“Violet Hill” is off of Coldplay’s album Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends. It was their first attempt at a protest/political song.

The first line “It was a long and dark December” was actually the first line the band ever wrote, but they could never finish the rest of the song. The rest of the song came about after watching Bill O'Reilly rant, and Chris thinking about a musician friend who worked in a bar and struggled with his boss, leading to lyrics about having your life run by people you don’t like.