Future Past (Song)

Song Title
song by Duran Duran
Released	22 October 2021
Format	Album Track
Genre	Ballad
Length	3:52
Writer(s)	Duran Duran, Graham Coxon
Producer(s)	Duran Duran, Erol Alkan
Duran Duran

"Future Past" is the fifth track on the album Future Past by Duran Duran, released by Tape Modern and BMI on 22nd October 2021. ℗ 2021 Tape Modern under exclusive license to BMG Rights Management (US) LLC.

About the song

Future Past is a slow tempo ballad, about being grateful for the past and the future, now. The song was produced by Erol Alkan. The song was written after the nine month hiatus of the Covid lockdown, between December 2020 and late Spring of 2021.

Nick: "Future Past [song] went through an extraordinary evolution. It started off as a much more traditional, almost... girl group, motown, early Phil Spector-type sound to it. Then it mutated. It was a classical piece at one time. It was like something off Scary Monsters the David Bowie album. And then it became very electronic, and sounded more Kraftwerk. Then it ended up with this more modern, clean, sharp futuristic sound, blended in with some strings and prepesk guitar." (Source, 8:15)

Roger: "This song didn't come easy, went through so many interpretations but I love it now. Ha ha...I actually had the Ultravox 'Vienna' drum beat in there at the beginning, but it thankfully fell down the back of the sofa along the way. The drums were far more complex in the chorus at one point, I think it works far better with a simpler solid drum." (Source)

Brownsea Island refers to Simon's love of sailing, as you can only get to the island by boat. Brownsea Island is the largest of the islands in Poole Harbour in the county of Dorset, England; and is a Wildlife Reserve owned by the National Trust.

Lyrics

Rain streams down the window
And I recall the day we ran 
And how, on Brownsea Island meadow
You couldn't catch me then 
You wouldn't catch me now

If it's only memory, 
Echoing down the hallway
In whisper as you come to me
We are growing closer

So don't you cry  
For what will never last
Each moment created in time
It's all a future past
That we are living now

Change is coming down the line
I give thanks if that much stays the same
This life is not to our design
Could not have known it then  
But now I see it plain

If all we are is memory - 
Doorways on a garden
The flowers of a century - 
We are growing stronger

So don't you cry
For what will never last
Each moment created in time
It's all a future past
That we are living now

So don't you cry, 
For what will never last
Each moment created in time
It's all a future past
So lay your gaze -
On what will ever last
Each moment in time we create
It's all a future past
And we are living now

Personnel

Duran Duran are:

• Simon Le Bon - vocals
• Nick Rhodes - keyboards
• John Taylor - bass guitar
• Roger Taylor - drums

Also credited:

• Graham Coxon - guitar