Formed in 1961, the band was active for 60 years, almost non-stop. They had 56 years of studio output, starting in 1965, which made them the world's longest surviving rock band, formed a year before The Rolling Stones, until their tragic end on 5 February 2021, when guitarist founding member George Kooymans revealed that he had been diagnosed with the neuro-muscular disease, ALS.
The band's core line-up of four was unchanged from 1970 to 2021, although extra musicians had short stints in the band in the 1970s. Golden Earring was always touring, except in 2000 (their only sabbatical year) and the final year of their existence, due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
In 1961 George Kooymans (age 13) and his neighbour Rinus Gerritsen (age 15) formed The Tornado's in the Zuiderpark district of their home town of The Hague, The Netherlands. The band's first line-up mainly played The Shadows and The Ventures covers, as well as other instrumental tunes, and played its first gigs at school parties.
In 1963, as the band found out that there already was a British band called The Tornados, they decided to change their name into The Golden Ear-rings (after a Peggy Lee song). The band now performed around The Hague, soon had a devoted local following and landed a record deal with Polydor. Their début single, 1965's Please Go, immediately landed in the Dutch Top 10.
Under the Golden Earrings moniker the band eventually recorded four albums and had twelve hit singles in the Netherlands between 1965 and 1969, ten of which reached the Dutch Top 10. Several of their records were released internationally in Europe and even North America, although they failed to make an impact there.
One of the band's sixties singles became their first Dutch #1 hit: 1968's somewhat carnavalesque Dong-Dong-Diki-Digi-Dong, although that tune is now frowned upon by the band and generally regarded as inferior to other sixties Earrings gems, such as That Day (1966, the first Dutch pop single to have been recorded in the U.K., at London's Pye Studios), Sound Of The Screaming Day (1966) and the epic Just A Little Bit Of Peace In My Heart (1969).
The band's lead singer during the early Golden Earrings years was Frans Krassenburg. He was replaced by Barry Hay (ex-The Haigs) in 1967. The band's drummer for much of the 1960s was Jaap Eggermont. His successors were Sieb Warner (1969) and, in 1970, Cesar Zuiderwijk (ex-Livin' Blues), Golden Earring's definitive drummer.
The band's international career modestly started to take off in 1969, the year of their psychedelic Eight Miles High album, their first haphazard tour of the United States and also the year in which the band name was slightly changed into The Golden Earring and finally (dropping the article within a year), Golden Earring. On their early U.S. tours, their long, wild cover version of The Byrds' classic Eight Miles High impressed audiences and press alike. Golden Earring's 19-minute album version, as well as the stand-alone 1969 single, Another 45 Miles, were the first Golden Earring recordings to get some North American airplay.
The arrival of drummer, Cesar Zuiderwijk, in 1970, completed what would turn out to be the group's definitive line-up: Barry Hay (lead vocals/guitar/flute), George Kooymans (guitar/vocals), Cesar Zuiderwijk (drums) and Rinus Gerritsen (bass/harmonica/keyboards).
1970 saw a dramatic shift in Golden Earring's musical style. After the melodic, often Beatle-esque sixties beat of The Golden Earrings and a brief phase of psychedelia and hippie rock in 1968 and 1969, the single Back Home marked the birth of Golden Earring's trademark heavy, riff-based brand of hard rock with catchy hooks. Back Home hit #1 in the Dutch charts and 'broke' Golden Earring in most of Europe, notably countries such as Germany, Switzerland, Austria and France.
This marked the start of a decade of domestic and international glory. Between 1966 and 1976 seventeen consecutive Earring singles rocketed into the Dutch Top 10, while their international popularity increased, especially after their lengthy 1972 tour of Europe, supporting The Who. Buddy Joe (1972) achieved considerable chart success in the German-speaking countries of Europe, but 1973's Radar Love was their breakthrough smash hit worldwide: #13 in the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, #1 in the U.S. Cashbox chart, #5 in Britain, #8 in Australia, #10 in Canada, #5 in Germany, #6 in Belgium, #1 in Spain and also #1 in (last but not least) Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), to name but a few.
