Elephant Stone

Burst into heaven
Kissing the cotton clouds
Arctic sheets and fields of wheat
I can't stop coming down

Your shrunken head
Looking down on me above
Send me home like an elephant stone
To smash my dream of love

Dreaming till the sun goes down
And night turns into day
Rooms are empty, I've got plenty
You could move in right away

Seems like there's a hole
In my dreams
In my dreams
In my dreams

Down through the heavens
Choke on the cotton clouds
Arctic sheets and fields of wheat
I can't stop coming down

Your shrunken head
Looking down on me above
Send me home like an elephant stone
To smash my dream of love

Did your bed and bookshelf go
And run run run away ?
These four walls saw the rise and fall
And your midnight getaway

Seems like there's a hole
In my dreams
Or so it seems
Yet nothing means anything
Anymore

Demo version (1987)

Burst into heaven
Kissing the cotton clouds
Arctic sheets and fields of wheat
I can't stop coming down

Your shrunken head
Looking down on me above
Send me home like an elephant stone
To smash my dream of love

There's no use in knocking
You can knock-knock for a day
Rooms are empty, I've got plenty
We'll move in right away

Yeah you kick-kick-kicked a hole in my dreams

Down through the heavens
Choke on the cotton clouds
Arctic sheets and fields of wheat
I can't stop coming down

Your shrunken head
Looking down on me above
Send me home like an elephant stone
To smash my dream of love

Your bed and bookshelf
Have run-run-run away
These four walls saw the rise and fall
And your midnight getaway

Yeah you kick-kick-kicked a hole in my dreams
Or so it seems
Yet nothing means
Anything
Anymore

Lyrics by:
Squire / Brown

Music by:
Squire / Brown

Written:
1986

Personnel:
John Squire (guitar)
Ian Brown (vocals)
Gary Mounfield (bass)
Alan Wren (drums)

Produced by:
Peter Hook

Format:
Released October 1988:
Elephant Stone (7" Version) / The Hardest Thing In The World (Silvertone, ORE 1, 7")
Elephant Stone (12" Version) / Elephant Stone (7" Version) / Full Fathom Five / The Hardest Thing In The World (Silvertone, ORE T 1, 12")

Released November 1989:
What The World Is Waiting For / Fool's Gold / She Bangs The Drums (12" mix) / Elephant Stone (12" mix) / Guernica / Going Down (Alfa-Silvertone, 18B2-103, Japanese CD)

Released February 1990:
Elephant Stone (7" Version) / The Hardest Thing In The World (Silvertone, ORE 1, 7" reissue)
Elephant Stone (12" Version) / Elephant Stone (7" Version) / Full Fathom Five / The Hardest Thing In The World (Silvertone, ORE T 1, 12" reissue)
Elephant Stone (12" Version) / Full Fathom Five / The Hardest Thing In The World / Elephant Stone (7" Version) (Silvertone, ORE CD 1, CD)
Elephant Stone (12" Version) / Full Fathom Five / The Hardest Thing In The World / Elephant Stone (7" Version) (Silvertone, ORE C 1, cassette)
Elephant Stone / Made Of Stone / She Bangs The Drums / Fools Gold (Silvertone, ZD43632, The UK Singles)

Released June 1990:
Elephant Stone (7" Version) / The Hardest Thing In The World & Made Of Stone / Going Down (Silvertone, ORE 1/2, Australian 2 x 7" limited edition poster pack)
Elephant Stone (7" Version) / The Hardest Thing In The World & Made Of Stone / Going Down (Silvertone, CSORE C 1/2, Australian 2 x cassette limited edition poster pack)

Released 1990:
Elephant Stone (12" Version) / Full Fathom Five / The Hardest Thing In The World / Elephant Stone (7" Version) (Silvertone, ZD43600, German CD)

Released 1992:
Elephant Stone (12" Version) / Full Fathom Five / The Hardest Thing In The World / Elephant Stone (7" Version) (Silvertone, ZD43600, German CD from Maxi Collection)

Released June 1992:
Elephant Stone (12" Version) / Full Fathom Five / The Hardest Thing In The World / Elephant Stone (7" Version) (Alfa-Silvertone, ALCB-539, CD from Japanese Singles Collection boxset)

Released 1996:
Elephant Stone (12" Version) / Full Fathom Five / The Hardest Thing In The World / Elephant Stone (7" Version) (Silvertone, ALCB-539, Japanese CD)

UK chart details:
Elephant Stone entered the charts on 3rd March 1990, spending 6 weeks in the charts and reaching a highest position of 8.

Also available on:
Turns Into Stone (4.48)
The Complete Stone Roses (3.00)
The Very Best Of The Stone Roses (4.53)

First live performance:
In early 1987.

Artwork details:
The Elephant Stone artwork is from 'Elephant Stone' (1988), calico on wood, 18" x 18"

Details:

 

 

 

