Chipotle Music

Over the course of his long career, Willie Nelson has dabbled in a wide variety of genres, from reggae to adult contemporary to blues and beyond. Along the way, he’s worked with and covered a staggering number of artists — and now that list includes Coldplay.

Nelson covered the band’s hit song ‘The Scientist’ recently, contributing his version to the soundtrack of a short film entitled ‘Back to the Start.’

Commissioned by Chipotle Mexican Grill, ‘Back to the Start’ is a two-minute short that underlines the importance of sustainable farming practices — a subject near and dear to Nelson’s heart, and in line with his many years of work as a co-founder of Farm Aid. Using stop-motion animation, it tells the story of a farmer who expands his operation into an industrial farm, only to have a change of heart and return to a simpler way of working the earth.

The song’s lyrics, while almost certainly not inspired by farming, fit the message of the film with lines like “Nobody said it was easy / It’s such a shame for us to part / Nobody said it was easy / No one ever said it would be this hard / Oh, take me back to the start” – and Nelson’s melancholy voice offers surprising echoes of Coldplay vocalist Chris Martin’s plaintive delivery.

Nelson’s cover of ‘The Scientist’ is currently available via iTunes and Amazon MP3, where it’s available for 99 cents. Proceeds will benefit the Chipotle Cultivate Foundation.

 

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