It was Coldplay’s great international success and remains one of the band’s best-known songs: Yellow.
But could the main lyrics be changed – for one night only – to appease fans focused on a local football rivalry?
Coldplay will headline Radio 1’s Big Weekend in Luton in May. While Luton Town plays in orange, Watford, 27 kilometers away on the M1, wears yellow.
wexs, wexs, wexs, wexs, just, just, just, just,
Some Luton residents suggest the word Y could easily be changed. The BBC asked the band for their reaction.
Luton resident Bex Jones suggested Coldplay should change “yellow” to “orange and blue”.
In an interview with BBC Three Counties Radio, Bex appealed to singer Chris Martin.
“Come on Chris, do it,” he said. “You have to, you’re coming to Luton for one night only.”
Kev Harper, of the Luton Town Supporter’s Trust, said: “The public would love it.”
He joked that Coldplay “should have called it orange in the first place” as “it’s a superior colour”.
James Taylor, head of regeneration at Luton Council, said: “The crowds would absolutely erupt.
“It would honor Luton fans and it would honor Luton as a team and as a city.
“We’ve seen some of the biggest football teams in the world come to Kenilworth Road and have to adapt their style of play, so why not have the biggest band in the world come to Luton and change the lyrics just to we?”
As it happens, Chris Martin says he wrote Yellow at Rockfield recording studios in the Welsh countryside while his bandmates watched football.
He was inspired by seeing the starry sky, but the title came about when he saw the Yellow Pages across the room.
With the same number of syllables, it remains to be seen whether Coldplay will swap “yellow” for “orange” at Stockwood Park to keep Luton fans happy.
Luton’s old-school stadium, surrounded by the terraced houses of Bury Park, became football’s most famous away end when they were promoted in 2023 and returned to the English top flight for the first time since the 1991-92 season.
