It's an iconic, instantly recognisable track, played in clubs, bars and on radio stations the world over. Yellow by Coldplay was released in 2000 on their debut album Parachutes - and more than two decades on it continues to charm millions of music lovers. It's hailed as a nostalgic classic, praised for its heartfelt, singalong lyrics and otherworldly melody.
But the humble beginnings of this monumental song may surprise you. Coldplay frontman Chris Martin revealed the chords and lyrics were the serendipitous result of an evening spent stargazing in the Wye Valley, where the band was making music at a residential recording studio on a farm.
This is the famous Rockfield Studios, just outside the village of Rockfield, after which it was named, and near the market town of Monmouth. It was founded in 1961, after two brothers, Charles and Kingsley Ward built their first recording studio in their parents' farm house, to record songs for their own band. You can read all our music news here.
The studio went from strength-to-strength throughout the decade, expanding into outhouses on the farm. 1962, it had become the first commercial studio outside London and by the mid 1960s it became the world's first residential studio.
Over the past six decades, it has welcome icons through its doors, and today boasts a star-studded artist roster, including Paolo Nutini, The Proclaimers, Manic Street Preachers, Oasis, Black Sabbath and Queen, who used the Rockfield to record Bohemian Rhapsody.
Speaking on BBC documentary Rockfield, The Studio on the Farm, Martin and his bandmates recalled the pivotal night when they joined the ranks of acclaimed artists who had recorded at the studio and stumbled upon the tune and words for Yellow completely by chance. It was in fact the band's "first real dip into a proper recording studio", just six months after they'd been signed.
But the bucolic, back-of-beyond venue in the heart of the Welsh countryside wasn't quite what they expected. Bassist Guy Berryman recalled: "I remember so vividly when we turned up and we drove down a little unmade road and there were cows. And I wondered what on earth we were doing there."
But little did they know, their stay at Rockfield Studios would be life-changing and catapult their burgeoning musical career. They were actually recording another song called 'Shiver' at the time and decided to take break to do some stargazing - a "mind-blowing" sight for the group, who had grown used to London's smog for the past five years.
"It was just so beautiful outside," recalled Martin. "All four of us were outside and Ken [record producer Ken Nelson] and he was like, 'Look up there, lads, look at the stars.'" It was these words, uttered by the record producer, that immediately stuck with Martin - and they formed the very first line the 'Yellow', which he started creating then and there.
"So that line was in my head and I was thinking about how Neil Young sings the words 'stars'...he does a sort of bend in it," said Martin, imitating the Canadian singer. He went back inside the studio and played around with chords on his guitar - "just messing around", in his words. But, slowly, the first verse started coming together - the final word of it, and the title of the song, coming from a Yellow Pages directory that he spotted in the room.
Martin pitched his initial little creation to the rest of the band, who had been watching football. "They weren't particularly interested," he laughed. He then went to the bathroom, which is where he formed the chorus, "Your skin, oh yeah, your skin and bones" - and the rest is history. "I showed them that and they were like, 'Yeah, we like that.' And that gave us our lives for the last 16 years," he said. To get more stories like this sent straight to your inbox every single day, click here.
