Duran Duran: What the hell are they on about?

Hahahaha....

And since when are people listening to the lyrics in Duran Duran songs? It's all about blah blah blah blah HER NAME IS RIO, AND SHE DANCES ON THE SAND ... hmm hmm ... blah blah blah blah THROUGH THE DUSTY LANDS ... That's the reason folks don't like _Thank You_ - who wants to hear these beautiful goofs sing Dylan or Public Enemy, when they have the lyrical stylings of Simon Le Bon-bon going to waste?

To quote the LeBon - everything after _Seven and the Ragged Tiger_ is all just so much post-Chili Peppers music.

So what the hell am I talking about again?

Actually, that's a bloody good question: What were the writers of those two songs thinking when they wrote those?

I think Hungry Like The Wolf is about oral sex but everyone just ignores me. Really, though, if you actually listen to what he's saying, it makes virtually no sense, I mean the metaphors are awful. They have loads and loads of singles that sound like unadulterated gibberish, but VERY COMPLEX gibberish, like Tom said.

It's not a situation like Britney Spears or something where something doesn't make sense, but it's just cos they're being a bit lazy and it's not about what she's actually saying anyhow. I feel like I SHOULD be paying loads of attention to what they are saying, cos it's done up so importantly, but it makes fuck all sense.

Seven and the Ragged Tiger, hahahahahahahahaha. Sorry.

Perhaps the reason why the lyrics make no sense is cos I can't understand him.

What I really remember from the ad was a very normal-looking girl of about my age at the time (13? 14?) looking through the record racks and pulling out a copy of "Raw Power", then enthusiastically showing it to her (equally square-looking) sister. This little corner of advertising history still confuses me.

"Kyrie", Mr. Mister
Greek for Lord Have Mercy

Oh, the irony!

"Sussudio", Phil Collins
Actually, I heard Phil in an interview say that the title came from a guy who worked at the recording studio who had a stutter or speech impediment, so he couldn't say the word studio correctly...it came out sussudio.

What a card!

"Rio", album of the '80s?

Sounds = like raunchy sex.

Assuming Simon's referring to crotch spelunking, mayhaps he's referring to the fact that his mouth -- like, where his 'sound' comes from, and stuff -- has a particular scent to it. But who knows? He's an enigma.

Next up - an environmental interpretation of "Welcome to the Jungle".

By the same token, looking for lyrical depth and meaning in Duran Duran lyrics is an excercise in needlessness. They never claimed to be Leonard Cohen.

Unless I'm misremembering ... that was the one with the dwarves, right?

I don't even make sense right now because of my shoulder medication, or I would outline the number of ways that Duran Duran are the greatest band ever.

That's *exactly* my plan.

I don't even make sense right now because of my shoulder medication, or I would outline the number of ways that Duran Duran are the greatest band ever.

What needs outlining? Is it not a GIVEN FACT?

They seriously were one of the most crucial bands I ever heard. From them into the synth-New Ro hits of the day, then into the Pet Shop Boys, Depeche and New Order, and after that the world = Ned's musical path in partial nutshell (the other was determined by Def Leppard and love of loud guitars).

I hated Duran Duran. "Come Undone" was OK though.

PS Leonard Cohen sucks at 21 or 81.

There. I feel better now.

Oh gosh, you're so right hon. Nick looks gorgeous on the cover! So does John and Roger, in fact. Even Simon (heh, never was a Simon girl) and Andy look cute on this cover.

*laughs* I feel like a teenybopper now.

Sigh, that's a shame, because that is the version that I remember (and influenced so much of my adolescence, I mean... life!) and that is the version that I really want. I should borrow the singles box set thing off Catty and see if I can't just BURN the version that I remember.

