"Speed of Sound" is the lead single from Coldplay's 2005 album, X&Y. It made its radio premiere on BBC Radio 1 with Lamacq on the evening of Monday, 18 April 2005. Beginning with a piano riff the song builds into a huge, synth-heavy chorus: "Birds go flying at the speed of sound, to show you how it all began / Birds came flying from the underground, if you could see it then you'd understand." The song was created as the band attempted to work through a cover version of Kate Bush's song, "Running Up That Hill"; thus the main riff of Speed of Sound resembles that of Bush's song.

The video promo for "Speed of Sound" was shot on a Los Angeles sound stage over 22–23 April 2005. Shooting took place on large sets backed by large LED displays. The performance based video was helmed by Mark Romanek, who was responsible for Linkin Park's "Faint," Johnny Cash's "Hurt" and Jay-Z's "99 Problems". The video earned 4 nominations at the 2005 MTV Video Music Awards. (Thanks Wikipedia)