Gold was a multi-instrumentalist who played guitar, bass, keyboards, accordion, synthesizer, harmonica, saxophone, flute, drums and percussion, as well as more arcane musical devices such as ukulele, musette, and harmonium. He was also a producer, sound engineer, film composer, session musician, actor, and painter.
Throughout the years, he played and/or sang on records and/or live performances with artists including Carly Simon, Jennifer Warnes, Linda Ronstadt, Stephen Bishop, Nicolette Larson, Maria Muldaur, Neil Diamond, Barbi Benton, Juice Newton, Leo Sayer, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Karla Bonoff, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, John Lennon, Frankie Valli/Four Seasons , Brian Wilson, James Taylor, Roy Orbison, Don Henley, Bette Midler, Diana Ross, Cher, Jesse McCartney and J.D. Souther.
Gold was born in Burbank, California, and eventually followed his parents into show business. His mother is singer Marni Nixon (who provided the singing voice for numerous actresses, notably Natalie Wood in West Side Story, Deborah Kerr in The King and I, and Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady); his father was Ernest Gold, the Austrian-born, Academy Award-winning composer for the movie Exodus. He has two younger sisters.
Gold began writing songs at the age of 13. Abroad in England for school, the 16-year old Gold scored his first recording contract on the strength of a selection of demos he submitted to Polydor Records’ London office. That contract resulted in the single "Of All the Little Girls," which was recorded with his friend and collaborator Charlie Villiers, and released in 1967 under the name Villiers and Gold.
Career
1970–79
By the early 1970s, Gold was working full-time as a musician, songwriter and record producer. He was a member of the Los Angeles band Bryndle, alongside Kenny Edwards, Wendy Waldman and Karla Bonoff, releasing the single "Woke Up This Morning" in 1970. He played a major role as multi-instrumentalist and arranger for Linda Ronstadt's breakthrough album, 1974's Heart Like a Wheel, and her next four albums. Among other accomplishments, he played the majority of instruments on "You're No Good," Ronstadt's first #1 single on the Billboard Hot 100, and the same on "When Will I Be Loved," "Heat Wave" and many other classic hits. He was in her band from 1973 until 1977, and then sporadically throughout the 1980s and 1990s.
In 1975, Gold began recording as a solo artist, releasing four studio albums in the 1970s and over twelve since then. His hit single "Lonely Boy" reached #7 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in June 1977 and has appeared in a number of film soundtracks, including Boogie Nights in 1997 and Adam Sandler's 1998 movie The Waterboy, among others. In February 2000, the American rock band Foo Fighters recorded a cover of the song to be used as a B-side for an upcoming single off their 1999 album There Is Nothing Left to Lose; however, it wasn't used as planned. On Marc Maron's January 17, 2013 WTF podcast, Foo Fighters leader Dave Grohl said that the band's cover of "Lonely Boy" would eventually be released as the A-side of a special "Solid Gold" 45 rpm single with a Foo Fighters version of Gold's "Never Let Her Slip Away" as the B-side.
Although "Lonely Boy" was the bigger radio hit in the States, his single "Thank You for Being a Friend" (which peaked at #25 in 1978) later gained popularity as the theme song for the 1985–92 NBC situation comedy The Golden Girls (performed by Cindy Fee for the show). "Thank You for Being a Friend" has also shown up in places as diverse as an episode of the long-running animated TV situation comedy The Simpsons, a 2013 Super Bowl ad for the National Football League,[10] and an audio file in various musical greeting cards. Gold's biggest UK hit was "Never Let Her Slip Away," which made it to #5 twice on the British singles charts, once by him and again 14 years later by dance-pop group Undercover. Freddie Mercury, who was a friend of Gold's, assisted him with sparse harmony vocals as an uncredited background singer. Among the artists recording Gold's material was British singer Petula Clark who covered "Lonely Boy" in French ("Poor Lonesome Playboy") on her Paris, Orleans, Paris album. In 1976, Gold wrote the title track "Endless Flight" for singer Leo Sayer's hit album.
