"Crystal Ball" | |
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Song |
Crystal Ball is a song by British piano rock band Keane and is featured on their second studio album, Under the Iron Sea. The song was released 21 August 2006 as the second single from that album in the UK (see 2006 in British music) in the United Kingdom. It was released on August 18 2006 in the Netherlands and is currently charting at #24 in the Dutch Top 40.
Track listings
CD
- "Crystal Ball"
- "Maybe I Can Change"
- "The Iron Sea" (Magic Shop Version)
UK, 7" Vinyl
- "Crystal Ball"
- "Maybe I Can Change"
Information about songs
Crystal Ball
Crystal Ball was composed by Tim Rice-Oxley in 2005 and recorded at the Helioscentric Studios, East Sussex and at the Magic Shop, New York. The guitar effect actually came out from Tim's piano.
...That was a really scary for me, because I've always had lots to say, and lots of opinions whether right or wrong. We then ended up having a massive row about something a couple of days later and it came out of that that we were all feeling this sense of numbness, this feeling of kinda fading away as people. And I just tried to write about that, and it ended up becoming Crystal Ball...Keaneshaped
- Length: 3:53
- Tempo: 124bpm
- Key: G# (Maj)
- Time signature: 4/4
Maybe I Can Change
It was recorded at the Magic Shop Studios in New York. It was first known by a shot on the Under the Iron Sea DVD, as well as in the June issue of the Q Magazine. Is believed this song was composed by Chaplin as a response to Rice-Oxley's Hamburg Song and Broken Toy.
- Length: ?
- Tempo: 70bpm
- Key: C (Maj)
- Time signature: 4/4
Music video
The music video for Crystal Ball was released by NME on August 4 2006 It features the American actor Giovanni Ribisi. The director was Giuseppe Capotondi. Template:Spoiler
A woman is helping her husband (Ribisi) and young son get ready to leave the house. She tells her husband to pick up the dry cleaning for her. He then gets into his Toyota Camry and drives off with his son.
The song then starts and Keane are playing in an empty room. They appear throughout the video, interspersed between the narrative segments. We next see the man get to his office and warmly interact with a secretary. There are photographs on his desk of him with his family. We then see him showing off a house to a couple, implying that he is a real estate agent. We then see him work some more in his office.
Later, the real estate agent returns to his house, where he finds that a red Ford Taurus is parked outside it. His keys don't seem to work so he knocks on the door and rings the bell. His wife partially opens the door and looks at him with surprise when he tries to enter. She then calls to someone off-screen.
A man appears behind the upset woman and the real estate agent speaks to the woman with a look of disbelief on his face. The woman then shuts the door on him. We next see the real estate agent look in the window of the house and smile at his son, but this only frightens the boy. We next see the real estate agent angrily trying to explain the situation to a police office as the man and his wife talk to another officer. The real estate agent is ushered away and we see him driving away in his car still being tailed by the police.
After making some phone calls and wandering around in frustration, we see the man wake up in his car in the parking lot of his office. When he gets out of the car, he takes a look around him with a look of surprise on his face, perhaps thinking it was all a dream. He walks into the office and waves at his secretary who stands up in surprise. He then finds the man he saw in his house now sitting at his desk. He rushes to keep the man from phoning security and then begins to argue with him angrily. He then stops when he sees that the photographs on his desk now show the other man with his family instead of himself.
When the man is finally thrown out of the building, he sees someone run toward his car in the distance. He runs to the car and jumps on the hood, shouting at the person inside. In the end, he lets the car go and stands in the parking lot confused and defeated. Template:Spoilerend
Chart performance
Chart | Peak position |
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UK Singles Chart | 65 |
UK Official Download Chart | ? |
US Pop 100 | ? |
US Modern Rock Tracks | ? |
US Adult Top 40 | ? |
Euro Top 20 | ? |
Dutch Top 40 | 24 |
iTunes Music Store (UK) | 55 |
Dutch Top 40 chart trajectory | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Week | 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | |||||||||||||||
Position |
UK Singles Chart trajectory | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Week | 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | |||||||||||||||
Position |