Aw. I know just what you mean about everything. Except transfer those feelings onto Rio, because that was the first album of theirs that I owned and listened to and because the most popular U.S. version of that album featured nothing but David Kershenbaum remixes on the first half of the album. (In fact, if I can actually *find* these versions on .mp3, I might just take your lead and burn my own version of Rio, chucking the CD version... heh, which just happens to be the U.K. version of the album, sans the remixes.) At any length, that is a good idea and it's going to be super-easy for you to compile the songs so it shouldn't be too much of a problem in the end. I mean, like I said earlier, there are at least two compilations that have the "Night Version" of "Planet Earth" (it's very disco-ey, isn't it?), and the rest of the tracks are the same ones that can be found on the CD of the 1983 re-release of the debut album, so it'll be no problem.

Now only if I can hunt down David Kershenbaum and get him to press for the version of Rio that he did those remixes on to be released in CD format, I will be a happy girlie.

Thanks for sharing all your information! I have a quick question that you might be able to help me with. I've been looking around the 'net for a translation of the French spoken at the beginning of the NMoM video... I can get the general feel of it, but I'm years and years out of my French courses in college. Do you know, or know where I might find out, what they're saying?

And on the topic of the NMoM videos... in the ( forgive me, I don't know the official names of the versions ) edit that has Simon shooting the arrow and the silhouettes of the chained woman getting beaten up by the military type guy, the woman who is part of the resistance group runs off to alert the police about the uprising, then is back waving the flag whilst Simon grins at her. Was she a traitor who changed her mind? Or was that part of the plan? It really muddies up the plotline.

In the long, more filmic version, this never happens. And I'm wondering if anything was ever said about why they edited the video to include the silhouettes and the confusing statement about the woman informing the police... it only makes things much more confusing.

Help me, Dee-bi Wan, you're my only hope. :)

Cheers ( and thanks! ), deb

*ahem*

But you were interested in finding out why the woman went to the police and then went back to the revolutionaries? I just finished seeing the version of the video you were talking about and it looks to me as though she was setting the police officers up. Perhaps it may have looked as though she was betraying the revolutionaries by talking to the police, and it may have looked as though some of the revolutionaries were practically running for their lives, but I saw the revolutionaries actually running to hide, as if the plan was to point the officers in a particular direction where the revolutionaries were going to be lying in wait, and then when they were to go to this one preplanned area, the revolutionaries were going to have them surrounded, thus beginning their takeover of the regime.

*laughs* Does this make any sense at all? I hope so, because I feel like I'm starting to ramble on, like I normally do whenever I'm talking about this band.

Thank you so much for the info on the NMoM vids... I have a feeling I might be searching around for "Dancing on the Valentine". Is there a big difference in length between the longer ( "hidden" ) edit on Greatest and Dancing?

Thanks also for the links to the YLB and LK sites... next day off I'll try them both out. :)

I'm beginning to wonder how much money they spent on shooting this video... and what exactly they were planning on doing with the 20 minute version of it. Was it more of a "we're having fun, keep the cameras rolling" type of thing, or a fully scripted concept that just didn't seem to fit?

Hope you're having a smashing day, and thanks once again. :) - deb

Speedy, you might want to check your reflection in the mirror. I think you've got a huge wad of brown gunk on your nose. Is it from any of the mainstream music press people you've been enslaved t-- I mean, hanging out with?

If it's not too much trouble for you, I *would* love to know the times on the different edits. It would help me decide how much energy and money to expend on tracking down "Dancing on the Valentine". Thanks everso! :)

And, just another quick question, if it's not a bother. I recently heard a small portion of an acoustic performance of "Wild Boys", do you know if they ever performed that song, in its entirety, acoustically?

Hope I'm not being too much of a bother. :)

- deb

If it's not too much trouble for you, I *would* love to know the times on the different edits. It would help me decide how much energy and money to expend on tracking down "Dancing on the Valentine". Thanks everso! :)

The version that's on "Dancing On The Valentine" is 5 minutes and 29 seconds long. (Thank God for digital counters that reset easily!) Please hang on for the "Greatest" version, which might actually not be that different. Hm. You know, I do also know that I've seen the OTHER longer version of the video, the one without the silhouettes and the arrow slinging and "is she really betraying the resistance?" question, on VH1 Classic. Hm. I'll have to investigate this further.

