{"id":292,"date":"2011-05-13T06:38:16","date_gmt":"2011-05-13T14:38:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/morganrichter.net\/blog\/?p=292"},"modified":"2023-03-08T13:31:23","modified_gmt":"2023-03-08T21:31:23","slug":"duranalysis-save-prayer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/morganrichter.net\/blog\/duranalysis-save-prayer\/","title":{"rendered":"Duranalysis: Save a Prayer"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Duran Duran\u2019s 1982 video for \u201cSave a Prayer\u201d was directed by Russell Mulcahy and shot in Sri Lanka at the same time as their videos for \u201cHungry Like the Wolf<\/a>\u201d and \u201cLonely in Your Nightmare.\u201d I don\u2019t know if Sri Lanka saw an upswing in tourism after this hit the airwaves, but it wouldn\u2019t surprise me. It\u2019s a land of majestic beaches, epic sunsets, and scantily-clad pop stars! Hard to resist any of that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s no plot, but there sure are a lot of pretty images. Let\u2019s get to it:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Simon loiters on a bench and sings to himself. Ah, this again: He\u2019s shirtless under his nice suit coat, just like John in the \u201cHungry Like the Wolf\u201d video. It looks somewhat more natural on Simon, probably because he\u2019s indoors by himself and thus isn\u2019t letting his nipples play peekaboo with the locals while he scampers amuck through crowded city streets. Maybe Simon just stepped out of a shower, felt a bit chilly, and threw on the first covering he could find. Perfectly understandable.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Duran<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\u2026I mean, it\u2019s still not a good<\/em> look, but I\u2019ll give it a pass under these circumstances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We get a lot of gorgeous shots of boats and fishermen and frolicking children as the boys stroll on a picturesque beach. Images dissolve into each other, hazy and dreamlike; it\u2019s a lovely effect, although here it seems like Simon is lost in wistful daydreams about John, which was maybe not the intended result.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Duran<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

John strums his guitar on the sand while ghostlike Sinhalese children frolic in the background. Yep, John is shirtless underneath his peach linen suit. I\u2019m ignoring it. <\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Duran<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

There are some astonishing aerial shots of Simon and Nick loitering around a stately hilltop structure (is it a temple? just a cool hangout carved into the top of a mountain?), surrounded by panoramic views. I only know that\u2019s Nick and Simon because Nick, as is his wont, happily complained up a storm in interviews about being flown to this location by helicopter. (Nick complains a lot. As Duran Duran\u2019s former manager Michael Berrow once put it, Nick \u201ccould be a bit of a whinger.\u201d Because Nick is beautiful and magical, I find this endearing. My affections are illogical and capricious.) At this distance, though, it\u2019s really impossible to tell who\u2019s up there. Mulcahy could\u2019ve dressed a couple of production assistants in immaculate white linen suits and dropped them on the hill, and viewers would be none the wiser.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Duran<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Later, Simon dances with a leggy brunette, played by Vanya Seager, while singing his famous lyric, \u201cSome people call it a one-night stand, but we can call it paradise<\/em>.\u201d In the\u00a0Classic Albums<\/em>\u00a0episode about the making of the\u00a0Rio<\/em>\u00a0LP (which is well worth a gander, by the way\u2014chock full of interesting trivia), the boys all pretty much go crazy praising the romantic sentiment of that line, which\u2026 huh? Mind you, I think it\u2019s a great lyric, catchy and evocative. However, it\u2019s never struck me as an especially\u00a0romantic<\/em>\u00a0lyric. He\u2019s putting her on notice that this is a one-time deal: \u201cWe\u2019ll have a mind-blowing evening, but just FYI, don\u2019t create an awkward moment by slipping me your phone number in the morning, because I kind of do this sort of thing a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Duran<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

