Golden Brown

Not to be confused with Brown gold (disambiguation).

For the colour, see Golden brown (colour).

"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). The single peaked at No. 2 in the UK Singles Chart, making it the band's highest-charting single in the country.^[5] It has also been recorded by many other artists.

"Golden Brown"
Single by the Stranglers
from the album La folie
B-side	"Love 30"
Released	11 January 1982 (1982-01-11) (UK)^[1]
Studio	The Manor Studio (Shipton-on-Cherwell)
Genre	New wave^[2] baroque pop^[3] psychedelic pop^[4]
Length	3:30
Label	Liberty BP 407 (UK, 7-inch)
Songwriter(s)	Hugh Cornwell Jean-Jacques Burnel Dave Greenfield Jet Black
Producer(s)	The Stranglers Steve Churchyard
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

Composition

There is disagreement among observers as to which time signatures best represents parts of the song.^[6]: 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.^[7][8] The thirteen beats appear in the sheet music as alternating bars of ⁶
₈ and ⁷
₈,^[9] which has also been described as three bars of ³
₄ followed by one bar of ⁴
₄.^{[10]: 183 [11]: 217} Sheet music of "Golden Brown" on musicnotes.com is published in B-flat minor.^[9]

The music was largely written by keyboardist Dave Greenfield and drummer Jet Black, with lyrics by singer/guitarist Hugh Cornwell.^[12] The music was adapted from an unused part of "Second Coming", a track which featured on their previous album.^[6]: 43

According to bassist Jean-Jacques Burnel, the song's atypical style for the group was intended to defy expectations: "The whole thing about that song is it really represented us sticking our fingers up to our detractors".^[13]

Lyrics

In his 2001 book The Stranglers Song by Song, Cornwell states: "'Golden Brown' works on two levels. It's about heroin and also about a girl... both provided me with pleasurable times."^[11]: 215

Release and reception

Initially, the band's label was hesitant to release the song as a single. Burnel recalled, "We had to insist on it being released. We'd been taken over by EMI and they thought we were awful – and they hated 'Golden Brown. They said: this song, you can't dance to it, you're finished".^[13] The label ultimately released the song during the Christmas season, leaving it to compete with holiday songs. Burnel stated, "They thought, it's weak, it's gonna die, it's gonna drown in the tsunami of Christmas shit… but it didn't. It developed legs of its own, it became a worldwide hit".^[13]

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. The single reached No. 2 in the official UK Singles Chart in February 1982.^[14][15] David Hamilton, disc jockey on the middle-of-the-road and comparatively conservative BBC Radio 2, made the single his "record of the week".^[1] In a 2017 interview for Dutch television station Top 2000 a gogo, Hugh Cornwell said that he believed the song would have made it to the top spot if bassist Burnel had not told the press that it was about heroin, at which point broadcasters removed it from their playlists. "I would have waited till it got to Number 1 and then said it," he commented.^[16] EMI instead blamed the single's failure to reach the top spot on sales of both the studio and live single releases of the Jam's "Town Called Malice", the number one single at the time, being counted together.^[17] The song also reached the Top 10 in Ireland, Flanders, the Netherlands, and Australia.

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.^[18]

In a 2012 BBC Radio 2 listener poll of the nation's favourite singles to have peaked at number two, "Golden Brown" ranked fifth.^[19]

In January 2014, NME ranked the song at No. 488 on its list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time".^[20]

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.^[21] It depicts the band members as explorers in Egypt in the 1920s and performers for a fictional "Radio Cairo".

The video is intercut with stock footage of the Giza pyramid complex, the Mir-i-Arab Madrasah in Bukhara, the Shah Mosque in Isfahan, the Great Sphinx, sailing feluccas, Bedouins riding camels, 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 featured in the video for "Gold" by Spandau Ballet in 1983.^[22]

Track listing

Songs, lyrics and music by the Stranglers.

7-inch: Liberty / BP 407 (UK)

Side one^[23]

1. "Golden Brown" – 3:28

Side two^[23]

1. "Love 30" – 3:57

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

Side one^[23]

1. "Golden Brown" – 3:29

Side two^[23]

1. "You" – 3:09

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

1. "Golden Brown" – 3:31^[23]
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)^[24]	10
Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)^[23]	7
France (IFOP)^[25]	73
Germany (Official German Charts)^[26]	63
Ireland (IRMA)^[27]	3
Netherlands (Dutch Top 40)^[28]	8
Netherlands (Single Top 100)^[29]	10
UK Singles (OCC)^[14]	2

Chart (1991)^1	Peak position
Ireland (IRMA)^[27]	25
UK Singles (OCC)^[30]	68

Remix

Chart (2013)	Peak position
UK Singles (OCC)^[31]	98

Year-end charts

Year-end chart performance for "Golden Brown"

Chart (1982)	Position
Australia (Kent Music Report)^[32]	95

Certifications

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
United Kingdom (BPI)^[33]	Platinum	600,000^‡
^‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

Cover versions and samples

In 1996 British hip hop group Kaliphz's re-working of the song reached number 22 in the UK Charts.^[34] The following year, a cover version by soul singer Omar reached number 37.^[35]

In 2007, British singer Jamelia released the single "No More", which heavily samples "Golden Brown".^[36][37]

