Golden Brown

"Golden Brown"
Single by the Stranglers
from the album La folie
B-side"Love 30"
Released11 January 1982 (1982-01-11) (UK)
StudioThe Manor Studio (Shipton-on-Cherwell)
Genre
Length3:30
LabelLiberty BP 407 (UK, 7-inch)
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)
The Stranglers singles chronology
"Let Me Introduce You to the Family"
(1981)
"Golden Brown"
(1982)
"La Folie"
(1982)
The Stranglers singles chronology
"Always the Sun (Sunny Side Up Mix)"
(1991)
"Golden Brown"
(1991)
"Heaven or Hell"
(1992)
Music video
"Golden Brown" on YouTube

"Golden Brown" is a song by the English rock band the Stranglers released as a 7-inch single on EMI's Liberty label in 1982, noted for its distinctive harpsichord instrumentation. It was the second single released from the band's sixth studio album La folie (1981) and peaked at No. 2 in the UK Singles Chart, the band's highest ever placing in that chart. It has also been recorded by many other artists.

Composition

There is disagreement among observers as to which time signatures best represents parts of the song.: 43  The main body of the song has a triple metre waltz rhythm, with beats grouped in threes, but the instrumental parts add an extra beat to create a phrase of thirteen beats. The thirteen beats appear in the sheet music as alternating bars of 6
8
and 7
8
, which has also been described as three bars of 3
4
followed by one bar of 4
4
.: 183 : 217  The sheet music of "Golden Brown" is published in B-flat minor.

The music was largely written by keyboardist Dave Greenfield and drummer Jet Black, with lyrics by singer/guitarist Hugh Cornwell. The basis for the tune came from an unused part of "Second Coming", a track which featured on their previous album.: 43 

Lyrics

In his book The Stranglers Song by Song (2001), Hugh Cornwell states, "'Golden Brown' works on two levels. It's about heroin and also about a girl... both provided me with pleasurable times.": 215 

Release and reception

Originally featured on the group's album La folie, which was released in November 1981, and later on the US pressings of Feline (1983), "Golden Brown" was released as a single in January 1982, and was accompanied by a music video. It was a top 10 hit around the world. David Hamilton, disc jockey on the comparatively conservative BBC Radio 2, which was a middle-of-the-road (MOR) music radio station at that time, made the single his "record of the week".

The single reached No. 2 in the official UK Singles Chart in February 1982, remaining there for two weeks behind double A-sided record "Town Called Malice/Precious" by the Jam. In a 2017 interview for Dutch television station Top 2000 a gogo, Hugh Cornwell says he believes that the song would have got to Number 1 if bassist Jean-Jacques Burnel had not told the press that the song was about heroin, at which point broadcasters removed it from their playlists, prejudicing sales. "I would have waited till it got to Number 1 and then said it," he commented.

In 1995, Black, Burnel and Greenfield appeared with impressionist Rory Bremner on his satirical Christmas special performing a parody version of the song about future Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who was then Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer.

In a BBC Radio 2 listener poll of the nation's favourite singles to have peaked at number two, conducted in late 2012, "Golden Brown" ranked fifth behind "Vienna", "Fairytale of New York", "Sit Down" and "American Pie", and just ahead of "Waterloo Sunset" and "Penny Lane"/"Strawberry Fields Forever".

In January 2014, NME ranked the song at No. 488 on its list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time".

Music video

Two shots from the music clip of "Golden Brown": the band performing the song in Leighton House and as explorers

The video for "Golden Brown" was directed by Lindsey Clennell. It depicts the band members both as explorers in an Arabian country in the 1920s and performers for a fictional "Radio Cairo".

In addition to the Pyramids, the video is intercut with stock footage of the Mir-i-Arab Madrasah in Bukhara, the Shah Mosque in Isfahan, the Great Sphinx, Feluccas sailing, Bedouins riding, and camel racing in the United Arab Emirates. The performance scenes were filmed in the Leighton House Museum in Holland Park, London, which was also used in the filming of the video for "Gold" by Spandau Ballet in 1983.

Track listing

Songs, lyrics and music by the Stranglers.

7-inch: Liberty / BP 407 (UK)

Side one

  1. "Golden Brown" – 3:28

Side two

  1. "Love 30" – 3:57

1991 7-inch: Epic / 656761 7 (UK)

Side one

  1. "Golden Brown" – 3:29

Side two

  1. "You" – 3:09

1991 Reissue – CD-Maxi: Epic / 656761 2 (UK)

  1. "Golden Brown" – 3:31
  2. "You" – 3:08
  3. "Peaches" – 3:59
  4. "Skin Deep (12-inch Version)" – 7:09

Charts

Weekly charts

Chart (1982) Peak
position
Australia (Kent Music Report) 10
Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders) 7
France (IFOP) 73
Germany (Official German Charts) 63
Ireland (IRMA) 3
Netherlands (Dutch Top 40) 8
Netherlands (Single Top 100) 10
UK Singles (OCC) 2
Chart (1991)1 Peak
position
Ireland (IRMA) 25
UK Singles (OCC) 68

Remix

Chart (2013) Peak
position
UK Singles (OCC) 98

Year-end charts

Year-end chart performance for "Golden Brown"
Chart (1982) Position
Australia (Kent Music Report) 95

Certifications

Region Certification Certified units/sales
United Kingdom (BPI) Platinum 600,000

Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

Cover versions

In 1996 British hip hop group Kaleef's re-working of the song reached number 22 in the UK Charts. The following year, a cover version by soul singer Omar reached number 37.

In 2020 British YouTuber and saxophonist Laurence Mason's cover of "Golden Brown", in the style of classical American jazz pianist Dave Brubeck, was viewed over a million times, leading to a commercial release via Amazon and iTunes, and as a vinyl single under the title "Take Vibe EP". The vinyl release stayed two weeks in the Official Vinyl Singles Chart's Top 40, peaking at No 24.


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