*sighs* You know, I just looked up information on the "Greatest" DVD and DAMN IT I WANT IT. Wah. I want for birthday present. Birthday just under month and a half away. MUST HAVE IT.

And, just another quick question, if it's not a bother. I recently heard a small portion of an acoustic performance of "Wild Boys", do you know if they ever performed that song, in its entirety, acoustically?

Oh no, it's no problem! I do know that for at least one stretch of the tour Duran did in support of The Wedding Album, they did only all-acoustic shows, so I did know that they must've performed an acoustic version of "Wild Boys" (seeing as though that's one of the songs they always seem to perform live), so I looked it up on this one site and ta-da, there's a bootl-- I mean, "unofficial release" that has it! It's simply titled Unplugged and contains an unplugged version of "Wild Boys" from their 1993 concert in Buenos Aires, Argentina. I don't know if you'd have any luck in finding this because it's an "unofficial release" and it's not even found in the place that would most likely carry it (a highly specialized e-commerce site out of Russia), so here's what I suggest you do: Go over to the aforementioned LK forums, go to the "Buy/Sell or Trade" board, and post that you want the Unplugged bootl-- I mean, "unofficial release" that came out of Italy in 1994. OR you could go to the main "Duran Duran" board and post that you understand that the "acoustic" version of "Wild Boys" is something you'd really love to hear and hopefully a kind woman from Hawaii named Laurie will help you out. Laurie is an angel and a half -- very generous, and very Ned-like in her Duran release completistness. She has practically anything Duran that was released, either officially or unofficially, and will probably have this acoustic version of "Wild Boys" somewhere in her own collection. That is, if she still posts there. :)

btw, thank you for making me feel useful around here. :)

I'm going to have to triple-check ASAP on which one is the second version and which one is the fourth version. But not now. I'm about to fall asleep right here on my computer chair. Ack.

Thank you, once again. :) I'm sending positive "Greatest" vibes your way, to help speed up the process of your receiving it! :)

You know, I've become fixated on "the chauffeur" as of late. It's always been one of my favorite songs by them, but for some reason I can't seem to take it out of my player...

abientot, deb

You know, I decided this afternoon to gift myself, so courtesy of Amazon.com, I will have a very happy birthday along with a very merry Christmas. :) Thank you so, hon.

You know, I've become fixated on "the chauffeur" as of late. It's always been one of my favorite songs by them, but for some reason I can't seem to take it out of my player...

Ooh, "The Chauffeur" is such a fun song to sing along with! "When the sun drips down very heady behind, the front of your dress all shadowy-lined, the droning engine throbs in time with your beating heart" (note: I type all that out purely from memory) -- oh God, I'm going to have to listen to that now. I found it highly unique and wonderful that the DVD includes the "The Chauffeur" video -- complete with the breast footage, I'm sure. Isn't that the weirdest video? Hm. I just wish they'd put in the "Do You Believe In Shame?" video -- that's my favorite video of all time. Oh well, they *did* include that Rum Runner video footage (the alternate "Planet Earth", from what I've read), which is ultra-mega-cool.

¡Hasta luego!

Yay about the "Greatest" DVD! I've been busy taking screencaps to make myself some new desktops for my computer. :)

You know, the video for "The Chauffeur" is gorgeous. The black and white images, the car on the road... I'm with it all the way until the blonde woman starts her "interpretive dance". That always pulls me out of the moment, because it just doesn't seem to fit in with the cinematic feel of the rest of the video.

Bad fan alert... I don't think I've ever seen the video for "Do You Believe In Shame". Does it have a storyline, or is it a performance video?

Hope you've been having a smashing day... - deb

Fabulous idea, hon. I'll have to do the same with some of the newer studio photos of the band.

