Songfacts®:

• "Love Is Not Made Of Gold" is Robert De Leo's first single as a solo artist. He's known as the bass player in Stone Temple Pilots, where he's also a primary songwriter. This song is a departure from his STP material, far more gentle and lush, but also expressive in the way Scott Weiland bared his soul in his lyrics. De Leo told Songfacts it is "a case of my disappointment in love," a theme that flows through much of his debut album, Lessons Learned.
• De Leo used various vocalists on the Lessons Learned album. This song has lead vocals by Jimmy Gnecco, who has released albums under his own name and under the moniker Ours.
• De Leo got help with the lyrics from Pete Shoulder, a British musician who sang on two Lessons Learned tracks: "Big Sky Woman" and "Put Aside Your Sorrows."
  
  "'Love Is Not Made of Gold' is one of the last things I came up with for this record," De Leo told Songfacts. "I was lyrically kind of stuck, but I had the first three lines: 'Love is not made of gold, no matter what you've been told, it's a lie.'
  
  Pete is a brilliant singer, lyricist, and guitar player. I asked him to help me with these lyrics, and that was Pete's interpretation. I gave Pete the melody and those first three lines, and just said, 'Come up with something.' He never ceases to amaze with his lyrical content and his poetry. So, those are Pete Shoulder's lyrics."
• Dave Eggar, a go-to guy for cello, plays on this track along with Diego Nunez on violin. De Leo played the bass and guitars with Bill Appleberry on piano and Hammond B3, Ryan Williams on Drums, and Matt Pynn on pedal steel and lap steel guitar, and also dobro.