"Elephant Stone" is a song by the English rock band the Stone Roses. It was the third single released by the group and their first release on Silvertone Records. Originally released in October 1988, it showcases the group's growing confidence and incorporation of dance rhythms. The song was written by singer Ian Brown and guitarist John Squire. It was inserted as an additional track into the tracklisting of U.S. pressings of the band's debut album in 1989.
"Elephant Stone" was released in two alternate versions; the original ran for nearly five minutes and featured an extended drum intro and more prominent bass playing, 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.
John Squire on the hidden meaning of "Elephant Stone", "What is about? Love and Death... War and Peace... Morecambe and Wise..."
Squire also said about "Elephant Stone", "It's about a girl... who I don't see any more..."[citation needed] The song is said to reference William George Keith Elphinstone and his disastrous retreat from Afghanistan (during which he died) in 1842; the allusion presumably being made that the suitors heartbreak at being dropped by his girlfriend equates to Elphinstone's defeat.[citation needed]
