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Rio (song)

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"Rio"
Song
B-side"The Chauffeur"
"Hold Back the Rain"

"Rio" is the seventh single by Duran Duran, released on November 1, 1982.

The song was the fourth and final single lifted from the band's album Rio, and was edited for its release. It was was issued worldwide in November 1982 and became an immediate Top 10 hit in the UK Singles Chart.

The song did not attract much notice in the United States upon its initial global release, but after the band's breakthrough hit "Hungry Like the Wolf" stormed MTV and scaled the American charts in December 1982, radio programmers paid closer attention to the catchy melody and insistent, intricate bass line of "Rio", and Capitol Records reissued the single in March 1983 to great success.

It is one of the band's most recognisable songs, mostly due to its famous music video, which is widely regarded as symbolic of 1980's glamour and excess.

About the song

The musical hook for "Rio", well-known among Duran Duran fans and synthesiser enthusiasts, was produced by an arpeggiator -- a software tool which can play the individual notes in a chord in a chosen pattern. It was once rumored that the synthesiser used to achieve this was a Roland Jupiter-8. However, it has been said by Nick Rhodes to actually be a Roland Jupiter-4 using the random mode on the arpeggiator with a C minor chord.[1]

Rhodes created the unusual sound at the beginning of the song by throwing several small metal rods onto the strings of a grand piano in the studio. The recorded sound was then reversed to create the intro.[2] The laughter on the track was that of Rhodes' girlfriend at the time.


Music video

File:Rio video capture.jpg
The yacht-scene which can be seen at the end of the video

Duran Duran travelled to the island of Antigua with director Russell Mulcahy in May of 1982 to film the vivid music video for "Rio", where the yacht scenes were filmed on the bay at English Harbour, the beach scenes at Miller's Beach, and the bit with the raft at Shirley Heights. They also filmed a video for the album track "Waiting for the Nightboat" at the time, and both appeared on the Duran Duran video album released in 1983.

"Rio" featured iconic images of the band in Antony Price suits, singing and playing around on a yacht speeding over the crystal blue Caribbean Sea. Short segments show band members trying to live out their assorted daydreams, only to be teased, tormented, and made fools of by a body-painted vixen. The London model in the video is credited as "Reema", Reema was a model for Models One agency, of half English, half Lebanese origin[citation needed].

Nick Rhodes was reportedly dreadfully seasick during the filming, and has often said "I hate boats unless they're tied up and you're having cocktails on them."[3] The music video was shot in three days. At the end there was originally planned a scene where the bandmembers got chased off the island with people who have wielding guns. The director didn't have enough footage left to shoot this. He had to borrow a tourist's camera to shoot the part of one of the bandmembers playing a saxophone on a raft. After the video was completed, Duran Duran went for a swim in the sea and were inches away from sharks when the yacht captain yelled for them to get out of the water[citation needed].

B-sides, bonus tracks and remixes

There are thirteen different mixes of "Rio", many of which are edits of the album version or Kershenbaum remix with fades in various places.[4]

The original release of the single used an acoustic version of the moody album track "The Chauffeur" on the B-side. The American reissue featured an upbeat remix of "Hold Back The Rain" instead. The 12-inch single also included a remix of "My Own Way".

In 1998 three new mixes by Recall 22 were released on promo in France.

Complete list of mixes

  1. "Rio" - 5:33
  2. "Rio [Album Fade]" - 3:31
  3. "Rio [US Album Remix]" - 5:24
  4. "Rio [US Edit]" - 4:43
  5. "Rio [US Single Version]" - 4:34
  6. "Rio [Promo Single Mix]" - 4:58
  7. "Rio [Single Version]" - 4:40
  8. "Rio [Part 1]" - 5:10
  9. "Rio [Part 2]" - 5:28
  10. "Rio [Part 2 Carnival Mix]" - 5:03
  11. "Rio [Night Version]" - 6:39
  12. "Rio [Remix]" - 3:58
  13. "Rio [Recall 22 7" Dance mix]" - 5:03
  14. "Rio [Recall 22 New Club mix]" - 7:47
  15. "Rio [Recall 22 12" Dance mix]" - 9:22
  16. "Rio [Video Version]" - 5:02

Covers, samples, & media references

Cover versions of "Rio" have been recorded by Goldfinger, Bodyjar, Nip Drivers and Nicole Scherzinger.

Nirvana performed the song "Rio" during the Hollywood Rock show in Brazil, on January 16 1993, and Barenaked Ladies played "Rio" live in Calgary on April 1 2004, among other occasions. The song was also played acoustically on the 2007 Ships and Dips Cruise.

The music video for the Fountains of Wayne song "Mexican Wine" is partially based on the video for "Rio."

Parts of the song were sung by Santa Claus on "Mr. Hankey's Christmas Classics" South Park episode.

It has been referenced in the lyrics of the 2005 UK #1 hit by Arctic Monkeys, "I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor": "Your name isn't Rio, but I don't care for sand". The Killers also referenced the song in "On Top".

The video was parodied by Canadian rock band Hedley for their song "Never Too Late."

Chart positions

Chart Peak
position
United Kingdom UK 9
United States U.S. Billboard Hot 100 14
Canada Canada 3
Republic of Ireland Ireland 9
Australia Australia 60

Track listing

7": EMI EMI 5346 (UK)

  1. "Rio" [single version] (4:40)
  2. "The Chauffeur" (blue silver) (3:48)

7": EMI EMI5346 [A-5U-1-1-20] (UK)

  1. "Rio" [part 1] (5:11)
  2. "The Chauffeur" (blue silver) (3:48)
  • "Blue silver" version also called "Acoustic Demo" in some circles

7": Harvest B-5175 (US)

  1. "Rio" [US single edit] (4:34)
  2. "Hold Back the Rain" [LP Album Version] (3:59)

7": Capitol B-5215 (US)

  1. "Rio" [Remix] (3:57)
  2. "Hold Back the Rain" [US Album Remix] (6:57)
  • March 1983 reissue

7": Harvest / 016 65184 (Brazil)

  1. "Save a Prayer" [Album Fade] (4:04)
  2. "Hungry Like the Wolf" [Single Version] (3:27)
  3. "Rio" [Album Fade] (3:31)
  4. "My Own Way" [Album Fade] (3:42)
  • Contains three exclusive "album fade" mixes

12": EMI 12 EMI 5346 (UK)

  1. "Rio" [part 2] (5:29)
  2. "Rio" [part 1] (5:11)
  3. "My Own Way" [Remix] (4:34)

CD: Part of "Singles Box Set 1981-1985" boxset

  1. "Rio" [part 1] (5:11)
  2. "The Chauffeur" (blue silver) (3:48)
  3. "Rio" [part 2] (5:29)
  4. "My Own Way" [Remix] (4:34)

Notes

Other appearances

Apart from the single, "Rio" has also appeared on:

Albums:

Personnel

Duran Duran are:

Also credited:

2008 Cover Version

"Rio"
Song

In April 2008, Nicole Scherzinger recorded a cover version of the song Rio by Duran Duran for a bodywash campaign. It has been announced that this will be Scherzinger's next single. A commercial video has already been released [5] . Rio will be released to radio in early May, and the full length music video will be premiering on MTV and other music channels on the following months.[6]

References

  1. ^ Vintage Synth Explorer
  2. ^ Duranduran.com, "Ask Katy" section, 11/14/2000
  3. ^ Odell, Michael. "Duran Duran: In their own words". The Observer, November 16 2003.
  4. ^ Ionpool's definitive "Versions of Rio" page
  5. ^ [[1]]
  6. ^ [[2]]
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