| "Ordinary World" | ||||||||||
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| Single by Duran Duran | ||||||||||
| from the album Duran Duran (The Wedding Album) | ||||||||||
| B-side | "My Antarctica" | |||||||||
| Released | December 1992 (U.S.) January 1993 (UK) |
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| Format | 7", CD | |||||||||
| Recorded | Privacy, London | |||||||||
| Genre | Alternative rock, soft rock | |||||||||
| Length | 5:39 (album version) 4:43 (single version) |
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| Label | EMI - DD 16 Walt Disney - 2004 re-release |
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| Writer(s) | Duran Duran (Simon Le Bon, Warren Cuccurullo, Nick Rhodes & John Taylor) | |||||||||
| Producer | Duran Duran with John Jones | |||||||||
| Certification | Gold (RIAA) | |||||||||
| Duran Duran singles chronology | ||||||||||
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"Ordinary World" is the first single from Duran Duran's self-titled 1993 album, better known as The Wedding Album. The song peaked at No. 3 in the American charts and No. 6 in the British charts. Simon LeBon, the vocalist, later sang this song with Luciano Pavarotti, to help children affected by war in Bosnia & Herzegovina.
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By the early '90s, Duran Duran's popularity had faded. Their album Liberty had proved a commercial failure, its two singles failing to make a significant showing on British or American charts.
It wasn't until Capitol leaked "Ordinary World" to a radio station in Florida in the autumn of 1992 that it looked like Duran Duran mania might yet hit again. The single proved so popular that Capitol had to push the US release date up, ultimately releasing it in December. In the UK, the original January release date stood. The song can be credited as introducing Duran Duran to a new generation of fans.
Simon LeBon would go on to sing the song with Pavarotti at a WarChild benefit, which was released on home video as Pavarotti & Friends: Together for the Children of Bosnia. Le Bon later said of the event, "If you're talking about name dropping, he's one of the biggest names you could drop, Pav-The-Man."[1]
The keyboards in the song were arranged and performed by Nick Rhodes, John Jones, session musician Matt Thomas and Steve Ferrone at Maison Rouge.
The guitar solo that characterizes this song was arranged and performed by Warren Cuccurullo, former player with Frank Zappa. His instrumental rock trio version became a staple of his solo shows and was included on Road Rage, one of his solo albums.
The song won an Ivor Novello Award in May 1994 and later featured in the soundtrack to the film Layer Cake in 2005.
The music video was filmed by director Nick Egan at Huntington Gardens in San Marino, California.
The lyrics to "Ordinary World" were written by Simon Le Bon as the second of a trilogy of songs for his late friend David Miles; the others being "Do You Believe in Shame?" (1988) and "Out of My Mind" (1997).
"My Antarctica", a song from the band's previous album Liberty, featured as the main B-side of the "Ordinary World" single.
Many other older singles were also used as B-sides. To capitalise on the success of "Ordinary World" and the new Duran Duran fans it was finding, EMI used the single's release to lure these new fans to the band's back catalogue. This mini-Decade was spread over the two CD singles released during the campaign.
There were several other versions of "Ordinary World" released:[1]
Apart from the single, "Ordinary World" has also appeared on :
Albums:
Singles:
EPs:
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Peak positions
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End of year charts
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| "Ordinary World" | ||||
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| Single by Aurora featuring Naimee Coleman | ||||
| from the album Dreaming | ||||
| Released | 1999 | |||
| Format | CD single | |||
| Recorded | 1998 | |||
| Genre | Progressive house/Progressive trance | |||
| Length | 4:26 | |||
| Label | U-Music Virgin |
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| Writer(s) | Duran Duran | |||
| Aurora chronology | ||||
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