In the discography of most popular rock bands, there are tracks that fans and critics see as references to drugs. The scandalous punks from the British gang The Stranglers also have a similar composition – Golden Brown (“Golden Brown”).
Moreover, this is their most famous thing, familiar even to people who are infinitely far from punk music.
The history of the song Golden Brown
The idea of the track of The Stranglers came unexpectedly even for its authors. Keyboardist Dave Greenfield experimented with the harpsichord mode on the synthesizer. Improvising, he composed a funny sixties-style melody in alternating 6/8 and 7/8 time signatures.
Hugh Cornwell, hearing the excerpt, wrote a rough draft of the lyrics about something (or someone) “golden brown” in about ten minutes, which, after a little tweaking, became the finished song.
When The Stranglers presented Golden Brown to the bosses of Liberty Studios, with whom they had recently begun working together, they were skeptical. They insisted that punk had outlived its usefulness, that the band members were exhausted, that this composition was not in their style at all, that the fans would not accept it, and so on.
However, the musicians insisted on including the track on their new album La Folie, released in November 1981.
Release and achievements
Frankly, with the exception of drummer Jet Black, no one in the band believed in the success of Golden Brown, but the public was of a different opinion. Radio stations began to actively put the song on the air, and the decision to release it as a single came by itself.
It was released in the US in December and in the UK the following January, where it climbed to number two on the charts, prompting BBC Radio 2 to name it Single of the Week.
What is Golden Brown – The Stranglers about?
And then a scandal erupted around the meaning of the composition Golden Brown. It is difficult to say who first came up with this idea, but gradually it became widely believed that the song was about a heroine.
For twenty years, the band members have denied this assumption and even stated that the composition is akin to the Rosharh test. They say that everyone finds in it what he is looking for. However, in 2001, Hugh Cornwell admitted that the song was about drugs and his girlfriend, who was from the Mediterranean and had a beautiful tan.
I don’t want to dwell on Golden Brown covers in detail. Kaleef’s and Omar’s versions achieved the greatest success in the charts, with which they hit the UK Top 40.
Clip Golden Brown – The Stranglers
An interesting video was filmed for the track, in which the punks from The Stranglers appear as travelers exploring Arab countries. Next, you can watch Golden Brown’s music video online. Share your impressions of the song and video in the comments.
Interesting Facts
- Moviegoers will surely remember the spectacular fistfight scene from the movie “Snatch” (Snatch), in which Golden Brown sounds.
Golden Brown Lyrics
golden brown texture like sun
lays me down with my mind she runs
throughout the night
No need to fight
Never a frown with golden brown
Every time just like the last
On her ship tied to the mast
To distant lands
Takes both my hands
Never a frown with golden brown
golden brown finer template
Through the ages she’s heading west
From far away
Stays for a day
Never a frown with golden brown
Never a frown
with golden brown
Never a frown
with golden brown
Golden Brown Lyrics
Golden brown like the sun
Lays me down, runs away with my mind
In the night
No need to fight
Never get mad at golden brown
Every time like the last
Tied to the mast on her ship
Who’s heading to distant lands
She takes my hands
Never get mad at golden brown
golden brown exquisite temptress
For many centuries she keeps her way to the west
from afar
Stays for one day
Never get mad at golden brown
Never get angry
For golden brown
Never get angry
For golden brown
Song quote
Fortunately, the lyrics of the song are so incomprehensibly vague that no one could sew something on them ….
BBC
