Golden Tears

For the album by Bonnie Pink, see Golden Tears (album).
"Golden Tears"
Single by Dave & Sugar
from the album Stay with Me/Golden Tears
Released January 1979
Format 7"
Recorded 1978
Genre Country
Length 2:28
Label RCA
11427
Writer(s) John Schweers
Producer(s) Jerry Bradley and Dave Rowland
Dave & Sugar singles chronology
"Tear Time"
(1978)
"Golden Tears"
(1979)
"Stay with Me"
(1979)

"Golden Tears" is a song written by John Schweers, and recorded by American country music trio Dave & Sugar. It was released in January 1979 as the first single and partial title track from the album Stay with me/Golden Tears. The song became the group's third and final No. 1 hit on the Billboard magazine Hot Country Singles chart.

Background

Country music journalist Tom Roland called "Golden Tears" a "highly coindental release." Dave & Sugar frontman Dave Rowland, it seemed, had driven Chevrolets for most of his life, including the early period of Dave & Sugar's national success. However, Rowland had just purchased a new Lincoln when he heard the demo tape for the song. The song's first line in the refrain: "From a Chevy to a Lincoln ... ."[1]

The song is about a woman who marries a rich man for his money, but quickly realizes that money does not necessarily buy happiness. In one sense, it is also about life in the fast lane and, as Roland put it, "supported the adage, 'it's lonely at the top.'"[2]

Of Dave & Sugar's three No. 1 songs, "Golden Tears" was the only multi-week chart-topper, spending three weeks at No. 1 in March. The trio enjoyed several more top 10 singles thereafter before beginning to fade in popularity during the early 1980s.

Chart performance

Chart (1979) Peak
position
U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles 1
Canadian RPM Country Tracks 2
Preceded by
"Every Which Way but Loose"
by Eddie Rabbitt
Billboard Hot Country Singles
number-one single

March 3-March 17, 1979
Succeeded by
"I Just Fall in Love Again"
by Anne Murray

References

  1. "The Billboard Book of Number One Country Hits" (Billboard Books, Watson-Guptill Publications, New York, 1991 (ISBN 0-82-307553-2)), p. 228-229.
  2. ibid.