The Days of DD (God Save the Queen Edition): Across the world, on radio, For anyone to hear

Did I ever listen to post-7&RT, post-Arcada/Power Station stand-off DD? Not very much. But it was always there, nearly 40 years of the stuff. I'd never really even dip in, DD would surface and sometimes take my attention when especially captivating ("Ordinary World," "Come Undone"). Be forgiving of this inartful simile, I've not been doing this for a while, but DD popping in the background was kind of like the Queen. Always there, expression always in the official capacity (she never gave interviews), recorded and captured for all time.

Since the show last month, I've made my way from '86 to now, listening to all that DD has captured of themselves since then. This one, from the latest, is delightful, and actually sentimental, though you wouldn't know from first listen--more so from the video. It's a rager, and everyone is there, including QE2, always there, always our connection to the history of the world, the bridge between the 19th and 21st centuries. 

The days of DD: I know you're watching me every minute of the day

 In these couple of weeks leading up to my next reunion with my idols, I gotta look back before I go forward. And, look, this was peaking right at this time in '83, so this couldn't be a better time to think back on a song I did indeed like but that preceded my all-out infatuation, which wouldn't blossom until the spring of '84. 

That's right... "ITSISK" emerged in the summer. It sounded like anticipation of fun to me, of all the inside jokes that were going to come out of long pools sessions and my family's beach vacation, and slumber parties with my friend. It's, inexplicably, like laughter bubbling up. There's something actually comic about Simon's delivery in the verses, and, though the chorus is more earnest, it sounds like he's asking, but is actually starting to get over it, but, hell, gonna ask anyway: is this worth saving? Because I have one foot in the future, babe.

And it goes with August, especially, with the bugs at the peak of their noisy insistence to find a mate, the air heavy as hell, the pool getting a little dirty. It's a busy little song, a bridge between Rio and Seven and the Ragged Tiger for Brits and a this-thing-is-not-like-the-other track appended to the self-titled first album when it was remixed and released--out of order--in the U.S. 

The video was subtle, not spectacular, and a bit of a letdown after the Rio vids despite the semi-embarrassing, fully comic bit of Roger, Nick, and Andy Andrews Sister-ing in, I don't know, Napoleonic Wars uniforms:

Duran Duran Is There Something I Should Know GIFfrom Duran Duran GIFs

I haven't thought about that snippet in years, and the delight it brought my friends and I only months later when we perpetually rented a VCR and the DD video album (or, rather, Robin's mom did) for overnights. Bubblin'-up fun. I hope I hear it on the 20th.