Duran Duran’s Simon LeBon was recently interviewed by American Songwriter, where the rocker discussed his intimidation singing a Billie Eilish song.
In their upcoming album, ‘Danse Macabre,’ Duran Duran performed a cover version of Eilish’s ‘Bury a Friend.’ Recalling his experience of working on the song, LeBon explained:
“I thought, ‘How on earth am I going to make this different from Billie?’ It’s a work of genius. That particular song is an absolute genius song, and I didn’t want to trash it in order to make it mine, but I didn’t want to do an impersonation of Billie Eilish.”
Other band member Nick Rhodes also stepped into the conversation and reflected on what they aimed to do in their ‘Bury a Friend’ cover:
“I love Billie’s version, but it’s the one track that radically shifted because we all felt that was the right thing to do with a Billie Eilish song. The other ones [covers], we just wanted to introduce to a new generation, and our audience, who, I imagine, know these songs anyway.”
The Halloween-themed’ Danse Macabre’ is set for release on October 27, and it will include a blend of fresh original tracks, reinterpretations of songs from the band’s existing catalog, and cover songs.
In addition to their rendition of Eilish’s ‘Bury a Friend,’ they will also release their own interpretations of songs like Talking Heads’ ‘Psycho Killer,’ The Rolling Stones’ ‘Paint It Black,’ The Specials’ ‘Ghost Town,’ Siouxsie and the Banshees’ ‘Spellbound,’ and Cerrone’s ‘Supernature.’
The band released the title track, ‘Danse Macabre’ on August 30 and the second single, ‘Black Moonlight’ on September 21. They are both original songs by the Duran Duran members.
You can listen to both pieces below.