You're totally OTM in re: the "The Chauffeur" video, btw.

Bad fan alert... I don't think I've ever seen the video for "Do You Believe In Shame". Does it have a storyline, or is it a performance video?

I don't think you're a bad fan for stating that! I imagine it got very little, if any, MTV airplay back in 1988, and the only reason I know what the video looks like is because I was able to acquire a compilation of various "obscure" videos of theirs, including the one for "Femme Fatale" and one very rare performance bit for "Friends Of Mine". The "DYBIS?" video does indeed have a storyline, though it's kinda hard to follow. You'd have to watch it in order to figure it out. But be warned -- if you're a John fan, watching the video is kinda painful, because it was shot right when John was experiencing the worst of his cocaine addiction and so he was painfully thin at the time. If you're a Nick fan, though, you can take heart in knowing that this is the video he looks the hottest in. (But still, seeing John look like that IS sad.)

Hope your day is merry too, sweetie.

So do you use cocaine, yourself?

Because I was a vegetarian once for six months and my guts have never been the same.

You gone too far this time
But I’m dancing on the valentine
I tell you somebody’s fooling around -
With my chances on the dangerline
I’ll cross that bridge when I find it
Another day to make my stand, oh..
High time is no time for deciding
If I should find a helping hand, oh..

So why don’t you use it
Try not to bruse it
Buy time don’t lose it

(chorus)

The reflex is an only child, he’s waiting in the park
The reflex is in charge of finding treasure in the dark
And watching over lucky clover isn’t that bizarre
Every little thing the reflex does leaves you answered with a
Question mark

I’m on a ride and I want to get off
But they won’t slow down the roundabout
I sold the renoir and the tv set
Don’t want to be around when this gets out

(chorus) (chorus)

The reflex is an only child, he’s waiting by the park
The reflex is in charge of finding treasure in the dark
And watching over lucky clover isn’t that bizarre
Every little thing the reflex does is an answer with a
Question mark

(chorus) (chorus)

The reflex is an only child, he’s waiting by the park
The reflex is in charge of finding treasure in the dark
And watching over lucky clover isn’t that bizarre
Every little thing the reflex does leaves me answered with a
Question mark

Oh, the reflex what a game he’s hiding all the cards
The reflex is in charge of finding treasure in the dark
And watching over lucky clover isn’t that bizarre
Every little thing the reflex does leaves you answered with a
Question mark

Telegram force and ready
I knew this was a big mistake
There's a fine line drawing
My senses together
And I think it's about to break

If I listen close I can hear them singers
Voices in your body coming through on the radio
The Union of the Snake is on the climb
Moving up it's gonna race it's gonna break
Through the borderline

Nightshades on a warning
Give me strength at least give me a light
Give me anything even sympathy
There's a chance you could be right

The Union of the Snake is on the climb
It's gonna race it's gonna break
Gonna move up to the borderline

1) Fuck me backwards I'd forgotten they'd called an album SEVEN AND THE RAGGED TIGER!
-- Tom (ebros...

2) eutopia's brief appearance (how could we be so remiss as not to explain that the name Madonna is in the West associated with the opposite of Sexual Indecency??)

3) dee's full-on enlightenment project! People who Hear Everything and Comment Impartially are fine, but fangirl- and -boyism is to me essential ILM.

*searches for thread calles "Spandau Ballet: What the hell are they on about" to talk about worn chairs*

But their brilliant music means they deserve not to get too much critizism for it anyway :)

That's a pretty awesome turn of phrase!

I thought it was Chap Stick.

Not that makes it that much less insane of a lyric.

(Disclaimer: Never actually heard that particular DD song, except maybe once or twice. But I like all the other ones mentioned and enjoyed seeing the actual lyrics laid out. Deliberate throwaway nonsense beats ill-informed political bullshit or redundant clichés, easily.)

Thanks, Simon.

La-la-la late bar

I light my torch and wave it