First, thank you for reading my previous entries in this series. I truly hope it has given you a new appreciation for Duran Duran, 80’s music, and pop music in general. If I did my job, you have had a glimpse of what the band has to offer beyond “Hungry Like the Wolf” and “The Reflex”.
Today we’ll step back to 1983, the year the album Seven and the Ragged Tiger was released. This song did not appear on the album, but was a B-side to one of its singles.
The song was written and recorded in one marathon session, as they were up against the deadline for the release of the single “Union of the Snake”, and needed a B-side. Frontman Simon Lebon says the song is about “escaping on yer birthday”. As with many songs on Seven and the Ragged Tiger, it illustrates the struggle of the loss of any kind of normal life when fame comes calling.
After having pointed out John Taylor’s magnificent bass playing in previous installments, it may come as a surprise that my favorite song has no bass. And no drums (it does have some percussion, however). And no guitar. The marathon session I mentioned above was just Lebon and keyboardist Nick Rhodes. Here Rhodes uses the calliope-like sounds we’ve heard in other songs. Combined with Lebon’s soaring vocals, it makes a pop masterpiece. The deep under-voice you hear, almost speaking Johnny Cash-like, is also Lebon.
For me, the song represents a more general sense of, and need for, isolation. It evokes an incredibly strong visual in me. Lonely, cold, cloudy, windswept. It’s almost as if I am at this specific, wholly imaginary, place whenever I hear it. Very few songs have triggered these kinds of strong visuals in me. I loved this song from the moment I heard it.
I present to you…”Secret Oktober”
Wise on a birthday party
In a world full of surprising fireworks
And sudden silence
Lies on a stranger’s bed
The new day breaks like a speeding train or an old friend
Ever expected, but never knocking
Holding your own in a battered car
All night parties, cocktail bars, and smile
When the butterfly escapes the killing jarSure eyes awake before the dancing is over
Wise or naked in secret OktoberFreefall on a windy morning shore
Nothing but a fading track of footsteps
Could prove that you’d ever been there
Spoken on a cotton cloud
Like the sound of gunshot taken by the wind
And lost in distant thunder
Racing on a shining plain
Tomorrow you’ll be content to watch
As the lightning plays along the wires and you’ll wonderSure eyes awake before the dancing is over
Wise or naked in secret Oktober
Sure eyes awake before the dancing is over
Wise or naked in secret Oktober
You know what Duran Duran never did? First.
Ah, nice. One of you lot pointed me at that one last week or the week before.
Job done.
For me too.
LOL that was me.
Sneaky!
Ah dammit, I forgot about that one.
Thanks, KK! This was a terrific series!
Sad Price Is Right horn
How’s the pup settling in?
Great! Still hates the hyper little Boston terrier neighbor that runs around off leash (she’s sweet, but her approach is like a charging bull), but we’ll work on that. At night he goes from 60 to 0 in 2 seconds flat.
At night he goes from 60 to 0 in 2 seconds flat.
That is awesome! What a good boy!
That’s me after sex.
Flaunting your penis privilege?
I enjoyed this series. Learned a lot about Duran Duran! Also glad KK is commenting.
She is one of the good ones, musical tastes aside, that will be allowed to vote still after The First That Shall Change Everything.
Tundra posted a quote on Rome’s war mongering this morning, likening it the neocons.
The Roman people benefited from their wars of aggression. The American people are so deluded that they go to war for platitudes and only to enrich the upper crust of society. If you’re really unlucky, they’ll turn you into the poster boy for their moral superiority over the rest of the world and demonize you because you pissed on a terrorist’s corpse.
The Roman people benefited from their wars of aggression.
Is this true? I suspect that it wasn’t all fun and games for those doing the dying.
It gave them purpose dude.
/national conservative
Well, Rome was really, really fucking good at war. There were set backs and times where entire armies were wiped out, but the big reason armies became loyal to generals in the first place was because they were providing them loot, pay, and in retirement, land. Raping and pillaging? That was a real thing. Guys like Alexander the Great would basically let their soldiers off the leash to blow off steam whenever they got mutinous because he was yet again telling them they had to invade a new territory when the war was supposed to be over.
