Come Undone (Duran Duran song)

"Come Undone" is a song by British band Duran Duran. It was released in March 1993 as the second single from the album Duran Duran (The Wedding Album). It is their 24th single overall.

"Come Undone"
Single by Duran Duran
from the album Duran Duran (The Wedding Album)
B-side
  • "Stop Dead"
  • "Falling Angel"
  • "Time for Temptation"
Released29 March 1993
Recorded1993 at Privacy Studio (London)
Genre
Length
  • 4:15 (edit)
  • 4:38 (album version)
Label
Songwriter(s)Duran Duran
Producer(s)Duran Duran
Duran Duran singles chronology
"Ordinary World"
(1992)		 "Come Undone"
(1993)		 "Too Much Information"
(1993)
Music video
"Come Undone" on YouTube

With their commercial and critical success reestablished by the previous single "Ordinary World", "Come Undone" continued to showcase more of the band's entry into the adult contemporary radio format. The single proved to be the group's second consecutive US top-ten hit from The Wedding Album, peaking at number seven on the Billboard Hot 100. It was also popular in the United Kingdom and other international markets, reaching number two in Canada, number eight in Italy, number nine in Ireland, and number 13 in the UK.

Background

The group's guitarist at the time, Warren Cuccurullo, is credited with developing the instrumentation for "Come Undone", most importantly its guitar hook, which he developed while trying to do a re-interpretation of "First Impression" from their 1990 album Liberty. In 2005, Cuccurullo revealed to author Steve Malins that he and Nick Rhodes had originally planned on using the song for a project outside of Duran Duran with Gavin Rossdale, but had changed plans when singer Simon Le Bon took a liking to the music and began to come up with lyrics on the spot.[1]

Rhodes expanded on the song's creation during the album's 20th anniversary in 2013.

It was something that Warren and I started writing alongside some other stuff that we’d been playing around with, and Simon came in and heard what we were doing. He said, 'Wow, I love that!’ And so it became a Duran Duran song. [Simon] came up with a really great melody – we already had the 'can’t ever keep from falling apart' section – and he very quickly made it his, or himself part of it".[2]

The song was included as a last minute addition to their self-titled album in 1993, with the lyrics being written by Le Bon as a gift for his wife, Yasmin.

The group's bassist, John Taylor, did not actually play bass on this track, although he does in the music video. Nick Rhodes and John Jones both contributed synth bass on the track during his absence. Tessa Niles was credited with backing vocals. The song also contains a sample from The Soul Searchers' song "Ashley's Roachclip".

According to John Jones,

at the time we had completed and mastered the Wedding Album and had started the cover album "Thank You". One day we took the drum loop and bass groove from a demo of mine called "Face to Face" and added the ultra cool guitar riff that Warren had come up with for a new "cover" version of "First Impression". After a couple of hours of tweaking we played the track over the phone to Capitol in Los Angeles and they loved it and said they wanted it on the Wedding album! When Nick arrived that afternoon the intro was carved into a song that we played to Simon that night. He was back the next day with the lyrics and the melody and I think we finished the vocals the day after that. On the fourth day we finished the track detail and sent it to David Richards in Switzerland to be mixed.

Lamya Al-Mugheiry sang the backing vocals in the Unplugged version of the song for MTV in November 1993, and during their "Wedding Album" tour. Tessa Niles sang background vocals on the actual recording.

Music video

The "Come Undone" video was directed by Julien Temple. Shots of the band were filmed in the London Aquarium, prominently featuring Sharks; these were interspersed with short vignettes of people "coming undone" in various ways. These vignettes include a little girl seeing her parents together, an older couple who have survived a flood, a little girl hiding under the bed while placing her head on top of her white teddy bear, an alcoholic and a man who is revealed to be a cross-dresser. Also seen in the video is a woman struggling underwater to break free of the chains that bind her. LeBon and Taylor's Vivienne Westwood wardrobe were likely a nod to the band's early New Romantic era.

A portion of the music video can be seen in the "No Laughing" episode of the MTV show Beavis and Butt-Head, which was aired on July 1993.

