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My Gen X Playlist: Ordinary World – Duran Duran

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Daily writing prompt
Scour the news for an entirely uninteresting story. Consider how it connects to your life. Write about that.
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Finding an uninteresting news story isn’t as easy as it sounds. How do you even start the search? I thought about googling “uninteresting stories”, but decided to scratch that idea. Instead, I started looking in small town newspapers. There had to be something inconsequential in Small Town USA. I found a story about a buggy whip factory in the northwest and another about controlling wild hogs on private lands in Mississippi. Definitely not interesting to me, though maybe mostly due to proximity or lack of connection to community. I’m sure factory news would catch my attention if they were my employer or supplier. People’s livelihoods are at stake. As a private landowner, there is no question I would want to curb the wild hog population. The expression “hog-wild” didn’t just make itself up. I’d prefer to use my imagination instead of seeing it up close and personal. In the end, I’m concluding that all news is important to someone, somewhere. These may fall into the category of “ordinary news” and there is nothing wrong with that. In fact, there could be some hidden value in the “ordinary” of life if we look for it. Just ask Simon Le Bon.

Duran Duran released Ordinary World in December 1992 as the first single from their self-titled album, commonly known as The Wedding Album. The origin of Ordinary World was the result of the tragic death of singer Simon Le Bon’s good friend, David Miles, of a drug overdose in 1986.

The song is really about trying to leave behind all the trouble in your life and find something ordinary to hang on to, something that makes sense.

– Simon Le Bon

In the face of tragedy or anxiety, we sometimes need to reach out and grasp onto something ordinary to hold onto to keep us from spiraling. Anyone who’s walked in these shoes knows there is nothing scarier than holding on as the tornado of life lifts your feet upward. All you want to feel are clear blue skies. You just want your feet on the ground. You just want ordinary.

There’s an ordinary world somehow I have to find. And as I try to make my way to the ordinary world I will learn to survive

To all those hanging on, hoping today is the day you find your ordinary.

–

For a complete playlist, please click here.

For the Spotify playlist, please click here.

Came in from a rainy Thursday
On the avenue
Thought I heard you talking softly

I turned on the lights, the TV
And the radio
Still I can't escape the ghost of you

What has happened to it all?
Crazy, some'd say
Where is the life that I recognize?
Gone away

But I won't cry for yesterday
There's an ordinary world
Somehow I have to find
And as I try to make my way
To the ordinary world
I will learn to survive

Passion or coincidence
Once prompted you to say
"Pride will tear us both apart"
Well now pride's gone out the window
Cross the rooftops
Run away
Left me in the vacuum of my heart

What is happening to me?
Crazy, some'd say
Where is my friend when I need you most?
Gone away

But I won't cry for yesterday
There's an ordinary world
Somehow I have to find
And as I try to make my way
To the ordinary world
I will learn to survive

Papers in the roadside
Tell of suffering and greed
Here today, forgot tomorrow
Ooh, here besides the news
Of holy war and holy need
Ours is just a little sorrowed talk

And I don't cry for yesterday
There's an ordinary world
Somehow I have to find
And as I try to make my way
To the ordinary world
I will learn to survive

Every one
Is my world, I will learn to survive
Any one
Is my world, I will learn to survive
Any one
Is my world
Every one
Is my world

21 thoughts on “My Gen X Playlist: Ordinary World – Duran Duran”

      4. I know! I read when they were unknowns, they used yo cover REM at their live shows. Such a difference from country. He’s got such a cool voice, I may listen to some of his country music and give it a try

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      5. Wow! I didn’t know they covered REM! Interesting! I tried listening to his country songs but my brain and his voice just couldn’t connect on that level. Original Hootie all the way 😆

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  6. I hadn’t heard that song in a long time when it was suggested by a fellow widower. I listened to it with a whole new perspective than I had hearing it in my youth and I cried my eyes out. It does a great job of summing up the experience of loss and what those left behind need to do.

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    1. I understand what you are saying. I started this blog just adding songs from my past. Having now lived a life, I’m finding the meanings of songs have changed when I listen to them now versus then. It’s sometimes a totally different experience.

      I’m very sorry for your loss. Hope each day gets a little bit better for you.

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    1. Man, that’s a name from the past. I did a quick google search and didn’t see any new music from him. It did mention he writes and produces music, I’m not sure of anything recent. Hope he can relax and cruise on his royalties.

      BTW – nothing better than hearing a song from the past while stuck in commuter traffic!

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