Where do we go nobody knows?
I’ve got to say I’m on my way down
God give me style and give me grace
God put a smile upon my face

Where do we go to draw the line?
I’ve got to say I wasted all your time, honey, honey
Where do I go to fall from grace?
God put a smile upon your face

Yeah
And ah
When you work it out I’m worse than you
Yeah
When you work it out I wanted to
And ah
When you work out where to draw the line
Your guess is as good as mine

Where do we go nobody knows?
Don’t ever say you’re on your way down when
God gave you style and gave you grace
God put a smile upon your face

And ah
When you work it out I’m worse than you
Yeah
When you work it out I wanted to
And ah
When you work out where to draw the line
Your guess is as good as mine
It’s as good as mine
It’s as good as mine
It’s as good as mine
As good as mine
As good as mine
As good as mine
As good as mine

Where do we go nobody knows?
Don’t even say you’re on your way down when
God gave you style and gave you grace
God put a smile upon your face.

The critics generally praised this release from Coldplay's second LP "A Rush of Blood to the Head." The song also ranked within Rolling Stone's "Top 500 Songs of All Time" at 473. Unfortunately, “God Put a Smile upon your Face” was doomed chart wise in the US & the UK, as EMI only issued promotional copies of the single to radio.

In other countries including Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the rest of Europe, commercial singles were released to the general public. These countries generally produced higher chart positions for the tune. One example is Latvia where it peaked at #14. Got to love the Latvians, but I’m not sure a top 15 release in one of the Baltic states carries that much weight. That is unless there was an equally well showing in neighboring Estonia and Lithuania.