1975 also marked a successful collaboration with Art Garfunkel, wherein Gold played most of the instruments on Garfunkel's solo hit "I Only Have Eyes For You" (which went to #1 on the UK Singles Chart), as well as several other cuts on Garfunkel's album Breakaway. That year, Gold also played guitar on two cuts of Eric Carmen's album Boats Against the Current, including "She Did It," which was a #23 hit that same year.[17] Gold toured with the Eagles; worked in the recording studio and toured with Jackson Browne; played and sang on record and toured with James Taylor; and was second engineer on part of Joni Mitchell's Blue album.
1980–2011
In 1981, Gold produced, co-wrote, sang and played on three 10cc tracks that appeared the hit-making pop-rock band's 1981 album Ten Out of 10. Subsequently, Eric Stewart and Graham Gouldman of 10cc invited Gold to become a member of the group. Although he had worked with them in the studio, business conflicts prevented him from joining up. In late 1983, 10cc broke up, and in the aftermath, Gold and Gouldman formed Wax. Wax recorded and toured for five years. They enjoyed international success, particularly in the U.K. where the duo had several Top 10 hits including "Right Between the Eyes" and their biggest hit "Bridge to Your Heart". Wax broke up as a recording and touring entity in 1989, but Gold and Gouldman continued to write and record together when possible.
Gold played on Cher's hit 1989 album Heart of Stone, and, during the early '90s, wrote hits for Trisha Yearwood as well as Wynonna Judd for whom he co-wrote the #1 single "I Saw The Light" with Lisa Angelle. (Later, Gold would produce Angelle on her own album, which featured a number of songs they co-authored.) He also produced singles for Vince Gill, wrote and produced tracks for Celine Dion, and arranged a cover of the Everly Brothers' hit “All I Have to Do Is Dream" that was sung by stars Jeff Bridges and Karen Allen in the 1984 science-fiction film Starman.
In the 1990s, Gold once again joined forces with ex-bandmates Karla Bonoff, Wendy Waldman and Kenny Edwards to re-form Bryndle and finally release their first full-length album, Bryndle. In 1996, Gold left Bryndle and released the children's holiday-oriented novelty album Halloween Howls. The same year, he released the solo album ....Since 1951, and produced Stephen Bishop's Blue Guitar album. Thereafter, he recorded the psychedelic '60s tribute album Greetings from Planet Love under the pseudonym The Fraternal Order Of The All, and released it on his own record label QBrain Records. This album was a multi-tracked solo affair with Gold essentially playing all of the instruments and singing all of the vocals on original songs in the style of Gold's favorite 1960s bands such as The Beatles, The Byrds and The Beach Boys. He produced, composed, and/or wrote tracks for numerous films, such as the comedy Rectuma from director Mark Pirro, and contributed songs to many television soundtracks and commercials. Among his more high-profile gigs, he sang "Final Frontier," the theme song for the television sitcom Mad About You. In a remarkable turn of events, his rendition of the song was used as the wake-up call for the Mars Pathfinder space probe in 1996.[18] Gold also produced seven albums for Japanese singer-songwriter Eikichi Yazawa.
During 2000, Gold compiled a Wax rarities album, Wax Bikini, as well as recording and releasing a new solo album The Spence Manor Suite - which was followed in 2002 by another solo collection Intermission. He appeared in a 2006 concert with the classic rock group America, and the performance was later released as a DVD entitled "America And Friends - Live at the Ventura Theater." The show featured Gold performing "Thank You for Being a Friend," "Final Frontier," "Bridge to Your Heart" and "Lonely Boy," as well as accompanying America and fellow guest artist Stephen Bishop on guitar and vocals. Gold had earlier produced America's Holiday Harmony Christmas album back in 2002, wherein he also played most of the instruments and co-wrote the track "Christmas in California."
Personal life
Gold was married to Vanessa Green, with whom he had three daughters, Emily, Victoria, and Olivia. After a divorce from Green, he married Leslie Kogan.
Although Gold put personal references in the lyrics to "Lonely Boy" (including his year of birth), he admitted in an interview that it was not autobiographical: "Maybe it was a mistake to do that, but I simply put in those details because it was convenient. I hadn't been a lonely boy at all – I'd had a very happy childhood."[21]
On June 3, 2011, Gold died in his sleep from heart failure at age 59 in Los Angeles.
