The song Fools Gold (“Gold of Fools”), combining elements of funk and rock, had a huge impact on the development of music in the nineties of the twentieth century.
It became the first major hit by The Stone Garden and remains the most commercially successful single in the history of the leader of the “Manchester wave”, reaching the top ten of the British official chart.
The history of creation and the meaning of the song Fools Gold
Its authors are the band’s vocalist Ian Brown and guitarist John Squire. According to Brown, they were inspired by the 1948 adventure drama The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, directed by John Huston.
Excerpts from Ian’s interview will help us understand the meaning of Fools Gold:
In the film, friends climb mountains in search of gold. But the further they go, the more often they quarrel with each other. That’s how we felt when The Roses started getting successful. Suddenly everyone was chasing their piece of gold.
Q, 2009
Three poor guys collected their last money to buy gold mining equipment. Then they all betrayed each other… That’s what the song is about.
The demo version of the song consisted of a simple drum part borrowed from James Brown’s Funky Drummer and a tambourine connected to it. Under this simple accompaniment, Ian Brown either sang or whispered the text. He later told how the idea for the composition came about:
We signed copies of our single She Bangs the Drums at the Eastern Bloc record store in Manchester. The owner said that we could choose a couple of albums as a token of his gratitude, and I chose the breakbeat album because I liked the cover and I wanted to hear what it was all about. That’s where I heard the Funky Drummer part that we created Fools Gold around.
Q
In the same interview, Squire shared his recollection of the song’s history:
Structurally, the single was completely different from anything we’ve written before. It wasn’t something we beat out and arranged on acoustic guitar to try out in rehearsals and rub it in with the drummer and bass player. I just put it on a portable studio and started playing guitar on top. The main riff was partly inspired by Johnny Cash’s rockabilly sound, that muted guitar sound you get when you just strum the bass strings.
Q
Release and achievements
The final version was recorded in late summer 1989 at Sawmills Studios with producer John Leckie. The studio work took two weeks.
Members of The Stone Roses wanted to place it on the back of the single, highlighting side A of What the World Is Waiting For. However, the Sawmills bosses saw Fools Gold as a potential hit and urged the musicians to swap them. In the end, everyone agreed to release a single with two tracks on the front side. It was released in the spring of 1989 and reached number eight on the UK Singles Chart.
It was included in the NME magazine’s “The 50 Greatest Indie Anthems of All Time” list.
Clip Fools Gold – The Stone Roses
Now let’s see the official video clip, filmed to promote the song. In the video, the band’s musicians play against the backdrop of a volcanic landscape on the island of Lanzarote, in the Canary Islands.
Interesting Facts
- “Fool’s gold” is called copper pyrite, which resembles gold, confusing inexperienced miners.
- There is a reference to Nancy Sinatra’s famous song These Boots Are Made for Walkin’ in the lyrics.
- John Squire’s painting Double Dorsal Dopplegänger was chosen for the cover of the single.
- The song is featured in Guy Ritchie’s famous film “Cards, Money, Two Smoking Barrels”.
- It can also be heard in several computer games: GTA: San Andreas (radio station Radio X), NBA 2K8 and FIFA Football 2004.
- In 2007, BBC Radio 5 listeners cited it as the song that best summarizes Manchester.
Fools Gold Lyrics
The gold road’s sure a long road
Winds on through the hills for fifteen days
The pack on my back is aching
The straps seem to cut me like a knife
The gold road’s sure a long road
Winds on through the hills for fifteen days
The pack on my back is aching
The straps seem to cut me like a knife
I’m no clown I won’t back down
I don’t need you to tell me what’s going down
Down down down down da down down down
Down down down down da down down down
chorus:
I’m standing alone
I’m watching you all
I’m seeing you sinking
I’m standing alone
You’re weighing the gold
I’m watching you sinking
Fools gold
These boots were made for walking
The Marquis de Sade don’t wear no boots like these
Gold’s just around the corner
Breakdown’s coming up round the bend
Sometimes you have to try to get along dear
I know the truth and I know what you’re thinking
Down down down down da down down down
Fools Gold Lyrics
The road to gold is long, of course
The winds between the hills blew us for fifteen days
The bundle on the back presses terribly,
Straps cut your shoulders like a knife
The road to gold is long, of course
The winds between the hills blew us for fifteen days
The bundle on the back presses terribly,
Straps cut your shoulders like a knife
I’m not a joke, I won’t back down
No need to say that everything is over
End, end, end, end, end, end, end
End, end, end, end, end, end, end
Chorus:
I stand alone
I look at all of you
I see you drown
I stand alone
you weigh the gold
I watch you drown
fool’s gold
These boots are for walking
The Marquis de Sade does not wear such
Gold is just around the corner
Forces are about to run out already around the corner
Sometimes you have to try hard to succeed, darling
I know the truth and I know what you think
End, end, end, end, end, end, end
