"Elephant Stone" is the third single by The Stone Roses and their first release on Silvertone Records. Originally released in October 1988, it showcased the group's growing confidence and incorporation of dance rhythms. It was produced by New Order bassist Peter Hook in his own studio initially for release on Rough Trade Records and remixed by John Leckie following a deal with Silvertone Records.
"Elephant Stone" was released in two alternate versions; the original ran for nearly five minutes and featured an extended drum intro, while the later, shorter cut ran for three minutes and included layers of wah-wah guitar. On its original release it failed to make the chart, but reached #8 on re-release in March 1990.
The b-side "Full Fathom Five" (named after a Jackson Pollock painting) is essentially an alternate single mix of "Elephant Stone" played in reverse.
Irish musician Rob Smith released an acoustic version of the song on his Live In New York & Dublin live EP in 2011.
John Squire on the hidden meaning of "Elephant Stone", "What is about? Love and Death... War and Peace... Morecambe and Wise..."
Read more about Elephant Stone: Track Listing
Famous quotes containing the words elephant and/or stone:
“Even the elephant carries but a small trunk on his journeys. The perfection of traveling is to travel without baggage.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“It was a cruel city, but it was a lovely one, a savage city, yet it had such tenderness, a bitter, harsh, and violent catacomb of stone and steel and tunneled rock, slashed savagely with light, and roaring, fighting a constant ceaseless warfare of men and of machinery; and yet it was so sweetly and so delicately pulsed, as full of warmth, of passion, and of love, as it was full of hate.”
—Thomas Wolfe (1900–1938)