Another's Arms

"Another's Arms"
General information
Artist	Coldplay
Released	16 May 2014
Genre	Alternative rock R&B Electronic
Length	3:54
Labels
Songwriter(s)	Guy Berryman Jonny Buckland Will Champion Chris Martin
Producer(s)	Coldplay Paul Epworth Rik Simpson Daniel Green
Album	Ghost Stories
Ghost Stories track listing
"Midnight"
"Another's Arms"
"Oceans"

"Another's Arms" is a song by Coldplay from their sixth studio album, Ghost Stories. It is the sixth track on the album.

Background and recording

Coldplay worked on "Another's Arms" with American hip hop record producer Mike Dean, mostly known for his works with rapper Kanye West. About Dean's involvement, Chris Martin discussed in an interview, “There's a guy called Steve Stout who was in the Rockerfella camp for a long time or Defjam, [...] He said, 'Oh, you should work with this guy called Mike Dean on another track', so we called him up and asked if he would help out and he said, 'Well, I'm free until 5, I'll do some bass!' That tends to be how it is.”

Regarding the female voice heard throughout the track, Chris jokingly said it was Oprah Winfrey, revealing right after, “I'm making it up! I don't know who it is, it's a sample, it came from a synthesiser. That's called Denise!”

Composition

"Another's Arms" was described as a piano ballad featuring an arrangement of guitars, strings by John Metcalfe, “whooshing keys”, “stuttering drums”, a “female specter” that “croons in and out of focus”, and Chris' lead vocals. It contains a vocal sample from "Silver Chord" by English singer Jane Weaver.

The song tells the story of one who is missing a loved one, grasping at memories of shared company, while watching TV late at night.

Release

"Another's Arms" was one of the few tracks from Ghost Stories to have been teased before the album's release, as it was performed on iTunes Festival alongside "Always in My Head", "Magic", and "Midnight" in the run-up to the release day.

Lyrics

[Verse 1]
Late night watching TV
Used to be you here beside me
Used to be your arms around me
Your body on my body

[Chorus]
When the world means nothing to me
Another's arms
Another's arms
When the pain just rips right through me
Another's arms
Another's arms

[Verse 2]
Late night watching TV
Used to be you here beside me
Is there someone there to reach me?
Or someone there to find me?

[Chorus]
When the pain just rips right through me
Another's arms
Another's arms
And that's just torture to me
Another's arms
Another's arms

[Chorus]
Pull yourself into me
Another's arms
Another's arms
When the world means nothing to me
Another's arms
Another's arms

[Chorus]
Got to pull you close into me
Another's arms
Another's arms
Pull yourself right through me
Another's arms
Another's arms

[Outro]
Late night watching TV
Wish that you were here beside me
Wish that your arms were around me
Your body on my body

Official audio

Another's Arms

Critical reception

Billboard writer Jason Lipshutz called the song a “songwriting gem”, although he found the arrangement a “bit flat”. Josh Modell of The A.V. Club felt that it was “undercooked”, while Consequence of Sound's Josh Terry said that the song was the “most well-crafted offering” of Ghost Stories.

In a ranking of the band's entire discography, in celebration of the 20th anniversary of the release of Parachutes, NME reviewed the song saying, “A female voice calls out for someone, anyone, while keys zoom in and out of focus. It could be considered flat, in the sense that nothing in the music or lyrics really rips through the metallic composition of it all – it's all a little distorted, a little removed. But if anything, that makes it more effective: a claustrophobic lament, a weeping ballad that remembers "when the pain just rips right through me", mentally, internally, more than anything another person could understand.”