In 2012 Cornwell sang a mariachi version of the song, backed by Mexican-British band Mariachi Mexteca (later known as the Mariachis).^[38]

In 2020 British YouTuber and saxophonist Laurence Mason's cover of "Golden Brown" in the style of Dave Brubeck's "Take Five" 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".^[39] The vinyl release stayed two weeks in the Official Vinyl Singles Chart's Top 40, peaking at No 24.^[40]

References

1. Twomey, Chris (1992). The Stranglers – The Men They Love to Hate. EMI Records Ltd. pp. 106–107.
2. Potts, Diana. "Original Soundtrack – Snatch". AllMusic. Retrieved 24 June 2013.
3. McNamee, David (4 January 2010). "Hey, what's that sound: Harpsichord". The Guardian. Retrieved 7 May 2016.
4. Stanley, Bob (13 September 2013). "Pleasently Antagonistic: New Wave". Yeah Yeah Yeah: The Story of Modern Pop. Faber & Faber. p. 453. ISBN 978-0-571-28198-5.
5. Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 535. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
6. Shenton, Laura (2022). The Stranglers - La Folie. Wymer Publishing. ISBN 9781915 246028.
7. "'Golden Brown' by The Stranglers: The making of the strange punk waltz". Gold Radio UK. Global. 6 September 2021. Retrieved 21 December 2022.
8. "Song Review by AllMusic". AllMusic. Netaktion LLC. Retrieved 21 December 2022.
9. "The Stranglers 'Golden Brown'". Musicnotes.com. Retrieved 21 December 2022.
10. Buckley, David (1997). The Stranglers - No Mercy: The Authorised and Uncensored Biography. Hodder & Stoughton. ISBN 0-340-68062-8.
11. Cornwell, Hugh; Drury, Jim (2001). The Stranglers Song by Song. Sanctuary Publishing Ltd. ISBN 1-86074-362-5.
12. . AllMusic. Archived from the original on 11 July 2013. Retrieved 9 July 2014.
13. Brannigan, Paul Brannigan (2 February 2024). ""Our new record label thought we were awful, and they hated Golden Brown. They said, you're finished": Jean-Jacques Burnel on why The Stranglers' best-known song was "a threat to the powers that be"". Louder. Retrieved 2 February 2024.
14. "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 9 July 2014.
15. "Official Singles Chart Top 100: 14 February 1982 – 20 February 1982". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 7 March 2017.
16. "Hugh Cornwell – Golden Brown (The Stranglers) – Het verhaal achter het nummer". Top 2000 a gogo. 30 December 2017. Retrieved 21 January 2022 – via YouTube.
17. Rice, Jo (1982). The Guinness Book of 500 Number One Hits (1st ed.). Enfield, Middlesex: Guinness Superlatives Ltd. pp. 221–2. ISBN 0-85112-250-7.
18. "Sound Bites". Strangled. Vol. 2, no. 44. Stranglers Information Service. December 1995. p. 3. Retrieved 1 November 2021.
19. "Ultravox's Vienna tops 'number two' poll". BBC Online. 1 January 2013. Retrieved 1 January 2013.
20. Barker, Emily (31 January 2014). "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time – 500–401". NME. Retrieved 28 July 2016.
21. . British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 15 May 2021. Retrieved 9 May 2020.
22. . Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Archived from the original on 22 July 2022. Retrieved 22 July 2022.
23. "The Stranglers – Golden Brown" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50. Retrieved 9 July 2014.
24. "Forum – ARIA Charts: Special Occasion Charts – CHART POSITIONS PRE 1989". Australian-charts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved 9 July 2014.
25. "Le Détail par Artiste". InfoDisc (in French). Select "Stranglers" from the artist drop-down menu. Retrieved 17 May 2016.
26. "The Stranglers – Golden Brown" (in German). GfK Entertainment charts. Retrieved 9 July 2014.
27. "The Irish Charts – Search Results – Golden Brown". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved 1 July 2014.
28. "Nederlandse Top 40 – week 11, 1982" (in Dutch). Dutch Top 40. Retrieved 9 July 2014.
29. "The Stranglers – Golden Brown" (in Dutch). Single Top 100. Retrieved 9 July 2014.
30. "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 9 July 2014.
31. "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 24 December 2018.
32. "National Top 100 Singles for 1982". Kent Music Report. 3 January 1983. Retrieved 22 January 2023 – via Imgur.
33. "British single certifications – Stranglers – Golden Brown". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 4 May 2021.
34. "Kaleef". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 9 July 2014.
35. "Omar". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 9 July 2014.
36. Mugan, Chris (2 September 2006). "Jamelia: Don't call me a celebrity". Independent. Retrieved 13 March 2024.
37. "Jamelia - No More (mixes)". Spotify. 9 March 2007. Retrieved 13 March 2024.
38. Goodman, William (14 August 2012). "Check out 'Golden Brown' performed with a mariachi band". CBS News. Retrieved 24 January 2024.
39. "Single of the Week: The Take Vibe E.P." DJ D-Mac & Associates. 2 October 2020. Retrieved 1 January 2021.
40. "Official Vinyl Singles Chart Top 40: 23 October 2020 – 29 October 2020". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 19 February 2021.

External links

• Guitar Tablature
• Golden Brown – The Story Behind the Song at Wow-Vinyl
• "Golden Brown" at Discogs (list of releases)