# Meaning of Freda Payne's song, "Band of Gold" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 17, 2004, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-freda-paynes-song-band-of-gold/255610 "2004-07-17T19:05:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![AtomicDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ac91a4/32.png) [@AtomicDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AtomicDog)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2004, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-freda-paynes-song-band-of-gold/255610/1 "2004-07-17T19:05:20Z")
[Lyrics here](http://www.lyricsxp.com/lyrics/b/band_of_gold_freda_payne.html) I’ve been listening to this song for over thirty years, and I just realized that I don’t know what the hell Freda is singing about. What’s the problem here? Can’t he perform? Is he gay? What? ---
**Author:** ![Fiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e274bd/32.png) [@Fiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiver)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2004, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-freda-paynes-song-band-of-gold/255610/2 "2004-07-17T19:08:00Z")
He left her. ---
**Author:** ![Lyllyan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b2d939/32.png) [@Lyllyan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lyllyan)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2004, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-freda-paynes-song-band-of-gold/255610/3 "2004-07-17T19:22:20Z")
Yep, he was a player. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2004, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-freda-paynes-song-band-of-gold/255610/4 "2004-07-17T19:23:31Z")
To my understanding, the song is about impotence. He can’t perform. > [@](#): > > Hoping soon that you’ll walk > Back through that door > And love me like you **tried** before Bolding mine. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2004, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-freda-paynes-song-band-of-gold/255610/5 "2004-07-17T21:55:56Z")
I never had the impression it’s about a cheating husband, or that he’s literally absent. He’s physically inattentive (for whatever reason) and has been from the start. There’s that line about kissing at the wedding, but “that night on our honeymoon, we each slept in separate rooms.” When she sings about him “coming through the door,” she’s waiting in “her lonely room.” She’s not talking about the front door. It’s a song about a passionless marriage. Maybe he’s impotent, maybe he’s gay, maybe he finds her unappealing or threatening, but whatever his deal is, she’s not getting any nookie. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2004, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-freda-paynes-song-band-of-gold/255610/6 "2004-07-17T23:15:36Z")
\ They just don’t make songs like that anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2004, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-freda-paynes-song-band-of-gold/255610/7 "2004-07-17T23:40:21Z")
Sounds like impotence to me. I have it on a '70s compilation I got as a present. That’s one song that actually sounds better on an old car radio over AM than it does on CD. ---
**Author:** ![Kneepants\_Erasmus\_the\_Humanist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/54ee81/32.png) [@Kneepants\_Erasmus\_the\_Humanist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kneepants_Erasmus_the_Humanist)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2004, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-freda-paynes-song-band-of-gold/255610/8 "2004-07-18T00:45:28Z")
I always took the lyrics to mean that he left her, but after reading them–and noticing words I never noticed before–it’s seems he is impotent…and awfully embarrased about it. Now that I think about it–he could have been gay. It’s hard to tell one way or the other. All I know is I tear up _every single time_ I hear that song. ---
**Author:** ![violacrane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/c57346/32.png) [@violacrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/violacrane)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2004, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-freda-paynes-song-band-of-gold/255610/9 "2004-07-18T00:49:56Z")
I always thought \*she \* had the problem, she was too young or too scared or something to respond so he left her alone on the wedding night and pretty soon gave up on the marriage altogether and buggered off somewhere. Now she’s had time to mature and think it over she knows that she does really want him after all so that’s why she’s Hoping soon that you’ll walk Back through that door And love me like you tried before Basically she’s stuffed, as a married woman she’s not supposed to hook up with anyone else, and anyway she really does want her husband now, hence the loneliness. ---
**Author:** ![violacrane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/c57346/32.png) [@violacrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/violacrane)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2004, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-freda-paynes-song-band-of-gold/255610/10 "2004-07-18T00:53:20Z")
Preview would like to be my friend if I didn’t go and click submit instead. What I meant to add is that I’ve never understood these lines: You took me from the shelter of a mother I had never known _Who_ loved any other… Italics mine, well, who is she talking about here? ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2004, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-freda-paynes-song-band-of-gold/255610/11 "2004-07-18T01:09:11Z")
You’ve misheard/misremembered the lyrics. It’s: _You took me from the shelter of my mother I had never known or loved another_ ie; She was a virgin bride. (How quaint!) ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2004, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-freda-paynes-song-band-of-gold/255610/12 "2004-07-18T01:48:54Z")
Please, it’s obvious. As Larry indicated she was a virgin bride, but her hymen was too rugged to allow him penetrate her. He tried, but couldn’t, and now he’s given up on the relationship while she pines for him to come through the “front door” and fill her “empty room” ---
**Author:** ![violacrane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/c57346/32.png) [@violacrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/violacrane)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2004, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-freda-paynes-song-band-of-gold/255610/13 "2004-07-18T15:01:44Z")
> [@Larry Mudd](#): > > You’ve misheard/misremembered the lyrics. It’s: > > _You took me from the shelter of my mother > I had never known or loved another_ > > ie; She was a virgin bride. (How quaint!) Aah I got “who” from the lyrics in the link, no wonder I thought it was odd. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Roboto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/76d3ee/32.png) [@Mr.Roboto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Roboto)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2004, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-freda-paynes-song-band-of-gold/255610/14 "2004-07-18T15:36:03Z")
The Steamiest duet I’ve ever seen was between Freda Payne and Bobby Darin. I needed a cold shower after that one! It was on Bobby Darin’s Summer Amusement Show, circa '71? ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2025, 8:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-freda-paynes-song-band-of-gold/255610/15 "2025-04-01T08:01:05Z")
This song popped up on my feed for some reason and I remembered this thread. Looking through the wiki, it seems that there were some lyrics that didn’t make the final cut that explain the events. [Band of Gold (Freda Payne song) - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Band_of_Gold_(Freda_Payne_song)#Topic_and_controversy) These days, it’s hard to remember just how naive people could be on their first sexual experience.