All Your Gold

Album: The Haunted Man (2012)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This dance-pop tune is an honest account of a relationship breakdown. It finds Bat For Lashes (Natasha Khan) singing lyrics of pained uncertainty about wanting to split from her lover as she pines for a past suitor. Khan told NME: "I suppose it focuses on a very sort of common women's conflict, I think, which is the choice between the good man and the really attractive bad man," she laughed, "and what to do about that feeling."


    The song was released as the second single from her third studio album, The Haunted Man and was serviced to US triple-A radio stations on October 22, 2012.
  • This is one of several songs on The Haunted Man that were inspired by Khan's realization that there are certain relationship patterns, which had trickled down her family tree over several generations. She told Khan told NME: "I'd been thinking a lot about relationships and how patterns trickle down the generations. And how sometimes you're subconsciously behaving in ways that have a lot to do with your DNA. I went back and looked at marriages in the family to see how they had worked out, how many people had been divorced just looking back and finding these patterns of behavior."
  • The black-and-white, Noel Paul-directed video shows Khan singing and dancing her way across a beach.
  • For an interesting little percussive element, Khan and producer Dan Carey set up glasses of water and hit them with forks. It took them awhile to get the right sound because they were laughing so much, Khan told NME.
  • Khan called this song the "difficult teenager of the record. It wouldn't come good for months." After bringing it to several producers and still not being able to make it work, she scrapped the whole thing and rewrote it in a different key with a different chorus.

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Timothy B. Schmit of the Eagles

Timothy B. Schmit of the EaglesSongwriter Interviews

Did this Eagle come up with the term "Parrothead"? And what is it like playing "Hotel California" for the gazillionth time?

Matt Sorum

Matt SorumSongwriter Interviews

When he joined Guns N' Roses in 1990, Matt helped them craft an orchestral sound; his mezzo fortes and pianissimos are all over "November Rain."

How The Beatles Crafted Killer Choruses

How The Beatles Crafted Killer ChorusesSong Writing

The author of Help! 100 Songwriting, Recording And Career Tips Used By The Beatles, explains how the group crafted their choruses so effectively.

Narada Michael Walden - "Freeway of Love"

Narada Michael Walden - "Freeway of Love"They're Playing My Song

As a songwriter and producer, Narada had hits with Aretha Franklin, Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey and Starship. But what song does he feel had the greatest impact on his career?

Julian Lennon

Julian LennonSongwriter Interviews

Julian tells the stories behind his hits "Valotte" and "Too Late for Goodbyes," and fills us in on his many non-musical pursuits. Also: what MTV meant to his career.

Susanna Hoffs - "Eternal Flame"

Susanna Hoffs - "Eternal Flame"They're Playing My Song

The Prince-penned "Manic Monday" was the first song The Bangles heard coming from a car radio, but "Eternal Flame" is closest to Susanna's heart, perhaps because she sang it in "various states of undress."