"Come Undone" is a song by English rock band Duran Duran, released in March 1993 by Parlophone as the second single from their seventh studio album, Duran Duran (1993). 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 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 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] The accompanying music video was directed by Julien Temple.

Background

"Come Undone" stands out as the sole track on the album to which John Taylor didn`t contribute. Despite being the second single released from Duran Duran, the song was actually the final one recorded after the album was already completed in early 1992.[5] At that stage, Taylor had completed his parts for all the other songs and had left for Los Angeles to spend time with his wife.[6] In an interview with BBC, Taylor remarked, "Maybe I wished I`d played on `Come Undone`. I`d gone back to Los Angeles. We`d put that album to bed. I`m not coming back for one more song. Maybe it would have been a different song if I`d been there, maybe it wouldn`t have been such a great song. But I`m not one for regrets."[7] Subsequently, co-producer John Jones stepped in to handle the bass for the song. Due to the timing of events, "Come Undone" almost didn`t make it onto the album.[5] Warren 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.[8]

Recording history

"Come Undone" was initially built off of a single guitar hook, which the group`s guitarist at the time, Warren Cuccurullo, developed in Privacy Studios while trying to do a re-interpretation of the song "First Impression" from their 1990 album Liberty.[5] John Jones and Cuccurullo expanded on this idea, incorporating a drum loop and bass from Jones` track "Face to Face".[5] Although the drum loop was often mistaken for a sample of Ashley`s Roachclip, it was an original creation according to the American music journalist Annie Zaleski.[9] Their unfinished demo caught the attention of Nick Rhodes and Simon Le Bon, which they played to them through a phone call.[5] This led to Rhodes joining them in the studio to finalize the music that afternoon. Le Bon swiftly penned lyrics for the song and added vocals the following day.[5] The next day they brought in the English singer Tessa Niles for backing vocals and added additional overdubs.[5] Niles told Rolling Stone that Rhodes and Cuccurullo were "asking me to jump through various vocal hoops and try different things on the chorus and try it in different ways. My initial idea for the female vocal was quite soft and breathy and sexy. I think at one point, Nick said, `Listen, unleash the diva. Just go for it. Bring her out and let`s see what you got.`"[10][9] The song was then mixed the next day, completing the creative process.[5]

Music video

The music video for "Come Undone" was directed by British film, documentary and music video director Julien Temple and shot the music video inside of an aquarium.[11][6] 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.[6] Also seen in the video is the backing singer Tessa Niles, struggling underwater to break free of the chains that bind her, where she sings her backup line in the song.[6] 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

Duran Duran

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

Additional musicians

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

Charts

Cover versions

Canadian rock band, My Darkest Days, released their version of Come Undone on their debut album My Darkest Days, featuring country vocalist Jessie James Decker on backing vocals. 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.[49][50]