Songfacts®:

• This bluesy doo-wop jam finds Chris Martin singing about a relationship centered on love and support. Martin said the song came from his love for "Earth Angel (Will You Be Mine)" in the film Back to the Future.
  
  Back in July 2016, Coldplay played "Earth Angel" in concert in New Jersey with Michael J. Fox, star of Back to the Future, on guitar in a tribute to the movie.
• "Cry Cry Cry" musically quotes soul singer Garnet Mimms' 1963 hit "Cry Baby" (later covered by Janis Joplin 1970). Coldplay asked permission if they could borrow from the tune, which is why there are eight credited writers on the song.
• The song features Jacob Collier on support vocals. The English singer-songwriter also contributed to its writing. He sings as well on Everyday Life's title track and "Church."
• During the first verse, Chris Martin and Jacob Collier reference the poetry anthology A Book of Luminous Things.
  
  In a book about the world
  Called The Luminous Things
  There are trees and flowers glowing
  While Jizo Bodhisattva sings
  
  A Book of Luminous Things is a collection of 300 poems from around the world chosen by the Noble laureate Czeslaw Milosz. Jizo Bodhisattva is an enlightened primarily revered in East Asia Buddhism.
• Directed by Cory Bailey along with Chris Martin's partner Dakota Johnson, the video focuses on a young, smitten couple who partake in ballroom dancing through the decades to their elderly years. Coldplay serve as the house band.
• The video's action unfolds on the dance floor of London's Rivoli Ballroom, which first opened in 1913. Other artists that have used The Rivoli as a shooting location for music videos include Tina Turner ("Private Dancer") and Elton John ("I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues").