By David Meikle (62.252.128.6 - 62.252.128.6) on Sunday, August 25, 2002 - 03:12 pm:

Davie Gordon found this scan on ebay today.

Mentions Tera Shirma.

By acooolcat (211.78.28.71 - 211.78.28.71) on Monday, August 26, 2002 - 09:43 am:

I wonder where Ron Dunbar is now? I used to have his number in Detroit, but he's since moved.
You probably know that he also recorded as Ronnie Love for D-Town. I'd love to meet him. Any leads?
Graham

By David Meikle (213.122.156.2 - 213.122.156.2) on Monday, August 26, 2002 - 10:28 am:

I wonder if Howard Priestley would know?

I love that "You can dance" track you gave me on tape. Was that the name of the song?

By Steve Litos (209.100.86.4 - 209.100.86.4) on Monday, August 26, 2002 - 01:43 pm:

What a great record! I first heard it on Didn't I Blow Your Mind Vol 2. I didn't think the song title ended with a question mark. I thought it was just a statement.

I think it would become a hit again if it were remade.

By Ritchie (62.254.0.7 - 62.254.0.7) on Monday, August 26, 2002 - 01:49 pm:

Mmm - I wondered about the question mark too. John - what say you?

By Steve Litos (209.100.86.4 - 209.100.86.4) on Monday, August 26, 2002 - 02:24 pm:

Maybe the title started out as While You're Out Looking For Sugar(Somebody's Gonna Take Your Honey And Be Gone), but Buddah shortened it because it was too darn long.

On a similar subject (Hot Wax/Invictus) Bob Dennis had an article stating the original bridge from "Band Of Gold" was edited out due to length of the recording. I guess it has some missing lyrics that explains that the girl left the guy instead of...anyone of the other possible explainations.

Does anyone know the missing lyrics?

By Ritchie (62.254.0.7 - 62.254.0.7) on Monday, August 26, 2002 - 03:51 pm:

Well, on the Band of Gold "unedited alternate version" on the Best of FP CD, the first verse is a little different:

Now that you've gone, all that's left is a band of gold
All that's left of the dreams I hold is a band of gold
And the memory of our wedding day
And the night I turned you away

The missing bridge is:

Each night I lie awake and I tell myself
The vows we made gave you the right to have a love each night. (?)

The bridge appears twice in the song, which has a total playing time of 3'44"

(If somebody else can decipher the second line of the bridge better, please do!)

By john lester (213.1.131.165 - 213.1.131.165) on Monday, August 26, 2002 - 05:57 pm:

In the old days when we were new and green, we used to have home made magazines like Hot Buttered Soul, Soul Cargo and the like.....

Discographies tended to tell you where the record was recorded and what instruments were used.

The Hot Wax discography's showed tera Shirma all the time. You guys ought to try and check these out. The discographer was often Rob Hughes, a great mate that I have known for some 25 years!

By Ritchie (62.254.0.7 - 62.254.0.7) on Monday, August 26, 2002 - 06:11 pm:

So, thirty years on and not much has changed - only today we call them websites. One improvement, at least there's no danger of getting your fingers speared by staples!

By Steve Litos (209.100.86.4 - 209.100.86.4) on Monday, August 26, 2002 - 06:41 pm:

Thanks for the lyrics, Ritchie! Not to insult anyone here, but I think I've been in a love/hate relationship with the song. I think I started out liking it, but now I always think of it as a "everything and the kitchen sink" production that gets bogged down in it's own sonic weight.

When it comes on the radio, I pan it to the channel with lead vocals, bass, drums, and coral sitar so it doesn't seem quite so heavy.

By P.J. (12.227.35.89 - 12.227.35.89) on Monday, August 26, 2002 - 11:57 pm:

I'm not so sure about that bridge either on the alternate Band Of Gold. Does anyone have contact with Freda or HDH?
It sounds to me like: Each night I lie awake and I tell myself, the vows we made gave you the right to have a love excite.

By brianday@cwcom.net (212.137.136.124 - 212.137.136.124) on Friday, August 30, 2002 - 02:11 pm:

freda payne can be contacted through david nathen
his email adress is
davidpnathan@hotmail.com
he is coming over in october to meet me at some stage as well

By Eli (152.163.189.167 - 152.163.189.167) on Saturday, August 31, 2002 - 04:54 pm:

Band of gold also has an alternate intro where the sitar figure is turned around,and with the bridge and an alternate subtle melodic structure.
Hard to get used to though.

