Английская Википедия:Golden Brown

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"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.[1] 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.[2]Шаблон:Rp 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.[3][4] The thirteen beats appear in the sheet music as alternating bars of Шаблон:Music and Шаблон:Music,[5] which has also been described as three bars of Шаблон:Music followed by one bar of Шаблон:Music.[6]Шаблон:Rp[7]Шаблон:Rp Sheet music of "Golden Brown" on musicnotes.com is published in B-flat minor.[5]

The music was largely written by keyboardist Dave Greenfield and drummer Jet Black, with lyrics by singer/guitarist Hugh Cornwell.[8] The music was adapted from an unused part of "Second Coming", a track which featured on their previous album.[2]Шаблон:Rp

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".[9]

Lyrics

In his 2001 book The Stranglers Song by Song, Cornwell states: Шаблон:"'Golden Brown' works on two levels. It's about heroin and also about a girl... both provided me with pleasurable times."[7]Шаблон:Rp

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".[9] 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".[9]

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.[10][11] David Hamilton, disc jockey on the middle-of-the-road and comparatively conservative BBC Radio 2, made the single his "record of the week".[12] 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.[13] 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.[14] 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.[15]

In a 2012 BBC Radio 2 listener poll of the nation's favourite singles to have peaked at number two, "Golden Brown" ranked fifth.[16]

In January 2014, NME ranked the song at No. 488 on its list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time".[17]

Music video

Файл:The Stranglers - Golden Brown.jpg
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.[18] 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.[19]

Track listing

Songs, lyrics and music by the Stranglers.

7-inch: Liberty / BP 407 (UK)

Side one[20]

  1. "Golden Brown" – 3:28

Side two[20]

  1. "Love 30" – 3:57

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

Side one[20]

  1. "Golden Brown" – 3:29

Side two[20]

  1. "You" – 3:09

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

  1. "Golden Brown" – 3:31[20]
  2. "You" – 3:08
  3. "Peaches" – 3:59
  4. "Skin Deep (12-inch Version)" – 7:09

Charts

Weekly charts

Шаблон:SinglechartШаблон:SinglechartШаблон:SinglechartШаблон:SinglechartШаблон:SinglechartШаблон:Singlechart
Chart (1982) Peak
position
Australia (Kent Music Report)[21] 10
France (IFOP)[22] 73
Шаблон:SinglechartШаблон:Singlechart
Chart (1991)1 Peak
position

Remix

Шаблон:Singlechart
Chart (2013) Peak
position

Year-end charts

Year-end chart performance for "Golden Brown"
Chart (1982) Position
Australia (Kent Music Report)[23] 95

Certifications

Шаблон:Certification Table Top Шаблон:Certification Table Entry Шаблон:Certification Table Bottom

Cover versions and samples

In 1996 British hip hop group Kaliphz's re-working of the song reached number 22 in the UK Charts.[24] The following year, a cover version by soul singer Omar reached number 37.[25]

In 2007, British singer Jamelia released the single "No More", which heavily samples "Golden Brown".[26][27]

In 2012 Cornwell sang a mariachi version of the song, backed by Mexican-British band Mariachi Mexteca (later known as the Mariachis).[28]

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".[29] The vinyl release stayed two weeks in the Official Vinyl Singles Chart's Top 40, peaking at No 24.[30]

References

Шаблон:Reflist

External links

Шаблон:The Stranglers

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