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Golden Brown

There are many great songs about heroin. For years I was unaware that 'Golden Brown' was among them.I recall hearing a radio interview with Hugh Cornwell at the time of the song's release in which he was directly asked about its lyrics' significance, to which he answered that it was all to do with the allure of the exotic (or something of that sort). In any case, there was no mention of strong narcotics.

Not that a song need be about only one thing, of course, and Cornwell's original euphemistic explanation still colours my perception of it to this day. I loved it as a 13-year-old, and enjoy hearing it still. It has a sun-baked feeling decidedly different from the bludgeoning menace of much of their earlier material. They'd done tunes in waltz time before but the harpsichord was a new departure. The much later mariachi version of it is a joy too.

I have it on a 7" single. The B-side is 'Love 30' a tennis-themed instrumental track I'm not all that fond of. On the back of the (brown) paper sleeve is the text "for details of rare Stranglers recordings, publications, Strangled magazine and information, etc., please write to S.I.S. (Stranglers Information Service)..."

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