By MEL&THENSOME (195.219.7.53 - 195.219.7.53) on Sunday, September 01, 2002 - 08:18 pm:

Its interesting reading in a hot buttered soul(no.31)in an interview given to Keith Rylatt&Chris Savory with Edwin Starr,as Edwin is quoted as saying that 100 copies were issued on Ric Tic by him with the same backing as Somebodys been sleeping in my bed,was this the case?He also states that the B.Sharpley name is him.Edwin also put together The Shades of Blue to rival Golden Worlds,other Italian group,the talented Reflections.After a lengthy period of coaching by Edwin,he took them to G.World studios,who refused to record them.Enter Impact records and Oh How Happy things turned out.MEL.(are Richard Parker and Robert Parker the same guy?).

By MEL&THEN SOME (195.219.7.62 - 195.219.7.62) on Sunday, September 01, 2002 - 09:44 pm:

Was Pat Lewis a member of the Isaac Hayes back-up trio known as Hot,Buttered and Soul?MEL.

By acooolcat (211.78.28.80 - 211.78.28.80) on Monday, September 02, 2002 - 01:37 am:

Mel
Pat and her sister Diane were both in Hot Buttered Soul.
I'd guess that Edwin mistakenly mixed "Somebody's Been Sleeping ..." with "S.O.S" that was on Ric-Tic. As you know - this track was also released as a promo' only 45 called "Scott's on Swingers"
Graham

By Davie G (213.251.162.249 - 213.251.162.249) on Monday, September 02, 2002 - 09:18 am:

Mel,

Richard Parker and Robert Parker are different
people. Robert was from New Orleans and started
out as a sax player before making some vocal
records including his best known "Barefootin'"

Yes it's the same Pat Lewis

By Millie (68.40.198.72 - 68.40.198.72) on Monday, September 02, 2002 - 09:40 am:

I have never really understood the lyrics on "Band of Gold". What was the deal with their relationship? If she didn't know her mother, then how could he have taken her from the shelter she had never known? Why didn't they consummate their relationship on their wedding night? Why did they get married anyway??? Geez...I sound like Rosannarosannadanna. Can someone explain this song to me?? I've been agonizing over this for years!

Millie

By LTLFTC (12.245.225.79 - 12.245.225.79) on Monday, September 02, 2002 - 10:40 am:

Millie- The part about the mother is "you took me from the shelter of a Mother ; I had never known or loved any other". I guess it's hard to sing a semi-colon. As far as the relationship thing, here's my wife's theory: the guy had gotten her pregnant and married her out of obligation, never intending to maintain a relationship. My son's theory-in order to get a job promotion, inheritance or something, the guy had to get married to the first woman who said "yes". My theory-on their wedding night , he picked up some guy in the hotel bar and ran off to Guadaljara (sp ?). It's like those middle period Dylan songs; "whats it all mean?". That's sure a great track ,though.
Steve K.

By Ritchie (62.254.0.7 - 62.254.0.7) on Monday, September 02, 2002 - 11:30 am:

We've established, her only love before him was her mother. So, taking the "missing" lyrics onboard:

"Now that you've gone, all that's left is a band of gold
All that's left of the dreams I hold is a band of gold
And the memory of our wedding day
And the night I turned you away "

Did she refuse his desire to consummate the marriage on their wedding night?

The bridge:

"Each night I lie awake and I tell myself
The vows we made gave you the right to have a love each night."

- i.e. she's feeling guilty because she wouldn't fulfill her "wifely obligations" in the bedroom, and off he went in search of... well, you know what. Now she's left all alone with just her band of gold.

Just a thought.

