"Heart of Gold" is a song by English band Johnny Hates Jazz, released by Virgin in 1988 as the fourth single from their debut studio album Turn Back the Clock (1987). The song was written by Clark Datchler and produced by Calvin Hayes and Mike Nocito. It reached number 19 in the UK Singles Chart and remained in the top 100 for seven weeks.
Background
Lead vocalist and writer Clark Datchler was inspired to write "Heart of Gold" after talking to a prostitute he met in Los Angeles. He told Sunday World in 1988,
"[It's] a song about prostitutes, about how you don't stop to think that they were once schoolgirls, once played hockey and that sort of thing. I've always been quite embarrassed by prostitutes, but I had to talk to one to write the song. She was a very high-class prostitute, but there was something sad about her eyes and the front she put up. I was chatting her up in a bar in Los Angeles and an American guy pulled me aside and told me she was a hooker. I was shocked. So then I thought I would ask her about what she was doing. She really didn't open up as much as I hoped she would. But it's not at all an offensive song – it's just an observation of the person I met: a very street-wise and high-class sort of girl."[2]
Musically, the song was partly inspired by Rick James' "Mr. Policeman", a song from his 1981 album Street Songs. Recalling "Heart of Gold" in 2021, Datchler told Will Harris, "It was a semi-reggae track, big horn section. It turned out to be a good track." He added that it was a "really good recording" and one which provides a "good illustration of my [musical] influences as a kid".[3]
Upon its release, Max Bell of Number One gave "Heart of Gold" a three out of five star rating and commented, "Ostensibly a song about a lady of the night, it drifts into the subconscious before you can say 'hang on, I don't usually fall for innocuous songs like this'. Still, it's stylish, if eminently forgettable."[5] Eleanor Levy of Record Mirror described it as a "slightly more up-tempo number [that] never quite manages to break out of its cosy, lolloping trot". She added, "Yet the Johnnies do write exceedingly good tunes and their slickness is expertly, even lovingly, crafted."[6]
John Lee of the Huddersfield Daily Examiner praised the song as "punchy and crisp" and felt that the "tale of a prostitute set to a bouncy back track is bound to give the[m] another hit".[7]Music & Media noted it "luckily [has] a bit more bite and spice" than the "drooling" "Turn Back the Clock". They added, "A sometimes very Level 42-like drive is coupled with some effective brass and a joyful chorus."[8]
