Come Undone (Duran Duran song)

"Come Undone"
Single by Duran Duran
from the album Duran Duran (The Wedding Album)
B-side	"Stop Dead" "Falling Angel" "Time for Temptation"
Released	29 March 1993
Format	7" 12" CD
Recorded	1993 at Privacy Studio (London)
Genre	Pop rock downtempo
Length	4:15 (edit) 4:38 (single version)
Label	EMI Capitol
Writer(s)	Duran Duran
Producer(s)	Duran Duran
Duran Duran singles chronology
"Ordinary World" (1992) "Come Undone" (1993) "Too Much Information" (1993)

"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.

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. It was also popular in the UK and other international markets.

About the song

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.

Music video

The "Come Undone" video was directed by Julien Temple. Shots of the band were filmed in the London Aquarium, prominently featuring an arowana; 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, 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" Edit Alternate) – 3:58
• "Come Undone" (FGI Phumpin' 12") / (FGI Phumpin' Mix) – 8:14
• "Come Undone" (La Fin De Siècle) – 5:25
• "Come Undone" (Mix 1 Master) / (12" 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" Dub Mix) – 5:57
• "Come Undone" (Dub Mix) – 5:04

Format and track listing

7": Parlophone. / DD 17 United Kingdom

1. "Come Undone" (Edit) – 4:15
2. "Ordinary World" (Acoustic Version) – 5:05

12": Parlophone. / 12DDDJ 17 (Promo) United Kingdom

1. "Come Undone" (Fgi Phumpin' 12") – 8:14 (a.k.a. "FGI Phumpin' Mix")
2. "Come Undone" (7" Edit Alternate) – 3:57
3. "Come Undone" (La Fin De Siécle) – 5:25
4. "Come Undone" (12" Mix Comin' Together) – 7:27 (a.k.a. "Mix 1 Master")
5. "Come Undone" (Come Undub) – 4:47
6. "Come Undone" (LP Version) – 4:31

CD: Parlophone. / CD DDS 17 United Kingdom

1. "Come Undone (Edit)" – 4:15
2. "Ordinary World (Acoustic Version)" – 5:08
3. "Come Undone (FGI Phumpin' 12")" – 8:16 (a.k.a. "FGI Phumpin' Mix")
4. "Come Undone (La Fin de Siècle)" – 5:27

• This CD came in a 2-CD case that also housed CD DDP 17.

CD: Parlophone. / CD DDP 17 (UK)

1. "Come Undone" (Album Version) – 4:41
2. "Rio" – 5:35
3. "Is There Something I Should Know?" – 4:10
4. "A View to a Kill" – 3:35

• Part 2 of a 2-CD set which can be housed in the special 2-CD holder which come with UK release CD DDS 17.

7": Capitol Records. / S7-17316 United States

1. "Come Undone" – 4:31
2. "Skin Trade" – 4:25

CD: Capitol Records. / C2 0777 7 15969 26 United States

1. "Come Undone" (LP Version) – 4:40
2. "Come Undone" (Mix 1 Master) – 7:24 (a.k.a. 12" Mix – Comin' Together")
3. "Skin Trade" (Parisian Mix) – 8:10
4. "Stop Dead" – 4:32

CD: Capitol Records. / C2 0777 7 15981 28 (Come Undone 2) United States

1. "Come Undone" (U.S. Remix) – 4:20 (a.k.a. "Churban Mix")
2. "Falling Angel" – 3:54
3. "To the Shore" – 4:03
4. "The Chauffeur" (Acoustic Demo) – 3:50 (a.k.a. "The Chaufeur" (Blue Silver) (Early Version))

• "The Chauffeur" is shown on the CD inlay as a Demo Version but in fact it's the acoustic version from the B-side of the 7" release of "Rio".

CD: Capitol Records. / DPRO-79660 (Promo) United States

1. "Come Undone" (Edit) – 4:15
2. "Come Undone" (Mix 2 Master) – 5:26
3. "Come Undone" (La Fin de Siècle) – 5:27
4. "Come Undone" (Album Version) – 4:38

CD: Capitol Records DPRO-79749 (Promo) United States

1. "Come Undone" (Churban Remix) – 4:17 (a.k.a. "U.S. Mix")
2. "Come Undone" (12" Dub Mix) – 5:57
3. "Come Undone" (Dub Mix) – 5:04

MC: Capitol Records 4KM 0777 7 44918 46 United States

1. "Come Undone (Album Version)" – 4:31
2. "Come Undone (Mix 2 Master)" – 5:26
3. "Time for Temptation" – 4:07

12": Parlophone. / 8-80537-6 Italy

1. "Come Undone" (Edit) – 4:15
2. "Ordinary World" (Acoustic Version) – 5:05
3. "Come Undone" (FGI Phumpin' 12'') – 8:14 (a.k.a. "FGI Phumpin' Mix")
4. "Come Undone" (La Fin De Siecle) – 5:25
5. "Come Undone" (TV Synth Strings) – 5:10

CD: Part of Singles Box Set 1986–1995 boxset

1. "Come Undone (Edit)" – 4:15
2. "Ordinary World (Acoustic Version)" – 5:05
3. "Come Undone (FGI Phumpin' 12")" – 8:14 (a.k.a. "FGI Phumpin' Mix")
4. "Come Undone (La Fin de Siècle)" – 5:25
5. "Come Undone (Album Version)" – 4:31
6. "Rio" (Album Version) – 5:33
7. "Is There Something I Should Know?" – 4:05
8. "A View to a Kill" – 3:33

Chart positions

Other appearances

Albums:

• Duran Duran (The Wedding Album) (1993)
• Greatest (1998)
• Strange Behaviour (1999)

Singles:

• "Too Much Information" (1993)

Personnel

Duran Duran are:

• Simon Le Bon – vocals
• Nick Rhodes – keyboards, synth bass
• Warren Cuccurullo – guitar, vocals

Other:

• John Jones – drums, bass, keyboards, vocals
• Tessa Niles – backing vocals

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

References

External links

• The Duran Duran Timeline: 1992
• The Duran Duran Timeline: 1993
• Duran Duran Collection: Come Undone CDs
• Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics