Like an Angel | Simon Le Bon

'It' Girl

Birmingham, England

May 1980

Simon and the rest of the band were upstairs of the Rum Runner which was a rehearsal area for bands who came to play at the night club but now it has become Duran Duran's official rehearsal space.

Simon was chewing on the tip of his pencil as he looked down into his book full of lyrics as the guys talked amongst themselves. The feeling of a light slap on his shoe that rested on his knee brought him back to the conversation.

"Hmm?" He hummed out as he saw that all eyes were on him. Andy laughed at his response. Simon furrowed his eyebrows, "What?"

"We asked you a question," Nick told him, "We wanted to know what you think of our song, 'Girls on Film'. Do you think it needs any revisions?"

Nick leaned over and handed Simon a paper with the lyrics of one of their original songs. Simon took it and rested back into his chair.

'Because girls on film look better

And they, they never bite, no, they never bite

But they, they parade the streets tonight

They invade my dreams, alright

But, they're not what they seem at all'

Simon stopped reading, "Have you got it on tape? I can't imagine the riff with these lyrics."

John nodded and went to retrieve it from the shelf. Once he found it, he placed it in the track player. The intro began to play and John commented on it, "We did this last year. A mate of ours, who was also our front man for some time, Andy Wickett, his vocals on this track."

Simon nodded and listened to the eerie sound of Nick's synths. Then within seconds came the clashing of the bass, drums, and guitar at such a fast pace. Following this was Andy Wickett's vocals. Simon listened to it twice. He liked it, he actually liked it a lot but he knew it wouldn't make it with the songs of today.

"It's good," he started.

"But?" John dragged.

"But it sounds too much like punk." Simon said without hesitation. "Punk died last year along with Sid Vicious. We don't need punk, we need our own sound. Something you can dance too. Something that will make the people want us more."

"Is it just the sound that needs changing?" Nick asked.

"Nah, the lyrics need a bit of work too." Simon looked back down at the piece of paper. "Give me some time, I'll make some revisions. Except for the chorus, I like the chorus."

"Until then? What do we do until 'Girls of Film' is revised?" Roger spoke up.

"We keep working on 'Sound of Thunder'," Simon answered. "Along with a few other songs I think have potential."

"Which are?" Andy motioned with his hand for him to continue.

Simon tossed his book of poems and lyrics at him, "Take a look for yourself." The three other members huddled around Andy to look as well.

After some page flipping John made Andy stop and then he read the title of the page, "'The Chauffeur'."

"What about it?" Simon asked while he skimmed through a magazine.

"It's nothing like I've ever read." John said softly.

"I wrote that poem a couple years ago while I was in Israel as a tree surgeon," Simon explained.

"What's it mean?" Andy asked the question that the rest of them were thinking.

"What do you think it means?" Simon set the magazine down and waited for Andy's response.