The Stranglers - Golden Brown (Live)

This song is a story of friendship between The Strangler’s lead vocalist Hugh Cornwell and his dear childhood friend.

At the time, Cornwell’s friend, an aspiring politician from Glasgow, was working as a lecturer in politics at Glasgow College of Technology. He ran for the Edinburgh South constituency in the UK general election of 1979, but lost to another candidate. He was feeling pretty down in the dumps after that, so Cornwell agreed to help out his old friend. Cornwell wrote and composed a song in support, depicting fond memories the two had in their youth. The song was a great success in that it pulled the band out of its slump, and resulted in the election of Cornwell’s friend into parliament the following year.

His friend was none other than Gordon Brown. Thanks to the release of Golden Brown, members of parliament reported they found Brown “more personable”. Brown has The Stranglers to thank for his rise to power as the eventual prime minister of the United Kingdom.

I’m just kidding, it’s about heroin and how awesome it is.