what do you guys think of this song? personally i think it is very meaningful and wholesome...i love this song and am glad that prince wrote it...what do u guys think?

i think he should include it in his live sets again.
it makes for a great finale track to a concert imo.

Gold is a great song, the Purple Rain of the 1990s.

but the lyrics are a little weird, as a dane I'm not exactly sure what Gold is about, other than it's about Warner and Prince's struggeling for artistic freedom.... (?)

Gold
There's a mountain and it's mighty high
U cannot see the top unless U fly
And there's a molehill of proven ground
There ain't no where 2 go if U hang around

Everybody wants 2 sell what's already been sold
Everybody wants 2 tell what's already been told
What's the use of money if U ain't gonna break the mold?
Even at the center of fire there is cold
All that glitters ain't gold
All that glitters ain't gold, mmm

There's an ocean of despair
There are people livin' there
They're unhappy each and every day
But hell is not fashion so what U tryin' 2 say?


Everybody wants 2 sell what's already been sold
Everybody wants 2 tell what's already been told
What's the use of money if U ain't gonna break the mold?
Even at the center of fire there is cold
All that glitters ain't gold, no no
All that glitters ain't gold, no no

There's a lady, 99 years old
If she led a good life, heaven takes her soul
Now that's a theory and if U don't wanna know
Step aside and make a way 4 those who want 2 go

Everybody wants 2 sell what's already been sold (Sold)
Everybody wants 2 tell what's already been told (Told)
What's the use of bein' young if U ain't gonna get old? (Old)
Even at the center of fire there is cold (Cold)
All that glitters (glitters) ain't gold, no no no no no
All that glitters ain't gold
Alright

All that glitters, all that glitters, all that glitters.. ain't gold

Na na na na na na na (Gold {x4})
Na na na na na na na (Gold {x4})
Gold, gold, gold
All that glitters ain't gold, gold, gold
All that glitters ain't gold, gold, gold (Na na na na na na na)
All that glitters ain't gold, gold, gold (Na na na na na na na)
All that glitters ain't gold, oh
Oh yeah
1 2.. 1 2 3, let's go!

(Na na na na na na na) {repeat}

U are now an official member of the New Power Generation
Welcome 2 The Dawn

All that glitters ain't gold (Gold) {repeat & loop}

©1994 Controversy Music - ASCAP

Great song, it reached top 10 in the UK so I was really hoping he would include it at O2 shows. No luck there, ofcourse.

It's a beautiful song and a good idea to end a concert with.
Lol though. I sing "there's a notion of despair" and it's "an ocean"

Maybe it is about the struggling of artist freedom. About being able to have the capital & talent to promote one's self & release what one likes. But being bound by contract one is nonetheless in chains and cannot reach the moutaintop. You can only leave the molehill if you put in a big effort to weave your way out of the trap. But I don't know a lot of that struggle to be honest.

All that glitters ain't gold is very much a relevant wisdom in anyone's world though. Things are not always what they appear to be, the outside looks nice (maybe contracts enticing artists to fame and fortune) but end up restricting freedom. Or just people who's internal beauty is different to what they project on the outside.

It's sure as hell is true about everyone wanting to sell everything that's already been sold etc. I forgot about the "welcome to the dawn part." BEAUTIFUL analogy to the colour gold. All sparkling and new like the sunrise.

always thought it was just about doing things differently and people who just take the easy road or have whacked priorities

Basically it's his Man in the Mirror


.
[Edited 9/21/09 2:43am]

I think it's a fabulous track, it should have become a Prince live classic but strangely at the exception of the Gold tour I think it has never been played in concert.

jn2 said:

What is though? He even seems ashamed if TMBGITW, his only UK number 1 and his first single that came on his terms.....relegated to a 30 second snippet on 21st Sept 2007 O2 show.


Wow....that was 2 years ago today - my greatest ever Prince experience; last 02 gig and aftershow....ah, happy days

Very nice!

I love the whole album, this is just a great song!
I really like the guitar solo in it...

I can kinda start to see how its the Purple Rain of the 90s.

and its true...All that glitter's, ain't gold.

One of my fav!!! LOVE IT!!

Bohemian67 said:

Me Too I sang Notion of dispair LOL

it sounds a lot like Prince struggling to find himself again. I don't mean that in a good way.

I love it.

I "discovered" it a couple of weeks ago and I've been listening to it quite a lot since then.

And I agree it's very meaningful
[Edited 9/21/09 8:26am]

I think it's a wonderful, intelligent, meaningful, beautiful, strong song.

The perfect ending to a perfect album.

the released version is overproduced and too glossy! I want a tough more earthy raw version...

Honestly when said he had a better song than Purple Rain, it definitely was the anthem when he and the NPG played it during 1994-96. I was hoping that in the latter 1990s concerts, as well as his current concert tours (One Nite Alone, Hit n Run 2000-01, Musicology) that Gold would be a tour staple. But alas it has not.

Hopefully he will dust this gem of a tune off and give it a few spins. I'd also love to hear Exodus live in some form.

ufoclub said:

like the one on the "1993-1994" Outtakes bootleg?

Wasn't this JUST discussed like 6 days ago or something?

Love, love, love that song. Prince should give Purple Rain a rest and play Gold. It has the same impact and such an underrated song.

gold is so beautiful...i just bought the single on amazon...and i love it i mean ive known the song for quite some time but the single is awesome especially with rock n roll is alive...and it lives in minneapolis love it...beautiful song

fantasticjoy said:

Co-sign.

Dave1992 said:

co-sign indeed

as someone else mentioned before, he called it his new anthem at the time,
a song that could replace purple rain as the finale of shows.

i'd expected it to turn up much sooner but for some weird reason he hasn't
dusted it off yet. i wonder why. especially since he loves to play his axe
so much lately. plus the song just has a beautiful melody and a good, clean
message that suits his current convictions, right?

fcuz, he's got a ton of stuff to pick from but he still plays a lot of the
same songs too often imo. i'm sure that 90% of people would love to hear
him play "gold" rather than yet another performance of "purple rain".

IstenSzek said:

Exactly. Plus, he could try a rather stripped down version of it too. Back in the mid 90s he had loads of backing vocals, special effects and riffs running on tapes, live, because the song sounds more like an anthem with the pompous arrangement back then.

Although I can't imagine any other band playing Gold than the 1993-1995 NPG, I would be very interested in what Prince can do with this song with his current band.


Hell, he should play more from TGE live. Even if it is We March.

I always felt it was a Graffiti Bridge update. GB, Gold, and Last December are very similar to me--Gold being the least camp of the 3.

like ufoclub said, I'd love to see a less glossy, rocked out version of the song.

But then again, what I'd really love to hear is a rocked out version of 'The Dawn'


Gold wasn't a bad track. Indeed it was pretty darned good. But it has ALOT of competition capping off an album as strong as the Gold Experience.

purplemaniac1992 said:

Haven't listened to the single in a while, but I seem to remember it being missing the guitar solo, which can't be a good thing!

Love the album version of the track though, loved it live too.

Marco81 said:

the demo versions have an interesting key change in their chord progression in the chorus... and fade out extension at the end.