By Ritchie (62.254.0.7 - 62.254.0.7) on Monday, September 02, 2002 - 11:50 am:

P.S. that would explain the verse:

"I wait in the darkness of a lonely room
Filled with sadness, filled with gloom - hoping soon
That you'll walk back through that door
And love me like you tried before"

Works for me ;)

By LTLFTC (12.245.225.79 - 12.245.225.79) on Monday, September 02, 2002 - 12:43 pm:

Since posting about this, I've had phone conversations with two other family members regarding those lyrics. First, my mom; she's 81 and I love her dearly, but she'd always heard that line as ,get this, "that night on our honeymoon we stayed in SYRACUSE". After, oh , ten minutes or so of stunned silence, I asked "well, whats the rest of the song about- the separation thing?" "Well, he dropped DEAD". "Dropped dead? where- Syracuse?" "Well, YEAH." Evidently the 'separate room' must be the morgue. Of course, a year or so later, I was playing a 45 of "Clean-Up Woman" and she asked me why on earth anyone would write a song about a 'Peanut Woman'. To which I replied 'why wouldn't they?' Roseanne Roseannadanna is for real!
The second conversation was with my 54 year old brother who had a different take. He figures the userous guy in the song married to avoid the draft. After the ceremony, he found out there weren't marriage deferrments anymore so he bolted to Canada. I like that; I think I'm gonna hear it that way from now on. I guess the bottom line here is a 32 year old pop song (and Millie's question-thanks) inspired multi-generational idol speculation. If that doesn't make a song a "classic" , what does?
Steve K.

By Ian W (213.122.74.253 - 213.122.74.253) on Monday, September 02, 2002 - 05:43 pm:

I must take more notice of lyrics.
I must take more notice of lyrics.
I must take more notice of lyrics.
I must take more notice of lyrics.
I must take more notice of lyrics.
....phew!

By Millie (68.40.198.72 - 68.40.198.72) on Monday, September 02, 2002 - 10:02 pm:

Thanks guys...your theories on the "Band of Gold" lyrics cracked me up, however, why was she so in love with her mother, and if she didn't really love the guy because he was gay, then why did she marry him? I certainly wouldn't marry a man who would rather be with another man which brings me to the questions of why and how her husband ended up in Guadalahara (sp?) with that other guy he met in the hotel lobby?? You know...this could be a movie and the song "Band of Gold" could be the soundtrack so at least we'd understand the song since we'd have just seen the movie. Any more ideas?

Millie

By Davie G (213.251.162.249 - 213.251.162.249) on Tuesday, September 03, 2002 - 09:56 am:

They ought to use "Band of Gold" in English
classes as an exam question.

"Question 3

Listen to "Band of Gold" then discuss, drawing
a conclusion and explaining, in full, the reasoning behind your conclusion.

Use both sides of the paper

Time : 34 years marks : 9075 "

By MEL&THEN SOME (195.219.7.38 - 195.219.7.38) on Tuesday, September 03, 2002 - 02:59 pm:

Graham and DavieG,thanks for putting me right,My swede isnt kicking in,of course I knew,but everytime I get on a roll I dont stop to think.How could I ask a dumb question regards the two Parkers, Christ sakes,and also regards Edwin etc.Being on a weeks Leave from work is sending me ga-ga.If I took a look at my sounds,it would help.I have various items in one form or another by all the mentioned.Alas,I regret selling my Scotts-on-Swingers a good few years ago,with my bloody Soul Partners/Brown Bombers.(although I prefer the Black Bombers on Mr.Rikers Durophet Label,now theres a rarity).MEL(going for a Lie Down).

By Vickie (64.236.243.243 - 64.236.243.243) on Tuesday, September 03, 2002 - 06:56 pm:

Man I have loved that song for years and years..
you don' t really think about the lyrics when you simply just sing or hum along Wired Al Yaknovic style and make up you own stuff that fits.....I am queen of mis-heard lyrics..

here is site that is quite funny...

http://www.amiright.com/misheard/artist/p.shtml

Vickie

By Millie (68.40.198.72 - 68.40.198.72) on Tuesday, September 03, 2002 - 07:51 pm:

Thanks Vickie! I visited the above site...I wish they would have printed all the lyrics to "Band of Gold"...maybe then I could figure out what the song was really saying!! Who wrote that song anyway?? Maybe we could get that person on the forum and he/she could interpret the song for all of us!!!

Millie

By Vickie (64.236.243.243 - 64.236.243.243) on Tuesday, September 03, 2002 - 08:22 pm:

no problem Millie

I like that site, I enjoy the bee gees mis heard lyrics..
I can relate to mis-hearing them my whole life..

Vicke