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Golden Brown

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For the colour, see golden brown.
"Golden Brown"
Song
B-side"Love 30"

"Golden Brown" is a song by the English rock band The Stranglers. It was released as a 7" single in December 1981, on Liberty. It was the second single released from the band's sixth album La Folie.

Overview

Originally featured on the group's album La Folie, which was released in November 1981, and later on some pressings of Feline, "Golden Brown" was released as a single in December 1981, and was accompanied by a video. It reached #2 in the official UK singles chart in February 1982[1], behind "Town Called Malice" by The Jam.[2] It was the comparatively conservative BBC Radio Two, at that time a middle-of-the-road (MOR) music radio station, decided to make the record the single of the week, a surprising step considering the band were almost as notorious as Sex Pistols only a few short years before. The fourth line of the song, "With my mind she runs," is a common source of mondegreens.[3] The band claimed that the song's lyrics were akin to an aural Rorschach test and that people only heard in it what they wanted to hear, although this did not prevent persistent allegations that the lyrics alluded to the narcotic heroin (although in an interview with Channel 4, drummer Jet Black quipped it was a song about Marmite).

The single was a hit around the world, scaling the Top 10 as far away as Australia. Its commercial success was probably the single factor that secured The Stranglers their continuing life in pop mainstream for the remainder of the 1980s.

Song meaning

There has been much controversy surrounding the lyrics. In his 2001 book The Stranglers Song By Song, Hugh Cornwell clearly states "'Golden Brown' works on two levels. It's about heroin and also about a girl". Essentially the lyrics describe how "both provided me with pleasurable times."[4]

Musical composition

The song is a waltzing, harpsichord-led ballad alternating between 3/4 and 4/4. The song's characteristic opening phrase consists of three bars of 3/4 and one bar of 4/4, technically totalling 13/4. The music was largely written by keyboardist Dave Greenfield and drummer Jet Black, with lyrics by Hugh Cornwell[5].

Music video

Two shots from Golden Brown: the band performing the song in Leighton House with Baroque instruments, and as explorers.

The video for "Golden Brown" depicts the band members both as explorers in an Arabic country (images of the Pyramids in the sequence allude to the Giza area of Egypt) in the 1920s and performers for a fictional "Radio Cairo". In addition to the Pyramids the video is intercut with stock footage of a madrassa in Uzbekistan, and Great Sphinx, Feluccas sailing, and Bedouins riding and camel racing in the United Arab Emirates. The performance scenes were filmed in the Leighton House Museum in Holland Park, London.

Chart performance

Chart (1981/1982) Peak
position
UK Singles Chart[1] 2
Dutch GfK chart[6] 10
Dutch Top 40[7] 8
Irish Singles Chart[8] 3
Chart (1991) Peak
position
UK Singles Chart[1] 68
Irish Singles Chart[8] 25

Cover versions

  • In 1994, Sopas del Mundo (Spain) recorded an acoustic version.
  • In 1996, British hip hop group Kaleef had a UK Top 40 hit with their re-working of this song[9].
  • In 1997, soul singer Omar revived the song and took it back into the UK Top 40[10].
  • On 20 May 1998, it was covered by American band Bedhead during an interview/live session on the radio in Amsterdam.
  • In 2000, Emer Kenny recorded a trance techno version of the song.
  • In 2002, Serbian rock band Night Shift on their debut album Undercovers
  • In 2006, English jazz singer-songwriter Symeon Cosburn covered the song on his album Breakfast With The Blues, which was later re-mixed into a pop/chillout version by The Groove Foundry and added as a bonus track on the album.
  • In 2007, English pop singer Jamelia sampled the song for her single "No More".
  • In 2009, English pop artist Frankmusik heavily sampled the song for his song "When You're Around"[11].

Track listing

Songs, lyrics, and music by The Stranglers.

  • 7" (BP 407)
  1. "Golden Brown" – 3:28
  2. "Love 30" – 3:57

References

  1. ^ a b c "Chart Stats - The Stranglers - Golden Brown". Retrieved 5 July 2009 (2009-07-05). {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  2. ^ "Chart Stats - Singles Chart For 13/02/1982". Retrieved 5 July 2009 (2009-07-05). {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  3. ^ "Am I Right - Misheard Lyrics, Golden Brown". Retrieved 5 July 2009 (2009-07-05). {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  4. ^ Cornwell, Hugh; Drury, Jim (2001). The Stranglers Song By Song. Sanctuary Publishing Ltd. ISBN 1860743625.
  5. ^ http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=33:j9fexv9jldae
  6. ^ "dutchcharts.nl - The Stranglers - Golden Brown [[:Template:Nl icon]]". Retrieved 5 July 2009 (2009-07-05). {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); URL–wikilink conflict (help)
  7. ^ "Nederlandse Top 40 - Week 11, 1982 [[:Template:Nl icon]]". Retrieved 5 July 2009 (2009-07-05). {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); URL–wikilink conflict (help)
  8. ^ a b "irishcharts.ie search results". Retrieved 5 July 2009 (2009-07-05). {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  9. ^ "Chart Stats - Kaleef - Golden Brown". Retrieved 5 July 2009 (2009-07-05). {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  10. ^ "Chart Stats - Omar - Golden Brown". Retrieved 5 July 2009 (2009-07-05). {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  11. ^ "FrankMusik: When You're Around (Boys Noize mix)". Retrieved 5 July 2009 (2009-07-05). {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
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