Golden Brown
The Stranglers * Track #9 On La Folie
Download "Golden Brown"
Album La Folie
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- #2Everybody Loves You When You’re Dead
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- #3Tramp
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- #4Let Me Introduce You to the Family
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- #5Ain’t Nothin’ to It
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- #6The Man They Love to Hate
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- #7Pin Up
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- #8It Only Takes Two to Tango
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- #9Golden Brown
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- #10How to Find True Love and Happiness in the Present Day
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- #11La Folie
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- #12Cruel Garden
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- #13Cocktail Nubiles
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- #15Love 30
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- #16You Hold the Key to My Love in Your Hands
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- #17
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Golden Brown by The Stranglers
Release Date
Performed by
The StranglersWrited by
Jet Black (Stranglers drummer) & Dave Greenfield & Jean-Jacques Burnel & Hugh CornwellAbout
Lyrically, all of “Golden Brown” works on two levels, and was deliberately written to be ambiguous so that the darker meaning would get past censors. Singer and lyricist Hugh Cornwell said in 2001:
“It’s about heroin and also about a girl… both provided me with pleasurable times.”
The instrumentat...
Golden Brown Lyrics
[Verse 1]
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
[Verse 2]
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
[Verse 3]
Golden brown, finer temptress
Through the ages, she's heading west
From far away, stays for a day
Never a frown with golden brown
[Instrumental Break]
[Outro]
Never a frown (Never a frown)
(Never a frown) With golden brown (With golden brown)
(With golden brown) Never a frown (Never a frown)
(Never a frown) With golden brown (With golden brown)
(With golden brown) Never a frown (Never a frown)
(Never a frown) With golden brown (With golden brown)
(With golden brown) Never a frown (Never a frown)
(Never a frown) With golden brown (With golden brown)
Golden Brown Q&A
Who wrote Golden Brown's ?
Golden Brown was written by Jet Black (Stranglers drummer) & Dave Greenfield & Jean-Jacques Burnel & Hugh Cornwell.
Who produced Golden Brown's ?
Golden Brown was produced by The Stranglers & Tony Visconti & Steve Churchyard.
When did The Stranglers release Golden Brown?
The Stranglers released Golden Brown on Mon Dec 28 1981.
What did The Stranglers say about "Golden Brown"?
Singer and lyricist Hugh Cornwell said in 2001:
“It’s about heroin and also about a girl… both provided me with pleasurable times.”
In musical terms, what is the song like?
The instrumentation is quite unconventional for what is notionally a punk record, featuring a harpsichord very prominently. Dave Greenfield’s keyboard plays in 3/ 4 time, but his harpsicord part has twice as many beats in 6/8 time. Additionally, every fourth bar switches to 4/4 time.
The unconventi...
How did it do commercially?
Thanks to being chosen as BBC Radio 2’s record of the week, “Golden Brown” peaked at #2, a chart high for The Stranglers, behind “Town Called Malice” by The Jam. Today, it is probably the band’s most famous song.
Can you waltz to it?
Not easily! When he appeared on Strictly Come Dancing in 2005, newsreader Bill Turnbull and his partner tried to waltz to “Golden Brown”, but its unconventional time signatures made it very hard. Turnbull later described the dance as “a disaster”, but he received a respectable score of 27/40.