B-sides, bonus tracks and remixes

The single was released in the United Kingdom on 29 March 1993, with the B-side "Ordinary World (Acoustic Version)". This was the single's official B-side in the UK, along with two official remixes of "Come Undone".

In the US however, three new, original compositions written during the album's production were featured as B-sides – "Time for Temptation", "Stop Dead" and "Falling Angel". For collectors, the US releases also contained an alternate mix of "To the Shore" and the first appearance on CD of "The Chauffeur (Blue Silver)".

Official mixes

There are twelve official mixes of "Come Undone". They are often credited with different names on different releases.

  • "Come Undone" (Album Version) – 4:38
  • "Come Undone" (Edit) – 4:15
  • "Come Undone" (7-inch Edit Alternate) – 3:58
  • "Come Undone" (FGI Phumpin' 12-inch) / (FGI Phumpin' Mix) – 8:14
  • "Come Undone" (La Fin De Siècle) – 5:25
  • "Come Undone" (Mix 1 Master) / (12-inch Mix – Comin' Together) – 7:23
  • "Come Undone" (Mix 2 Master) – 5:24
  • "Come Undone" (Come Undub) – 4:47
  • "Come Undone" (US Remix) / (Churban Mix) – 4:16
  • "Come Undone" (TV Synth Strings) – 5:00
  • "Come Undone" (12-inch Dub Mix) – 5:57
  • "Come Undone" (Dub Mix) – 5:04

Format and track listing

Personnel

John Taylor did not play bass guitar during recording of this song, despite being a member of the band at that time.

Charts

References
  1. Malins, S: Duran Duran - Notorious: The Unauthorized Biography, page 221. Carlton Publishing Group, 2005.
  2. Duran Duran’s ‘The Wedding Album’ Turns 20: Backtracking
  3. "Australian-charts.com – Duran Duran – Come Undone". ARIA Top 50 Singles.
  4. "Ultratop.be – Duran Duran – Come Undone" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50. Retrieved 14 September 2019.
  5. "Top RPM Singles: Issue 0972." RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved 14 September 2019.
  6. "Eurochart Hot 100 Singles" (PDF). Music & Media. Vol. 10 no. 20. 15 May 1993. p. 23. Retrieved 19 August 2020.
  7. Nyman, Jake (2005). Suomi soi 4: Suuri suomalainen listakirja (in Finnish) (1st ed.). Helsinki: Tammi. ISBN 951-31-2503-3.
  8. "Lescharts.com – Duran Duran – Come Undone" (in French). Les classement single.
  9. "Offiziellecharts.de – Duran Duran – Come Undone". GfK Entertainment Charts.
  10. "Íslenski Listinn Topp 40 (29. apríl – 5. maí)". Dagblaðið Vísir (in Icelandic). 29 April 1993. p. 29. Retrieved 7 October 2019.
  11. "The Irish Charts – Search Results – Come Undone". Irish Singles Chart.
  12. "Top 10 Sales in Europe" (PDF). Music & Media. Vol. 10 no. 24. 12 June 1993. p. 20. Retrieved 24 November 2019.
  13. "Charts.nz – Duran Duran – Come Undone". Top 40 Singles.
  14. "Swedishcharts.com – Duran Duran – Come Undone". Singles Top 100.
  15. "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 14 September 2019.
  16. "Duran Duran Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved 15 September 2017.
  17. "Duran Duran Chart History (Adult Contemporary)". Billboard. Retrieved 15 September 2017.
  18. "Duran Duran Chart History (Alternative Airplay)". Billboard. Retrieved 15 September 2017.
  19. "Duran Duran Chart History (Pop Songs)". Billboard. Retrieved 15 September 2017.
  20. Ryan, Gavin (2011). Australia's Music Charts 1988–2010. Mt. Martha, VIC, Australia: Moonlight Publishing.
  21. "The RPM Top 100 Hit Tracks of 1993". RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved 14 September 2019.
  22. "Billboard Top 100 – 1993". Archived from the original on 10 November 2006. Retrieved 27 August 2010.
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