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.
Spooky Scary Skeletons
Andrew Gold Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Send shivers down your spine
Shrieking skulls will shock your soul
Seal your doom tonight
Spooky scary skeletons
Speak with such a screech
You'll shake and shudder in surprise
We're so sorry skeletons
You're so misunderstood
You only want to socialize
But I don't think we should
'Cause spooky scary skeletons
Shout startling shrilly screams
They'll sneak from their sarcophagus
And just won't leave you be
(Ooh-ooh-ooh, ooh-ooh-ooh)
(Ooh-ooh-ooh, ooh-ooh-ooh)
Spirits supernatural are shy
What's all the fuss?
But bags of bones seem so unsafe
It's semi-serious
Spooky scary skeletons
Are silly all the same
They'll smile and scrabble slowly by
And drive you so insane
Sticks and stones will break your bones
They seldom let you snooze
Spooky scary skeletons
Will wake you with a boo
The lyrics to Andrew Gold's "Spooky Scary Skeletons" embrace the Halloween spirit. The main focus of the song is the description of the scary nature of skeletons. The song creates vivid imagery for the audience, as it describes how these spooky scary skeletons send shivers down the spine of those who come into contact with them. The shrieking skulls mentioned in the lyrics heighten the fear that skeletons instill in people. The song creates an eerie environment that any horror lover would enjoy. However, the song also highlights how misunderstood these skeletons are. Although they may appear spooky and frightening, they are only looking for an opportunity to socialize. Andrew Gold's lyrics convey that the fear associated with skeletons is baseless and that even if they seem scary, they are docile.
Line by Line Meaning
Spooky scary skeletons
The eerie souls of the deceased, now bones, are here to reveal themselves.
Send shivers down your spine
Their presence makes you feel uneasy and sends a chill down your spine.
Shrieking skulls will shock your soul
The vocal cries of their heads will stun your mind.
Seal your doom tonight
They've come to take you with them to your inevitable end.
Speak with such a screech
They communicate in a sharp, high-pitched tone which can be horrifying.
You'll shake and shudder in surprise
Their sudden appearance will cause you to tremble with fear.
When you hear these zombies shriek
Their terrifying noises will make you aware of their presence.
We're so sorry skeletons
Humans feel apologetic for demonizing creatures who just want to socialize.
You're so misunderstood
People have misinterpreted the intentions of skeletons and fear them unnecessarily.
You only want to socialize
Skeletons just want to have fun and get to know people.
But I don't think we should
Despite their harmless nature, it's still understandable to fear the unknown.
Cause spooky scary skeletons
These haunting beings can provoke fright.
Shout startling shrilly screams
They exclaim piercing, attention-grabbing sounds.
They'll sneak from their sarcophagus
Skeletons can suddenly appear from their burial boxes.
And just won't leave you be
Their haunting presence will stay with you.
Spirits supernatural
Often, the souls that linger are those of the supernatural realm.
Are shy whats all the fuss
Most spirits are less harmlessly frightful and more guarded in their appearances.
But bags of bones seem so unsafe
Skeletons, on the other hand, can be frightfully dangerous.
It's semi-serious!
The warning of skeletons is not wholly serious, but it's essential to be cautious.
Are silly all the same
Even though they're often misjudged, skeletons can act like wacky creatures.
They'll smile and scrabble slowly by
Skeletons can lurch by, looking both creepy and comical at the same time.
And drive you so insane
Their idle wandering can unnerve some people.
Sticks and stones will break your bones
Physical attacks result in physical damage, but it can't compare to what skeletons can cause.
They seldom let you snooze
Because of the everlasting terror, they can interrupt weekly amounts of rest.
Spooky scary skeletons
These eerie beings are here to stay.
Will wake you with a boo!
And they're sure to wake you up with a startling, playful cry.
Lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Written by: Andrew M. Gold
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@TheHorselessCantor
it's sad because Andrew Gold (original writer of Spooky Scary Skeletons) likely appreciates The Living Tombstone's remix from Heaven (Andrew died before TLT released their remix)... but the actual The Living Tombstone remix was taken down by UMG publishers. And then this version was made to "remix the remix" but it just isn't the same as the TLT version. Not-for-profit remixes and transformations are protected under fair use. If this was made to "replace" the TLT version it's kinda shady, especially since Andrew himself isn't alive and didn't have a say on how the TLT remix situation was handled. of course if this remix of a remix has the blessing of both Andrew's estate and TLT I'm ok with it... there's just no concrete way to know
@redmanghost
I made the original remix that brought fame to the song long before andrew gold actually died and I cant say I mind that TLTs version isnt officially recognized (for the record, mine was)
@sunbuYT
@@redmanghost How much did yours differ from Yoav's (TLT'S)?
@lorriwilson1581
I don't know what you guys are talking about but I just like listening to it on loop😅
@GlaggleBoi
I'm seriously going to cry, there are idiots making arguments under a comment that details someone who died, like, come on.
@GXSilvio1220
❤Kooperation
@Martdiva1979
Andrew Gold ❤also sung thank you for being a friend ❤️ what a legend x
@shereensamander
Me: listening to this song wayyyyy before Halloween
My whole fricking class: Intense Stare
@Froyo956
My brother used to blast this in the car on long car drives with me my mom and him it was amazing
@r.rajalakshmi9a197
lol this just makes my sad moon haappy thnx for the remix lol i just cant