His date doesn\u2019t appear to find the lyric all that romantic, either. As soon as he sings it, she stalks off, leaving him stranded on the dance floor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHey! I even put a shirt on under my jacket for you!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Duran<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Durans in trees! Ah, now<\/em> this video is really picking up steam. The boys hang out in the branches above an elephant lagoon. They look sort of glamorous and wild, like they\u2019re posing for an ill-conceived Lord of the Flies<\/em>-inspired fashion spread. I\u2019m particularly enchanted by Nick\u2019s pants-free Slutty Huck Finn ensemble, floppy straw hat and all. Nick, babe, you\u2019re flashing an unprecedented amount of leg there. This has to be the most flesh he\u2019s ever bared in a video, right? Nick tends to stay demurely bundled up, collar to cuffs, at all times.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Duran<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

(Remember that segment on a mid-nineties episode of MTV\u2019s\u00a0House of Style<\/em>\u00a0where Cindy Crawford takes Nick and Simon<\/a> on an improbable shopping spree at Sears? When Cindy tries to convince Nick to model a tank top, he expresses horror at the idea of exposing that much skin. Fine stuff.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Andy\u2019s memoir (Wild Boy: My Life in Duran Duran<\/a><\/em>, which, if anyone hasn\u2019t read it yet, is a most excellent way to blow twenty bucks at Amazon), during the filming of this scene, Andy drank too much Jack Daniels, lost his balance, tumbled from the branch into the lagoon, swallowed some elephant-befouled water, and contracted a debilitating tropical virus, which ultimately resulted in a hospital stay and canceled gigs. Just another day in Duran Duran.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The guys slowly congregate around a temple. I know I tend to grouse about videos that don\u2019t have plots, but in this case, it was the right call. It\u2019s a dreamlike and meditative ballad. Throwing in mutants or zombies or setting it in a post-apocalyptic wasteland wouldn\u2019t have worked nearly as well.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Duran<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

We take a break from all this contemplative reverie for some gratuitous Duran flesh. The head of this Speedo-clad Duran is cropped out of every frame, but by process of elimination, that torso can only belong to Simon: lankier than Andy, less gaunt than John, less muscular than Roger (who appears to be bobbing around in the background anyway), and less ethereal than Nick (who\u2019d sooner amputate both his keyboard-playing hands than frolic about in the sun and water whilst wearing a Speedo). Ergo, that\u2019s Simon.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Duran<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

You know, whichever of Simon\u2019s delightful little bandmates reportedly nicknamed him \u201cLardo\u201d on the basis of his physique during this time period deserves a firm swat on the nose with a rolled-up newspaper. Lardo. Really.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m going to dip once more into Andy\u2019s bottomless well of anecdotes about this video: It seems Andy refused to participate in a proposed scene featuring him getting sprayed with water from the trunk of an elephant on the grounds that it could be construed as homoerotic. Or, as Andy put it, \u201cThere\u2019s no way I\u2019m doing that gay thing with the elephant.\u201d Oh, Andy, Andy, Andy<\/em>. Gliding over the dense layers of wrongness in that statement, I\u2019ll just say that John stepped up to the plate and, with assistance from nubile young Nick, did the gay thing with the elephant. And I\u2019m ever so glad he did. The end result is the cutest damn shot in any Duran Duran video, ever. This is adorable<\/em>. Look how happy they are!<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Duran<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

As John later described it, \u201cWe\u2019ve got these guys in eyeliner and crazy colored hair, and they\u2019re on the backs of elephants! It was so bizarre, but you know, it was kind of irresistible.\u201d Indeed it was, John.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On that high note, we now return to the meditative part of the video to wrap things up. The boys stand in silence at the base of a large statue carved into the cliff, lost in silent reverie. It\u2019s a majestic shot. Note how Nick, always sleek and slim, is angling his body to look even slimmer<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Duran<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Great video. Makes Sri Lanka look like the most epically beautiful place on earth. Outstanding.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Duran Duran\u2019s 1982 video for \u201cSave a Prayer\u201d was directed by Russell Mulcahy and shot in Sri Lanka at the same time as their videos for \u201cHungry Like […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":304,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-292","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-duran-duran"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/morganrichter.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/morganrichter.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/morganrichter.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/morganrichter.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/morganrichter.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=292"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/morganrichter.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1619,"href":"http:\/\/morganrichter.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292\/revisions\/1619"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/morganrichter.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/304"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/morganrichter.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/morganrichter.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/morganrichter.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}