New Coldplay Album Samples Obama Singing “Amazing Grace”
The most famous voice on Coldplay’s new album A Head Full of Dreams won’t belong to Chris Martin. It also won’t belong to any of the album’s famous guests — Beyoncé, Noel Gallagher, Tove Lo, Merry Clayton. Instead, it will belong to the President of the United States. Earlier this year, at the funeral of Charleston shooting victim Clementa C. Pinckney, Obama sang a frankly stunning rendition of “Amazing Grace,” the gospel standard. And as The Sun reports, a sample of Obama singing will appear on the album.
Martin tells the newspaper, “We have a tiny clip of the President singing ‘Amazing Grace’ at that church. Because of the historical significance of what he did and also that that song being about, ‘I’m lost but now I’m found.'”
Meanwhile, a source close to the band says, “Barack Obama wouldn’t let just anyone feature his vocals on the record, especially considering what a deeply emotional moment it was for him… But he clearly loves Coldplay and is happy to be a part of their music history. The band were obviously thrilled… They needed to get permission from Obama himself and the Charleston church it was recorded in.”
Here’s the video of Obama singing:
A Head Full Of Dreams is out 12/4 on Parlophone/Atlantic. So does this mean Obama will get royalties?