Early Roman wars led to the creation of colonies (Rome’s primary method of control) where the best land in an area was distributed to Roman citizens. This was the backbone of their military in the early to mid Republic.
Rome was also extracting massive amounts of wealth from their allies and conquered territories. A lot of that ended up benefiting poor Romans who didn’t fight (bread and games weren’t cheap and came from overseas territory mostly).
Big corporations benefit from our wars. The political donors and politicians find ways to profit. The average American? At best, they are removed from worst consequences and it’s just their tax dollars being wasted.
(bread and games weren’t cheap and came from overseas territory mostly).
The logistics of Roman shipping boggles my mind. The Mediterranean really was almost their personal highway.
I love reading about that kind of thing.
The average American? At best, they are removed from worst consequences and it’s just their tax dollars being wasted.
Their bread and circuses too are being paid for by empire. The dollar as reserve currency and exporting inflation would not have happened without it.
Are you not entertained?
Thanks KK. Good job!
I offer this insanity as a token of my gratitude.
https://www.elle.com/fashion/trend-reports/a43422960/clowncore-fashion-trend-2023/
1. Bowie was an alien, not a clown.
and
2. This shit is fucking retarded.
Bowie – sometimes inspired by clowns. Bowie – sometimes inspired by clowns.
+1
That looks more like Harlequin Fashion.
How perfectly appropriate to current year.
Clowns are so hot right now.
/Mugatu
Circling back to the skyscraper video from earlier, here’s some footage of construction on the Mackinac bridge between the peninsulas of Michigan. Chain link fence for a catwalk high above the straits of Mackinac? Sure, why not.
https://youtu.be/V0C40TmoBeI
Neat. Got sucked into that and the following video.
I’ve done the Labor Day Mackinac bridge walk many times. The center lanes of the suspended section are made of metal grate so you can look straight down to the lake. It’s quite something to experience.
I noticed that in the second video I watched.
I hadn’t seen that since the old Driving Park Avenue bridge in Rochester which was all metal grate and was replaced with a new bridge that was all asphalt around the time I left for college in the late 80s.
Thanks, KK! This has been a good series.
Great series, KK! It reminded me of quite a lot of good times back when DD were a fave band (and a friend’s REALLY FAVORITE band, lol) and reminded me also of things like Arcadia which I had completely forgotten about.
Great work again, KK!
I thought I was a Duran Duran fan, but I don’t own Seven and the Ragged Tiger, and I’ve never even heard of “Secret Oktober.” Always fun to fill in a gap in my knowledge.
Hilarious that a Paki is the new first minister and leader of the SNP. Put a fork in Scotland, it’s done and lost the plot.
Great series, kk! Now that I’ve moved into my apartment here in Mukilteo, we gotta fly your ass out here to watch the planes at Paine field. So pretty. So charming.
Just this morning on my commute, there was an awesome view of the snow capped mountains way in the distance juxtaposed with planes in the foreground. They looked like shark dorsal fins!
Anyway, if you can get a pet sitter,
I can get you a ticket!!
😉☕
G’d mornin all y’all.
Good morning Sean, hayek (if you’re still awake,) and Stinky!
Still in my month-end lull at work, so I left early yesterday to get in some proper exercise at the Y before my water aerobics class. Got in about an hour and a quarter on the NuStep cross training machine, and I can still walk this morning, so….yay?
I’ve misplaced a meeting. I swear there were two meetings on my calendar this morning, now there’s only one.
I don’t see a rescheduling message, or a cancellation.
Am I going crazy?
Count your blessings and move along.
But then I can’t procrastinate as much.
Is it possible for the organizer to delete a meeting but have the option of NOT sending a cancellation? You would think they would do so, but you never know.
Doesn’t mean you’re not going crazy.
I don’t believe so. But Microsoft has done stupider things in their design decisions.
Outlook, then, I presume. Were you a “required” invitee rather than just an “optional” one (if I’m recalling the terminology correctly?) Maybe that makes a difference. ::shrugs:: (Only specific difference I seem to recall is whether the invitation is a “To” or a “CC” when it comes to you.)