Radar Love remains an enduring 'car classic' and radio anthem of global fame to this day. Between 1969 and 1985 Golden Earring completed ten major tours of North America, building a considerable North American fanbase, as well as five headlining tours of Great Britain in 1973 and 1974 alone. Golden Earring toured as 'special guests' of The Who, Aerosmith, Led Zeppelin, .38 Special, Rush and many more, whereas bands like Aerosmith, KISS, ZZ Top and Lynyrd Skynyrd opened for Golden Earring. The album that spawned Radar Love, 1973's Moontan, was certified 'Gold' by North America's RIAA in 1974 and sold millions of copies worldwide.
The band failed to achieve similar chart success in the years after Radar Love: the progressive Switch (1975) and To The Hilt (1976) charted in Billboard's album charts, but yielded no major U.S. hits. The singles were clearly not what North American audiences wanted from the 'Radar Love guys'.
Golden Earring was forgotten by many outside of The Netherland and by 1980 even Dutch audiences started to lose interest: albums such as No Promises, No Debts (1979) and Prisoner Of The Night (1980) were commercial flops, leading to the band's decision (in 1981) to record a 'final LP and then call it quits.
The lead single from 1982's 'farewell album', Cut, a Kooymans-penned tune called Twilight Zone, surprisingly became an even bigger hit in the U.S. than Radar Love: #10 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #1 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Tracks, thanks to heavy MTV rotation of the Dick Maas-directed video. The song (#1 in The Netherlands) revived Golden Earring's stateside career overnight. The Cut LP was certified 'gold' in Canada, with Twilight Zone hitting #3 in the Canadian charts.
In their native Netherlands the band did manage to extend their creative and commercial peak this time: the single When The Lady Smiles and the album N.E.W.S. ('NorthEastWestSouth'), both released in 1984, repeated the success of Twilight Zone and Cut. 'Lady' peaked at #3 in Canada, but fared disappointingly in the U.S. as MTV and even radio stations banned the track because of its controversial video, once again directed by Dick Maas, in which the rape of a nun was suggested.
After 1985 things rapidly went downhill for Golden Earring internationally (they would not tour the U.S. again), but - after a creative and financial crisis that lasted throughout the second half of the 1980s - the band wrote one of their most enduring Dutch hits in 1991 (the power-ballad, Going To The Run, which fared partially well in Russia) and discovered a new gold mine in their home country a year later: acoustic concerts in theatres, the concept of MTV Unplugged.
To everybody's surprise, the band's acoustic live album, The Naked Truth, slowly became their all-time biggest selling album in The Netherlands. Its sequels, Naked II (1997) and Naked III (2005) also went platinum at least once in The Netherlands.
Golden Earring's by far most succesful album internationally remains 1973's Moontan, which sold well over 3.5 million copies outside of The Netherlands and was certified 'gold' in the U.S., Canada and the United Kingdom (and platinum in the U.S. in later years).
Golden Earring released 25 studio albums, 9 live albums and countless succesful compilations. Almost all of these records were certified gold, often platinum, in The Netherlands. More than anything else, though, the band remained a live force of legendary status in their home country and beyond. They toured throughout each year until the very end, almost exclusively in the Netherlands, although there are still occasional live appearances in Belgium and Germany. 2009 saw Golden Earring's long overdue return to the United Kingdom: their sold out shows in Ipswich and London's Shepherd's Bush Empire were their first live appearances in England since 1978.
In 2011 the band recorded their first album of new material since 2003's Millbrook U.S.A.: Tits 'n Ass - studio album #25 for the Dutch legends - was released on 11 May 2012 on Universal Music and hit #1 in the Dutch album charts one week after its release to become Golden Earring's 8th #1 album in their home country. Certified 'gold' in The Netherlands, the album was generally believed to be Golden Earring's final studio outing, but December 2015 saw the release of a five-track mini album entitled The Hague, released more than fifty years after their début single and just before the band's sold out 'Five Zero' anniversary concert at Amsterdam's Ziggo Dome in front of a 17,000-strong crowd. 2019 saw the release of a stand-alone single, Say When: Golden Earring's final studio recording.