Must Be Crazy
Andrew Gold Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Welcome to my Halloween house
It's time to go trick or treating
so, be sure to light your pumpkins
Wee)
The ghost says boo
The cat says meow
It must be Halloween
The wolf howls
The wind blows
The witches laugh, hee, hee, hee
It must be Halloween
Skeletons may dance about
By jack 'o lanterns light
Spooks and monsters are all out
'Cause the moon is full tonight
The slime goes
The ooze goes, eww
It's yucky but it's fun tonight
It must be Halloween
Woo
Oh yeah
Scary
Skeletons may dance about
By jack 'o lanterns light
Spooks and monsters are all out
'Cause the moon is full tonight
The ghost says boo
The cat says meow (scat)
The goblins say trick or treat
It must be Halloween
It must be Halloween
The lyrics of Andrew Gold's "Must Be Crazy" describe the spooky and eerie atmosphere of Halloween. As the song begins, we are welcomed into the Halloween house by a child's voice, setting the ambience for the song. The verses go on to describe the different sounds associated with Halloween, from the wolf howls to the witches' cackling, the ghosts saying "boo," the cats saying "meow" and the goblins saying "trick or treat". These sounds combined create fear and excitement for the holiday of Halloween. The chorus talks about the presence of skeletons, spooks, and monsters that are all out on this full moon night, dancing to the light of jack o'lanterns. The horror-filled lyrics in the song capture the excitement associated with the fear and the unknown, and the feeling of happiness even in the midst of that fear.
The repetition of the phrase "it must be Halloween" is used to reinforce the idea of the holiday's ambiance, and the childlike enthusiasm is highlighted throughout with the ad-libs of "wee" and "oh yeah." The lyrics of this song are simple yet effective in conveying the essence of Halloween, presenting the spooky and the fun in a lighthearted way relatable to children of all ages. "Must Be Crazy" is an excellent Halloween song to play during holiday gatherings, to get people in the mood to trick or treat, and sing along to the spooky tunes.
Line by Line Meaning
The ghost says boo
This line alludes to the common Halloween trope of ghosts making spooky noises to scare people.
The cat says meow
This line suggests that even the most ordinary things are associated with Halloween, like a cat making a simple meowing sound.
The goblins say trick or treat
This line refers to the tradition of children going door to door in costumes, asking for candy with the phrase 'trick or treat'.
It must be Halloween
This refrain is repeated throughout the song and serves as a reminder that all of these spooky occurrences are happening because it's Halloween.
The wolf howls
This line uses the image of a wolf howling at the moon to create a more eerie atmosphere.
The wind blows
This line speaks to the idea of autumn weather being windy and cold, which can make things even spookier.
The witches laugh, hee, hee, hee
This line uses the classic image of witches cackling to add to the creepy vibe of the song.
Skeletons may dance about
This line hints at the idea that even the dead can come back to life on Halloween.
By jack 'o lanterns light
This line references the practice of carving faces into pumpkins and using them as lanterns to light the way on Halloween night.
Spooks and monsters are all out
This line emphasizes that all sorts of supernatural beings are thought to be lurking around on Halloween.
'Cause the moon is full tonight
This line suggests that the moon is a powerful force on Halloween and can make normally rational people act in strange ways.
The slime goes
This line speaks to the idea of Halloween being a time when gross and slimy things are celebrated, like fake slime used in costumes and decorations.
The ooze goes, eww
This line plays with the idea that even though slimy things are gross, they're also seen as a fun part of the Halloween experience.
Woo
This exclamation adds to the spooky mood of the song.
Oh yeah
This exclamation is a more upbeat addition to the song and adds to the overall celebratory atmosphere.
Scary
This one-word interjection sums up the whole feeling of Halloween and encapsulates the idea that it's a time for scares and thrills.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Written by: Andrew M. Gold
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
ylwf
I have been looking for ALL of the songs on this album forever on You Tube. It really sucks that he has to die first for anyone to post this album
Alley Kat
It's also the B-SIDE of the 45RPM single of 'LONELY BOY'.
Dominique Van de velde
merci pour ce post ; super