Roughly 18 months after the release of Sally Cinnamon, The Stone Roses put out their third single, “Elephant Stone”. The song was the Roses’ first release after signing with record label Silvertone Records. Prominent figures in the Manchester music industry began taking notice of the Roses after “Elephant Stone” was released. I remember watching a video of the Roses performing on The Other Side of Midnight where presenter Tony Wilson mentioned that he disliked the band’s music until he heard “Elephant Stone”, which he thought was fantastic.

This is the first Roses song to highlight the talent of drummer Alan Wren, better known as Reni. “Elephant Stone” begins with the sounds of reversed cymbals playing before Reni launches into a brilliant 36 second drum solo. With each crash of the cymbals and each thwack of the toms, tension builds for the moment when the rest of the band finally jumps in. Mani’s bass grooves sprinkled with John Squire’s heavenly guitar licks carry the intro for another minute before Ian Brown comes in for the first verse. The one minute 49 second instrumental intro is one of the Roses’ finest recorded moments. Far too many times I have been in my bedroom, blasting this song, and absolutely losing myself in this intro. I would be horrified for anyone to see the ridiculous dances the trance of this intro influences me to perform. Unfortunately, the instrumental intro is only featured on the 12” mix of “Elephant Stone”. The 7” version, which began a long tradition of the Roses releasing inferior 7” singles, starts with a brief bit of guitar and then jumps right into the verse. The rest of the song does not disappoint though. The euphoric wave of the intro carries on for the rest of the track with the addition of Ian Brown’s ethereal vocals. 

The lyrics of “Elephant Stone” are quite vague, but they seem to tell the story of a dying love. The song’s opening lines, “Burst into heaven, kiss in the cotton clouds, arctic sheets and fields of wheat, I can’t stop coming down,” detail infatuation and the early stages of love. In the next verse, there are lines such as, “Your shrunken head looking down on my above”, where I have absolutely no idea what they mean, but other lines such as “Send me home like an elephant stone and smash my dream of love” indicate that the lyrics are describing a pair of lovers losing affection for each other. 

Some fans theorize that the words “elephant stone” are meant to sound like Elphinstone, the last name of a British general whose army was massacred during a retreat from Afghanistan in the 1800s. They say that the Roses were comparing the crush of having a relationship end to Elphinstone’s disaster that ultimately ended in his death (The Stone Roses Fansite).

The cover of “Elephant Stone” was the first Roses single to feature one of John Squire’s Pollock-esque paintings. The Roses’ next three singles and their debut album would all have paintings by Squire done in the same style. I’ve always loved these covers. I even have one of them hanging on my wall.

“Elephant Stone” is one of my favorite Roses songs. If I was compiling a list of all their songs I don’t know exactly where it would fall, but it would definitely appear in the top 5. 

Next week I will be discussing the first single that would appear on The Stone Roses debut album: “Made of Stone” (title of the single not the album).

The Stone Roses | Elephant Stone