<P> The distinctive electric sitar part is played by New York studio musician Vinnie Bell . Lead guitar on the track is by Ray Parker, Jr . </P> <P> In 2004, Freda Payne's "Band of Gold" was voted number 391 in Rolling Stone magazine's listing of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time . </P> <P> The song tells a story which is open to a number of interpretations - based on the lyrics in the most commonly heard version of the song, which is the seven - inch single, the story is of a recently married woman whose husband is incapable of loving her (even though he tried), resulting in the couple sleeping in separate rooms on their honeymoon, to her dismay . It would appear that the marriage ended in the husband's abandoning his bride, leaving her with no more than the' band of gold' of the title (and the dreams she invested in it). Controversial allusions to the husband either being impotent or gay have been suggested as the cause of the breakdown of the relationship . Steve Huey's article on Allmusic.com deciphers the song as being about the man being impotent - "being unable to perform". </P> <P> An earlier studio recorded version of the song includes some lyrics which were cut from the seven - inch single, which reveal the story as somewhat different . The couple were young, the girl was either a virgin or sexually inexperienced . She was still living at home ("You took me from the shelter of my mother"), the boy was her first boyfriend ("I had never known or loved any other"), and the relationship was probably unconsummated ("and love me like you tried before".) The couple rush into marriage and the relationship crashes on the wedding night, when the woman rejects her groom's advance ("And the night I turned you away" - an allusion that she was frigid), emotionally wounding him, resulting in him leaving her . After the hurt she had caused, they spend their wedding night in separate rooms . She then expresses her regret at her mistake ("And the dream of what love could be, if you were still here with me"). </P>

Who sang all that's left is a band of gold