Built around a motif from Kraftwerk's 1981 song "Computer Love", it was written by all members of the band and appeared on their third album, X&Y.

Martin also recalled in a 2007 article in Q magazine the process of requesting permission to use the melody: He sent a letter through the lawyers of the respective parties and several weeks later received an envelope containing a handwritten reply that simply said ″yes″.

[5] The track begins with a dark, desolate synthesizer beat, resembling 'howling wind', with electric guitar riffs being heard in the background.

[12][13] As previously noted, the song features the main hook from Kraftwerk's "Computer Love", replicated by Jonny Buckland's electric guitar riffs throughout much of the track.

Guy Berryman also plays uptempo bass lines to complement the track's pace, featuring slower, more abrasive riffs during the song's verses and bridge.

"[14] According to Josh Tyrangiel of Time magazine, the meaning to "Talk" is based on how Martin "wants to teach us how to feel better about ourselves, and his lessons have the moral superiority disguised as sensitivity that marked Bono's mighty mullet period.

In the PopMatters review of the album, critic Adrian Begrand wrote: "It's the excellent, and much talked-about 'Talk' that has the band showing tremendous creativity, delving straight into mid-'70s krautrock, and piecing together a gorgeous pop song.

"[25] Despite the positive reception of "Talk", Martin has stated that Berryman dislikes it, and thus they no longer perform the song live.

[26] The song was remixed by Jacques Lu Cont, with the title "Talk (Thin White Duke Mix)".

[28] The song was also used as the basis of a downloadable hoax track titled "Talk to David" produced as an April Fools' Day prank by the British newspaper The Guardian.

[17] The black-and-white clip invokes a B movie science fiction theme, with imagery ranging from a flying saucer to 3D glasses.

The video features the band as astronauts landing on an alien planet, where they discover a giant dormant robot and take one of its dials before re-activating it.

Coldplay A special three part single was released over three weeks in December featuring live tracks recorded at the GelreDome in 2005.