Duran Duran “Rio” released on this date 35 years ago, May 10th, 1982 and for me, one of the best albums of all time (I’ve blogged about it before, of course). Today on Duran Duran’s website there is an oral history where the guys “go through the 9 tracks that for many became the soundtrack of the 1980s.”

My Duranie friends and I were absolute bonkers for Rio, so much so that we wrote what was essentially a stage musical script, Sing Blue Silver, that dissected the meaning behind many of the tracks on Rio. If you are so inclined you can read the entire transcript here but this is the synopsis:

There was a mix tape that we made as well, but unfortunately the only copy was sent to Simon LeBon’s parents (hahahaha, I can barely type that with a straight face). [It’s] a glimpse into the minds of two 13 and 14 year old girls, consumed with infatuation for Simon and John and fascinated with sexuality. If you are not willing to read through the entire thing, basically the story is that there is a woman (Blue Silver) that both Simon and John want. She is a virgin and engaged to John (who Simon thinks will hurt her) so Simon has a big internal argument with himself (“strong ego” and “weak ego”) over his friendship vs desire. Desire wins. They do “it” (again, hahahaha, we couldn’t even write the word “sex”). John and Blue Silver get married anyway, Simon gives her hats and scarves for a wedding present to keep her cold heart warm. The story line plays out in the lyrics from the Rio era and each numbered line on the transcript corresponds to the number on the lyrics sheets: Lonely in Your Nightmare, New Religion (this is Simon’s big internal ego argument), Last Chance on the Stairway, Save a Prayer, Like an Angel (b-side to “My Own Way”) and “The Chauffeur” (the original video strangely not available on You Tube but this concert version is incredible). We literally stayed up all night working on this project back in ‘84, searching deep into hidden messages communicated only to us through Simon’s poetry.