I’ve been trying to find the GCC line so it’ll compile all of the attendees.
(Sorry, very bad joke)
I had to DDG that before I GNU what you were talking about.
(Not sorry, worse joke)
“I’ve been trying to find the GCC line”
It’s in the Library.
If I have to Root around in there I’m not going to Make it back.
I’m having a hard time parsing this thread, it’s a tortuous path.
Well, if you’re not going to Include us in the Process, we’re just going to Run away. I mean, I can’t Function like that.
Fsck it, I’ve reached the point of no Return.
I can see if you Object when we String you along for a while. But we really appreciate your Input with things like this.
Lots of songs fit into categories:
Love found
Love lost
Jealousy
Rage against the authorities
Reminisce
Ballads (more or less fairy tales)
Not do many about platonic friendship, but those few are really good. One I like in particular is “Basement Tapes” by Semisonic.
It’s kind of a bro love letter in which he reflects on his old bandmate from way back when they were trying to break into the big time. It’s particularly charming to me because it references Minnesota and I-35! And Kansas City.
Also, I just love Semisonic.
https://youtu.be/z5Z9piEjSaA
Anyone been following this Restrict Act garbage: designates foreign enemies and agents of those enemies, attacks the use of VPNs and encryption to bypass restrictions, and a host of other liberty crushing horseshit:
https://beincrypto.com/vpn-users-risk-20-year-jail-sentences-us-restrict-act/
It’s kind of like the Patriot Act 2.0 but worse.
Oh, the Mises Caucus had a good Twitter thread on it (sorry about the length but I don’t know how to shorten it):
https://twitter.com/LPMisesCaucus/status/1639934790026555394?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1639934790026555394%7Ctwgr%5Eabea07992593ae30dfd511357bb7171002e4d7f9%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fbeincrypto.com%2Fvpn-users-risk-20-year-jail-sentences-us-restrict-act%2F
They should call it the Make America Like China to Save America from China and Russia Bill-I like watching RT, I wonder how many years I’d get for that.
Pardon my ignorance on the topic, but has this been introduced in the House in some form also? Trying to decide whether harassing my senators (Brown & Vance) is a lost cause.
Hell, one of my senators wrote the damn thing.
You been paying attention? What do you think the chances of it passing are?
Don’t have a clue. I’ve expressed my opposition to it and probably made it onto another list.
That is a good way to characterize it.
Pooh must be laughing his ass off, after decades of the US willingly giving up its secrets in order to do business there and anyone thinks that’s going to stop?
Mornin’, reprobates!
Tanks for the early morning nut punch, Stinky. The security state keeps tightening the screws while the media obsesses over race, gender, and whatever the next flavor of the day might be. I probably watch more commercial TV than the average glib, and if this topic ever comes up on MSM, it’s on a filler piece about the horrors of the latest Tiktok challenge; not a peep about the threat to freedom. The bill hasn’t passed yet, but I am not optimistic.
Good morning, ‘patzie! You might want to cut back on the TV news, at least. I watch plenty of TV but avoid the news – even local news – unless there’s something really urgent going on. (For local, it would have to be a tornado warning to get me to watch.)
Mornin ‘. I catch local news occasionally, rarely can I last 5 minutes before getting the urge to throw something at the screen. I do like to keep tabs on the latest propaganda
I should note one exception to my almost-total eschewing of TV news – every so often (when I think of it and have the time) I listen to the audio of Tucker Carlson’s show via SiriusXM.
I watch just for Gabby (YUM!) Enright. I hear enough of Fried Eggs all night since I listen to WHIO while Im working.
There are a lot of people who are pissed about the writedown of Credit Suisse AT1 bonds.
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/03/29/credit-suisse-whistleblowers-say-bank-has-been-helping-americans-dodge-us-taxes.html
I have no other explanation for why the Senate Finance committee is suddenly pushing how CS was helping Americans avoid taxes. Maybe they’re hoping they can still derail the deal.
suh’ fam
whats goody
and since Im off tonight, TALL CANS!