Nobody was aware of it at the time, but the band's 16 November 2019 performance at the Rotterdam Ahoy would turn out to be their final concert. After a year of Covid-19 lockdowns, guitarist George Kooymans announced his ALS diagnosis on 5 February 2021, the disease rendering him unfit to perform. Within hours, the band admitted that carrying on without Kooymans was unthinkable. In the words of lead singer, Barry Hay: "This is the end of the line for the band. It's a death blow. We always said: we'll keep going until the first one of us goes down. I never expected it to be George."
The band's final performance was released as a live CD and DVD in April 2022, named after Barry Hay's final words at the end of countless Golden Earring shows: You Know We Love You!.
Studio albums (released as Golden Earring, unless noted otherwise)
Just Ear-rings (1965, as The Golden Earrings or The Golden Ear-rings)
Winter-Harvest (1967, as Golden Earrings, sometimes spelled as Winter Harvest)
Miracle Mirror (1968, as Golden Earrings)
On The Double (1969, as Golden Earrings)
Eight Miles High (1969, as The Golden Earring)
Golden Earring (1970, colloquially known as 'Wall Of Dolls')
Seven Tears (1971)
Together (1972)
Moontan (1973)
Switch (1975)
To The Hilt (1976)
Contraband (1976, U.S. title: Mad Love)
Grab It For A Second (1978)
No Promises... No Debts (1979, spelled as No Promises, No Debts on most online platforms)
Prisoner Of The Night (1980)
Cut (1982)
N.E.W.S. (1984)
The Hole (1986)
Keeper Of The Flame (1989)
Bloody Buccaneers (1991)
Face It (1994)
Love Sweat (1995, covers album)
Paradise In Distress (1999)
Millbrook U.S.A. (2003)
Tits 'n Ass (2012)
The Hague (EP, 2015)
Live albums
Live (1977)
2nd Live (1981)
Something Heavy Going Down (1984, includes one new studio track)
The Naked Truth (1992, acoustic)
Naked II (1997, acoustic)
Last Blast Of The Century (2000)
Naked III (2005, acoustic, incorrectly listed as Naked Truth III on some streaming platforms)
Live In Ahoy 2006 (2006, live DVD + CD set)
You Know We Love You! (2022, live DVD + CD set)
Additional information:
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Earring
Official website: https://www.golden-earring.nl
Whisper in a Crowd
Golden Earring Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
and hide your true intentions, behind those eyes so blue
Always pretending, you're nobody's fool
Now until forever, the world was made for you
You cheat, you lie
you hurt, my pride
You fake desire
You fly solo, make up your own rule
You break your word
as if I don't know
Whisper in a crowd
just like a silent scream
Ah ah ah ah, no one, will hear
Your cry of fear
You made your seven wishes
none of them came true
Like your expectations
you gotta face the truth
The lyrics of the Golden Earring's song, "Whisper in a Crowd" express the idea that it is impossible to play with someone's emotions without facing its consequences. The singer brings attention to the dishonesty and lack of sincerity of a person who hides behind a facade of innocence. The person pretends that they are not playing games or manipulating people but is ultimately doing so. The singer is not fooled and is aware of their victimization. The song has a tone of anger and frustration towards the person who cheated and hurt the singer's pride.
The lyrics go on to describe how the person who was once trusted has lost that trust by faking desire, upsetting the singer's life, breaking their word, and making up their own rules. The singer is not naive and has been hurt by the person's actions. The chorus emphasizes the idea of the person's desperation as they whisper in a crowd, hoping to hide their fear and cry. Ultimately, the singer believes that the person must face the truth that their expectations and wishes will not come true.
