The dream team of David Bowie and Coldplay was clearly just not meant to be. Bowie is no stranger to collaborations, nor has he been afraid to forces with superstar musicians. Quite willing to public hate his own songs, the Thin White Duke also cultivated a reputation for openly criticizing other musicians, no matter what their profile or track record.
Elton John and the once Ziggie Stardust had started out as friends, but their closeness eroded in the 1970s when Bowie referred to John as “The token queen of rock and roll” in an interview. He also had choice words for Paul McCartney, and Gary Numan, and infamously came to blows with Axl Rose (at least according to Slash's autobiography). And that openness with his criticism translated to an unwillingness to collaborate with some of rock's most prominent figures.
Not only did Bowie turn down a crossover with Red Hot Chilli Peppers, despite multiple requests, but Bowie also turned down a collaboration with mega-selling British musical royalty Coldplay. Historically, David Bowie was open to working with a lot of diverse talents, from Queen to Bing Crosby, but that spectrum didn't reveal any lack of discernment. Clearly, if Bowie didn't like something, he was going to be blunt about it, and David Bowie most certainly was blunt about not liking the Coldplay song he could have appeared on.
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In 2008, Coldplay released their fourth album, Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends. Songs were recorded between 2006 and 2008 featuring production from the likes of frequent David Bowie collaborator, producer Brian Eno. That connection offered the opportunity for a starry collaboration.
One of the songs recorded during production was "Lhuna," which was about a character fantasizing about the title woman, begging her to let him "come in." Not very subtle, and curiously different to Coldplay's usual work. The plan was also to have a "David Bowie-type character" written into the song that they hoped Bowie would sing himself.
It's unknown if Bowie's verses were removed from the final cut (featuring Kylie Minogue in the title role) or if Martin's parts were meant to be Bowie's. However, in an Absolute Radio interview (via the charismatic spaceman character (spoiler alert: it didn't work). "Lhuna" did not make the final version of Viva La Vida, but it was released as a charity single for World AIDS Day.
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NME spoke to Coldplay drummer Will Champion and the band's guitarist Jonny Buckland in the wake of David Bowie's death. They recalled mourning him as long-time fans, but Champion fondly ed when they tried to convince him to sing on "Lhuna" as the "David Bowie-type character". The band's singer, Chris Martin, had written a letter to Bowie describing what the song was about hoping for his contributions, so recalls Champion. With a smirk, Champion revealed that Bowie got back to them over text simply with, "It's not a very good song, is it?"
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Coldplay at least understood and respected that David Bowie wouldn't just put his name on anything. "I'll give him credit for that," Champion added, and the rest of the music world would probably agree with the sentiment. David Bowie was an enigmatic figure, but also a justifiably picky one who was careful about who and what he collaborated on, even if it meant he was missing out on potentially being part of 6.8 million selling hit album.
Source: NME