Crystal Ball (song)

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This article documents a current single. Information is likely to change as the song remains in the charts.

"Crystal Ball"
Single by Keane
from the album Under the Iron Sea
Released	August 21, 2006
Format	7", CD
Recorded	Helioscentric Studios, Rye, East Sussex Magic Shop, NY
Genre	Alternative Piano rock
Length	3:53
Label	Island Records
Writer(s)	Tim Rice-Oxley Tom Chaplin Richard Hughes
Producer(s)	Andy Green
Chart positions
#20 (Netherlands, UK) #41 (Ireland) #64 (Germany)
Keane singles chronology
"Is It Any Wonder?" (2006)	"Crystal Ball" (2006)	"Nothing In My Way" (2006)
Under the Iron Sea track listing
"The Iron Sea" (7/8(UK))	"Crystal Ball" (8/9(UK))	"Try Again" (9/10(UK))

"Crystal Ball" is a song by English 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 peaked at #20 in both the Dutch Singles Chart and the UK one.

Contents 1 Track listings 2 Composition and recording 3 Information about song's meaning 4 B-sides 4.1 Maybe I Can Change 4.2 The Iron Sea: Magic Shop Version 5 Music video 6 Cover art 7 Chart performance

[edit] Track listings

CD

1. "Crystal Ball"
2. "Maybe I Can Change"
3. "The Iron Sea: Magic Shop Version"

UK, 7" Vinyl

1. "Crystal Ball"
2. "Maybe I Can Change"

[edit] Composition and recording

"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.

[edit] Information about song's meaning

...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

"Crystal Ball" technical characteristics
Length	Tempo	Key	Time signature	Instrumentation	Genre	Other appereances
3:53	124bpm	Bb (B flat)	4/4, 8b	bass, distorted piano, drums, piano, synthesizer, voice	Piano rock	Under the Iron Sea

[edit] B-sides

[edit] 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. It is rumoured amongst the band's fanbase that this song may have been composed by Chaplin as a response to Rice-Oxley's "Hamburg Song" and "Broken Toy". As of September 8, 2006 this has not been definitively confirmed by either Chaplin or Rice-Oxley.

"Maybe I Can Change" technical characteristics
Length	Tempo	Key	Time signature	Instrumentation	Genre	Other appereances
3:56	69bpm	C (major)	4/4, 16b	bass, drums, piano, synthesizer, tambourine, voice	Piano rock	None

[edit] The Iron Sea: Magic Shop Version

This version, recorded at The Magic Shop, New York, features, contrary to the album's version, drums. The recording is also extended and features an immediate intro.

"The Iron Sea: Magic Shop Version" technical characteristics
Length	Tempo	Key	Time signature	Instrumentation	Genre	Other appereances
4:30	90bpm+	Bb (B flat)	4/4, 8b	distorted piano, drums, synthesizer	New age rock	None

[edit] 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.

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.

[edit] Cover art

The cover art designed by Sanna Anukka is also found in the inner pages of the Under the Iron Sea DVD. The CD box is similar to the one containing "Is It Any Wonder?", made out of recycled materials.

[edit] Chart performance

Chart	Peak position
UK Singles Chart	20
UK Official Download Chart	112
Dutch Top 40	20
iTunes Music Store (UK)	55
Irish Singles Chart	47

Dutch Top 40 chart trajectory
Week	01	02	03	04	05	06	07	08	09	10	11	12	13	14	15
Position	24	22	20	23	23	23	23	28	30	38	38

German Singles Chart trajectory
Week	01	02	03	04	05	06	07	08	09	10	11	12	13	14	15
Position	64	83	80	87	86	95	96	100

Irish Singles Chart trajectory
Week	01	02
Position	47	41

UK Singles Chart trajectory
Week	01	02	03	04	05
Position	65	20	28	37	54

Keane
Tim Rice-Oxley | Tom Chaplin | Richard Hughes
Adam Tudhope | Dominic Scott
Discography
Studio albums: Hopes and Fears | Under the Iron Sea
Lives and EPs: Live Recordings 2004 | Keane Live 06
Singles: "Call Me What You Like" | "Wolf at the Door" | "Everybody's Changing (Part 1)" | "This Is The Last Time (Part 1)" | "Somewhere Only We Know" | "Everybody's Changing (Part 2)" | "Bedshaped" | "This Is The Last Time (Part 2)"| "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore" | "Bend and Break" | "Atlantic" | "Is It Any Wonder?" | "Crystal Ball" | "Nothing in My Way" | "A Bad Dream"
DVDs: Hopes and Fears DVD | Strangers | Under the Iron Sea DVD
Tours: Hopes and Fears Tour | Under the Iron Sea Tour
Other: List of songs by Keane
Related articles
Piano rock | Battle, East Sussex | Rye, East Sussex | War Child (charity) | Help - a Day in the Life