Top row: Ian Tilton helped set the Pollock ball rolling, with his 1988 photo session at Gareth Evans's house.
Second row (left): John Squire with a Pollocked glass backdrop.
Second row (right): Ian and John were interviewed in front of 'Untitled 3' (oil on cotton, 3.24m x 2.20m, 1988) for 'Music Box', and this artistic piece also serves as the backdrop to Reni in the Elephant Stone music video. Both John's guitar and Ian's shirt are 'pollocked' in the Elephant Stone video, with Reni's drums and Mani's bass soon to receive similar treatment. The Elephant Stone video was the first in which John Squire's interest in Jackson Pollock became apparent. Squire's artistic direction would define the band's image in this era. As part of a Rapido TV feature in September 1989, The Stone Roses were filmed roaming the area around Willesden High Road, before their arrival at nearby Battery Studios, North London. In this interview, in which Ian Brown is trying just a little too hard to appear sullen, the singer leaves little doubt as to who is the sole artistic driving force in the band. After Squire explains his interest in painting album covers, Ian looks to Mani and Reni, commenting, "It's hard for us (the rest of the band) to act interested when we're not, innit ?" Ian Brown's Always Remember Me fondly recalls Squire's artistic hallmark from these times. Dippers and trippers / Paint on the walls (Some drug users dip marijuana or tobacco cigarettes in embalming fluid - known as 'loveboat' or 'dippers' - so as to enhance the high). Brown's solo career is peppered with such fleeting glimpses of his band's former glories. Cut through the cracks like a pavement flower from Return Of The Fisherman recalls the band's 'garage flower' roots.
Third row: A John Squire Pollocked artwork formed the backdrop of this March 1988 photo session.
Fourth row: Detail of the Elephant Stone artwork.
Final three rows: Elephant Stone promotional photos. The Elephant Stone single was the first to feature Mani, who took over from Pete Garner on bass. Garner, who attended Burnage High School (also attended by future Stone Roses guitarist Aziz Ibrahim), had been Stone Roses bassist from March 1984 to August 1987, playing on the 1985 So Young / Tell Me release, as well as their 1987 single, Sally Cinnamon. Garner's last gig with the band was at Liverpool's Sefton Park on 11th August 1987; in June of that year, he announced his intention to depart, but continued until a suitable replacement could be found. He tried to teach his friend Rob Hampson the basslines, before his place was eventually permanently taken by a longtime friend of the band, Mani. During his very brief spell in the band in September 1987, Rob Hampson was photographed in an Ian Tilton photoshoot.

By 1988, Pete Garner and Andy Couzens had left The Stone Roses and the band recruited bassist Gary Mounfield, thus completing the definitive Stone Roses lineup. The band quickly became much tighter as musicians, and developed a trademark visual style - baggy clothes and Jackson Pollock adorned releases and equipment. Mani grew up in Moston, on Manchester's north side, and played bass in a host of punk outfits, such as Urban Paranoia. He became bassist in The Mill, an early 80s group featuring Clint Boon on keyboards and Chris Goodwin on drums, and later featured in the pre-Stone Roses incarnation, The Waterfront. Mani was the last of the four to join The Stone Roses, in November 1987, his live debut coming at Manchester International 1 on the 13th of that month. The scene of the formation of the classic Stone Roses line up was Oxford Street, Manchester, where Mani met Ian, John and Reni, on their way to place an advertisement in search of a replacement for Pete Garner. Mani has a distinctive rich playing style that combines a fast-moving rock style with a dance rhythm, or dub groove. The psychedelia-tinged Elephant Stone was the band's third single, at which time they had also secured an album deal with Jive / Zomba offshoot, Silvertone Records. Two different versions of Elephant Stone were produced: the superior Turns Into Stone release (by John Leckie) which contains a splendorous 'summery' intro, and a Peter Hook produced shorter version, which opens with Squire's guitar making the sound of an elephant. This latter collaboration came about from The Stone Roses' roadie (and former New Order roadie) Slim, a close friend of Peter Hook. Hook's engineer, Michael Johnson, did most of the production work on Elephant Stone, with Hook playing some part in the process. In 1988-89, The Stone Roses wielded all the guitar mastery of The Smiths, whilst factoring in the dance aesthetic of New Order. In the Australian press release for The Stone Roses' debut LP, Ian Brown acknowledges the debt to New Order: "Elephant Stone was more of a dance song than the other stuff we had been doing and we like a lot of the dance stuff that New Order has done."

The lyric "Rooms are empty, I've got plenty. You could move in right away" echoes the message of Jesus in 'Jesus Comforts His Disciples' (John 14: 1 - 4):

"Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father's house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you ? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going."
(John 14: 1 - 4)

 

Top left: 'London Calling' (1979) by The Clash, featuring a photograph by Pennie Smith. The cover artwork was created by Ray Lowry, who struck up a friendship with the band, leading to an invitation to accompany them on their 1979 tour of the USA. The pink and green typography of Elvis Presley's debut LP inspired its design. The juxtaposition of Elephant Stone's 'Arctic sheets and fields of wheat' is perhaps subconsciously influenced by the title track of this Clash LP ('Meltdown expected, the wheat is growing thin').
Top right: 'London Calling' (2010) by John Squire. This artwork was a one-off commission, created to celebrate the work of Ray Lowry, who passed away in October 2008. A retrospective of Lowry's work was held at the Idea Generation Gallery, London from 18th June - 4th July 2010, in aid of the Ray Lowry Foundation. As part of the exhibition, 30 creatives, including Tracey Emin, Nick Hornby, Billy Childish, Harry Hill, Paul Simonon and Humphrey Ocean, produced reinterpretations of the iconic London Calling album cover.
Bottom: 'The Dining Room in the Country' (1913) by Pierre Bonnard. Squire's London Calling homage is the first step in the evolution of his Nefertiti series of artworks, which featured transcribed tablature of Miles Davis's 1968 LP, 'Nefertiti'. Squire's artwork from this period borrows from the palette of Pierre Bonnard, as he acknowledged when speaking to The Independent on 17th May 2010. Pierre Bonnard (1867 - 1947) was a French painter and printmaker, as well as a founding member of Les Nabis.

 

Elephant Stone front and back cover artwork. "In a way, that's probably the most original. It preceded any sort of research: it was me throwing paint at the canvas and seeing what happened. I liked it: it seemed to me like there were two Marvel superheroes going nose-to-nose in there. That made it a success - although maybe that was missing the point; that it should be rhythmic, disconnected from any kind of figurative tradition." (John Squire speaking to his official site).

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