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. 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.

"Come Undone"
Single by Duran Duran
from the album Duran Duran (The Wedding Album)
B-side"Ordinary World" (acoustic)
Released29 March 1993 (1993-03-29)[1]
StudioPrivacy (London)
GenreSoft rock[2][3]
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

The single became the group's second consecutive US top-10 hit from The Wedding Album, peaking at number seven on the Billboard Hot 100 and becoming their last top-40 hit on that chart. It was also popular in the United Kingdom and other international markets, reaching number one in Israel, number two in Canada, number eight in Italy, number nine in Ireland, and number 13 in the UK. As of October 2021, "Come Undone" is the eighth-most streamed Duran Duran song in the UK.[4]

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.[5]

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".[6]

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.

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.[7] It features multiple, unrelated clips of people in different areas. These 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. 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 in July 1993.

B-sides, bonus tracks and remixes

The single was released in the United Kingdom on 29 March 1993, with an acoustic version of "Ordinary World" as the B-side. 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)".

Track listings

Personnel

John Taylor did not play bass guitar during recording of this song, despite being a member of the band at that time.[17]

Charts

Cover versions

American rock band, Bad Omens, released a version of Come Undone on the deluxe version of their second album, Finding God Before God Finds Me.[39][40]

References
  1. "New Releases: Singles" (PDF). Music Week. 27 March 1993. p. 27. Retrieved 22 June 2021.
  2. Courant, Hartford (3 August 2000). "CD REVIEWS". Courant.com.
  3. "Nostalgia trip is marked by litany of great hits". Independent. July 2007.
  4. Griffiths, George (26 October 2021). "Duran Duran's Official Top 20 most-streamed songs revealed". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 12 June 2022.
  5. Malins, S: Duran Duran - Notorious: The Unauthorized Biography, page 221. Carlton Publishing Group, 2005.
  6. Duran Duran's 'The Wedding Album' Turns 20: Backtracking
  7. Franson, Todd (17 March 2016). "18 Great Duran Duran Videos". Metro Weekly. Retrieved 2 March 2023.
  8. Come Undone (UK 7-inch single vinyl disc). Duran Duran. Parlophone. 1993. DD 17.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  9. Come Undone (UK cassette single sleeve). Duran Duran. Parlophone. 1993. TCDD 17.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  10. Come Undone (UK CD1 liner notes). Duran Duran. Parlophone. 1993. CDDDS 17.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  11. Come Undone (UK CD2 liner notes). Duran Duran. Parlophone. 1993. CDDD 17.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  12. Come Undone (US CD single liner notes). Duran Duran. Capitol Records. 1993. C2 0777 7 15969 2 6.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  13. Come Undone (US cassette single sleeve). Duran Duran. Capitol Records. 1993. 4KM 0777 7 44918 4 6.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  14. Come Undone (Canadian cassette single sleeve). Duran Duran. Capitol Records. 1993. 4KM 44918.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  15. Come Undone (Australian CD single liner notes). Duran Duran. Parlophone. 1993. 8 80570 2.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  16. The Singles 1986–1995 (UK box set liner notes). Duran Duran. Parlophone. 2004. 7243 5 49892 2 3.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  17. Elliott, Mark. "Come Undone: How Duran Duran Tied Off Another Hit Song". Dig!. Retrieved 29 March 2023.
  18. "Duran Duran – Come Undone". ARIA Top 50 Singles.
  19. "Duran Duran – Come Undone" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50. Retrieved 14 September 2019.
  20. "Top RPM Singles: Issue 0972." RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved 14 September 2019.
  21. "Eurochart Hot 100 Singles" (PDF). Music & Media. Vol. 10, no. 20. 15 May 1993. p. 23. Retrieved 19 August 2020.
  22. Nyman, Jake (2005). Suomi soi 4: Suuri suomalainen listakirja (in Finnish) (1st ed.). Helsinki: Tammi. ISBN 951-31-2503-3.
  23. "Duran Duran – Come Undone" (in French). Les classement single.
  24. "Duran Duran – Come Undone" (in German). GfK Entertainment charts.
  25. "Íslenski Listinn Topp 40 (29. apríl – 5. maí)". Dagblaðið Vísir (in Icelandic). 29 April 1993. p. 29. Retrieved 7 October 2019.
  26. "The Irish Charts – Search Results – Come Undone". Irish Singles Chart.
  27. "Top 10 Sales in Europe" (PDF). Music & Media. Vol. 10, no. 24. 12 June 1993. p. 20. Retrieved 24 November 2019.
  28. "Tipparade-lijst van week 34, 1993" (in Dutch). Dutch Top 40. Retrieved 1 April 2023.
  29. "Duran Duran – Come Undone". Top 40 Singles.
  30. "Duran Duran – Come Undone". Singles Top 100.
  31. "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 14 September 2019.
  32. "Duran Duran Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved 15 September 2017.
  33. "Duran Duran Chart History (Adult Contemporary)". Billboard. Retrieved 15 September 2017.
  34. "Duran Duran Chart History (Alternative Airplay)". Billboard. Retrieved 15 September 2017.
  35. "Duran Duran Chart History (Pop Songs)". Billboard. Retrieved 15 September 2017.
  36. Ryan, Gavin (2011). Australia's Music Charts 1988–2010. Mt. Martha, VIC, Australia: Moonlight Publishing.
  37. "The RPM Top 100 Hit Tracks of 1993". RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved 14 September 2019.
  38. "Billboard Top 100 – 1993". Archived from the original on 10 November 2006. Retrieved 27 August 2010.
  39. "Come Undone". YouTube.
  40. "BAD OMENS Release Deluxe Edition Of Album 'Finding God Before God Finds Me'". 19 January 2020.
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