Music Friday: Coldplay Sings About Digging for Gold in 2009’s ‘The Goldrush’

Welcome to Music Friday when we bring you super songs with jewelry, gemstones or precious metals in the lyrics or title. Today we present British alternative rock band Coldplay performing “The Goldrush,” a nifty little 2009 tune teeming with references to gold mining, precious metals and a ring.

Reminiscent of the famously spontaneous Beatles studio sessions, “The Goldrush” spotlights drummer Will Champion taking over lead vocals as his bandmates can be heard chatting in the background before joining in the song. Champion sings, “I went digging for gold / I went down by the valley / Over by the mountain / Where the prospector had been told.”

Later in the song, we learn that the young treasure hunter has a girlfriend back home who's hoping to get engaged.

He sings, "There's a tiny little crackle on the telephone line / Saying what's the use of metal if the metal don't shine? / She said, 'Bring me back a ring 'cause I really want one' / Now I've been digging so long that I've never seen the sun."

“The Goldrush” had been written by the bandmates for Coldplay’s fourth studio album, Viva la Vida, but didn’t make the cut because is was so unlike the other songs in the album.

Then the band’s frontman, Chris Martin, floated the idea that “The Goldrush” could be offered exclusively to concert ticket holders. In this way, their most devoted fans would be the only ones to know the song. That idea never came to fruition.

Instead, “The Goldrush” ended up on the B-side of the Grammy-nominated “Life in Technicolor ii” single, which was released in 2009.

Formed by Martin in 1996 under the name Pectoralz, the band changed its name to Coldplay in 1998. Since its inception, the band has sold more than 100 million records worldwide and has earned numerous awards, including seven Grammys from 36 nominations. In 2022, the group's touring gross surpassed $1 billion from the sale of 12 million tickets at 456 shows.

Trivia: Did you know that Coldplay donates 10% of its profits to charity. The group currently endorses more than 30 organizations.

Please check out the audio clip of Coldplay performing “The Goldrush.” The lyrics are below if you'd like to sing along…

"The Goldrush"
Written by Chris Martin, Will Champion, Jonny Buckland and Guy Berryman. Performed by Coldplay.

I went digging for gold
I went down by the valley
Over by the mountain
Where the prospector had been told.

I'm marching through the cold
I'm marching through the cold.

I went digging for gold
I went down with my brother
A bucket and a shovel
With a book about the color of coal.

I'm marching through the cold
I'm marching through the cold.

There's a tiny little crackle on the telephone line
Saying what's the use of metal if the metal don't shine?
She said, "Bring me back a ring 'cause I really want one"
Now I've been digging so long that I've never seen the sun.

I went digging for gold
I went down to the valley
Over by the mountain
Where the prospector had been told.

I'm marching through the cold
I'm marching through the cold.

There's a tiny little crackle on the telephone line
Saying what's the use of metal if the metal don't shine?
She said, "Bring me back a ring 'cause I really want one"
Now I've been digging so long that I've never seen the sun.
I've been digging so long that I've never seen the sun
I've been digging so long that I've never seen the sun.

Credit: Photo by Raph_PH, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.