Perfect Day

Perfect Day
cover single by Duran Duran
B-side	"Femme Fatale" (Alternative Mix)
Released	13 March 1995
Recorded	1992-94
Genre	Pop, Rock
Length	3:53 minutes
Label	Capitol, EMI
Writer	Lou Reed
Producer(s)	Duran Duran John Jones
Duran Duran

"Perfect Day" is the first single from the Duran Duran covers album Thank You, released by Capitol-EMI on 13 March 1995.

About the song

This is a cover version of the 1972 song "Perfect Day", written by Lou Reed and originally released on the album Transformer.

Lou Reed has been cited as an inspiration by several members of Duran Duran, and the album Thank You was intended to be a tribute to the band's influences, in the style of David Bowie's Pin Ups.

Reed has called Duran Duran's version "the best cover ever done of one of my songs".

Simon: "Lou Reed was the most complimentary of all. He said, “I think it’s the best cover by anybody of a Lou Reed song, ever.” We’ll take that. We’ll frame it and we’ll stick it up on the wall. "

"I do love our version of “Perfect Day.” I’ve heard so many versions of that song and I still think ours is one of the best. As did… Lou Reed. Part of the other problem with that album was we were so faithful to the originals. We were in awe of them. Warren [Cuccurullo] would have almost done facsimiles. He’d be like, “But that’s the way it’s supposed to sound!” Which in a way is right. But that kind of defeats the object of doing a covers album."

The song is a fairly straightforward cover, with somber vocal delivery and slow, dreamy instrumental backing balancing tones of sweet nostalgia ("it's such a perfect day, I'm glad I spent it with you") with an undercurrent of menace ("you're gonna reap just what you sow").

The song was notable for a rare appearance by Roger Taylor. Taylor had been Duran Duran's first drummer, but left the band at the height of their fame in 1986, and had had little contact with them in the ten years since. He joined Duran Duran in the studio to record "Perfect Day", "Watching the Detectives" and "Jeepster". Taylor also appeared in the video and in a promotional appearance on Top of the Pops.

The UK release included a 2-CD set ("Part 1" and "Part 2"), containing different mixes and bonus tracks, sold both separately and together. A limited edition release included a scratch and sniff ice cream cone cover.

The song became much more familiar to the general public after its use for a British Children In Need charity campaign in 1997.

Scratch and Sniff Single Cover

The 1995 limited edition single of Perfect Day was perhaps the second ever scented Scratch and Sniff 7" Single cover ever released. The scent was meant to be (perhaps) of strawberry ice-cream, but otherwise generally smelled of strawberries. Only a handful of musicians have released Scratch and Sniff Album covers previously; including Stevie Wonder, Ringo Starr, The Dammed and Pete Tosh. I found only one example of a scratch and sniff 7" single - Strawberry Letter by The Brothers Johnson in 1977. So Duran Duran may hold the title of second ever scratch and sniff scented 7" Single sleeve in history.

Drugs?

Perfect Day, as written by Lou Reed, is a song about having a nice day out in the park with his partner. Feeding animals in the zoo, and enjoying life.. The only reason the song has been linked with drugs in more recent times is because of the February 1996 release of the movie Trainspotting, in which it was used. Simon clarified the point about the 1994 cover version of the song in a recent comment:

"I imagined I was singing to my daughter Amber, and suddenly the song became mine. It's a beautiful song, it doesn't have to be about heroin [necessarily]."

Music video

The video was filmed in February 1995, and first aired in March. It was directed by Nick Egan, and featured the band with their instruments inside the box of a sound stage, sometimes playing their instruments and sometimes not. The stage is lined with vivid red walls, and the video is intensely saturated, even overexposed at times. Clips of a melancholy Simon Le Bon singing, and other band members performing or reacting to the lyrics, are interspersed with snippets of surreal images. The camera occasionally pulls back to show the entire stage structure and its supports, increasing the sense of unreality.

B-sides, bonus tracks and remixes

The bonus tracks on the double CD set issued in the US and the UK included two more covers which were not included on the album: "The Needle and the Damage Done", originally by Neil Young, and "Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me)" originally by Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel.

Chart positions

The song reached #28 on the UK Singles Chart.

Track listing

7": Parlophone DD 20 (UK)

1. "Perfect Day" - 3:53
2. "Femme Fatale" (Alternative Mix) - 4:14

MC: Capitol 4KM 58392 4 (US)

1. "Perfect Day" - 3:53
2. "White Lines" (Wrapless Edit) - 4:32

CD: Parlophone CD DD 20 (UK)

1. "Perfect Day" - 3:53
2. "Love Voodoo" (Remix) - 7:36
3. "The Needle and the Damage Done" - 2:03
4. "911 Is a Joke" (Alternative Version) - 3:49

CD: Parlophone CD DDS 20 (UK)

1. "Perfect Day" - 3:53
2. "Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me)" - 4:56
3. "Perfect Day" (Acoustic Version) - 3:44
4. "Femme Fatale" (Alternative Mix) - 4:14

• This CD came in a 2-CD case that also housed CD DD 20.

CD: Capitol C2 7243 8 58392 2 1 (US)

1. "Perfect Day" (Album Version) - 3:53
2. "White Lines" (Live Version) - 5:33
3. "White Lines" (Oakland Funk Edit) - 4:24
4. "White Lines" (Junior's Freestyle Edit) - 4:06
5. "None of the Above" (Remix) - 4:07

• "White Lines" live recorded at Wembley Arena, London April 1994

CD: Capitol C2 0777 7 15981 2 8 (US)

1. "Perfect Day" (Album Version) - 3:53
2. "White Lines" (Junior's House Mix Edit) - 4:05
3. "White Lines" (Global Groove Edit) - 3:59
4. "White Lines" (Blizzard Mix) - 4:40
5. "The Needle and the Damage Done" - 2:03

CD: Part of the "Singles Box Set 1986-1995"

1. "Perfect Day" - 3:53
2. "Femme Fatale" (Alternative Mix) - 4:14
3. "Love Voodoo" (Remix) - 7:36
4. "The Needle and the Damage Done" - 2:03
5. "911 Is a Joke" (Alternative Version) - 3:49
6. "Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me)" - 4:56
7. "Perfect Day" (Acoustic Version) - 3:44

Other appearances

Apart from the single, "Perfect Day" also appears on:

Albums:

• Thank You (1995)

Box sets:

• "Singles Box Set 1986-1995" (2004)

Personnel

Duran Duran are:

• Simon Le Bon - vocals
• Nick Rhodes - keyboards
• John Taylor - bass guitar
• Warren Cuccurullo - guitar

With:

• Roger Taylor - drums
• Tessa Niles - backing vocals

Also credited:

• John Jones, Anthony J. Resta, Bob St. John - additional production and engineering
• David Richards - mixing
• Mark Tinley - additional programming

Lyrics

Just a Perfect Day
Drank Sangria in the Park
And Later, when it gets dark
We go Home

Just A Perfect Day
Feed Animals in the Zoo
And Later, a movie too
And then Home

It's Such a Perfect Day
I'm Glad I spent it with you
Such a Perfect Day
You Just keep me hanging on
You Just keep me hanging on

Just a Perfect Day
Problems all Left Alone
Weekenders on our own
Such Fun

Just a Perfect Day
You made me forget myself
I thought I was someone else
Someone good

It's Such a Perfect Day
I'm Glad I spent it with you
Such a Perfect Day
You Just keep me hanging on
You Just keep me hanging on

You're gonna reap just what you sow.

See also

• Discography 4: Perfect Day
• Duran Duran: Discography
• Duran Duran: Song List