Line by Line Meaning
You can't play with feelings, the way you sometimes do
You cannot manipulate emotions in the way you are doing currently
and hide your true intentions, behind those eyes so blue
You are concealing your genuine motives behind your innocent-looking eyes
Always pretending, you're nobody's fool
You feign as if you cannot be deceived by anyone
Now until forever, the world was made for you
You believe that the whole universe exists just to serve your selfish desires
You cheat, you lie
You are dishonest and untruthful
you hurt, my pride
You damage my self-esteem and confidence through your actions
You fake desire
You pretend to be interested in something or someone when you are not genuinely so
upset my life
You cause chaos and disturbance in my life
You fly solo, make up your own rule
You prefer to work alone, and create your own guidelines
You break your word
You do not keep your promises
as if I don't know
As if I am unaware of your duplicity
Whisper in a crowd
You express an opinion in a low voice amidst others
just like a silent scream
It appears as if you are expressing all your inner turmoil through a cry, but nobody can hear it
Ah ah ah ah, no one will hear
No one can comprehend your troubles or come to your aid
Your cry of fear
You are screaming for help, out of desperation and anxiety
You made your seven wishes
You sought seven desired outcomes
none of them came true
But all of them resulted in disappointment and frustration
Like your expectations
Similar to how you had hoped
you gotta face the truth
You have to be realistic and confront reality
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: BARRY HAY, GEORGE KOOYMANS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Wessel Kerssies
You can't play with feelings
The way you sometimes do
And hide your true intentions
Behind those eyes so blue
Always pretending
You're nobody's fool
Now until forever
The world was made for you
You cheat, you lie
You hurt, my pride
You fake desire
Upset my life
You fly solo
Make up your own rules
You break your word
As if I don't know
Whisper in a crowd
Just like a silent scream
Ah ah ah ah
No one, will hear
Your cry of fear
You made your seven wishes
None of them came true
Like your expectations
You gotta face the truth
Wessel Kerssies
Je kunt niet met gevoelens spelen
Zoals jij soms doet
En je echte bedoelingen verbergen
Achter die o zo blauwe ogen
Altijd doen alsof
Je laat je door niemand voor de gek houden
Nu en voor altijd
Was de wereld gemaakt voor jou
Je bedriegt, je liegt
Je kwetst, mijn trots
Je simuleert verlangen
Verpest mijn leven
Je vliegt alleen
Bepaalt je eigen regels
Je breekt je belofte
Alsof ik dat niet weet
Fluistering in een menigte
Net als een stille schreeuw
Ah ah ah ah
Niemand, zal het horen
Jouw angstkreet
Je hebt je zeven wensen uitgesproken
Geen van allen kwamen uit
Net als jouw verwachtingen
Moet je de waarheid onder ogen komen
Alexandra Tonus
Oh die stem!! Geen optredens meer. Voor altijd mijn helden, Kooy vooraan, wens 'm zoveel sterkte
José Uitenbroek
wat 'n stem hè... glaszuiver en nog steeds. Zo erg voor 'm dat ie niet meer kan optreden... ik denk iedere dag aan hem.
1crowwoman
love his voice! but then... what is not to love about Golden Earring :)
Wessel Kerssies
You can't play with feelings
The way you sometimes do
And hide your true intentions
Behind those eyes so blue
Always pretending
You're nobody's fool
Now until forever
The world was made for you
You cheat, you lie
You hurt, my pride
You fake desire
Upset my life
You fly solo
Make up your own rules
You break your word
As if I don't know
Whisper in a crowd
Just like a silent scream
Ah ah ah ah
No one, will hear
Your cry of fear
You made your seven wishes
None of them came true
Like your expectations
You gotta face the truth
Avenger Nemesis
Thank you for those words.
I actually knew someone who did exactly like those words.
I love this band have been a fan since the 70's.
Tragedy about George such a terrible death sentence.
Australia
Leo Bos
The best band we've had until now, during several decades
Debbie Van Ooststroom
Zoooo mooi....
Die stem, was altijd al erg mooi. 😢Sterkte 😘
HeavyLexer
Beautiful!!! Realy beautiful!
Babaziba
Sums up everything good about George Kooymans. Bravo.
Bob Wilson
Simply superb track from my all time favourite band - been a fan from my 1st Earring concert in 1973