Duran Duran have dropped “Laughing Boy,” one of the three tracks featured on the deluxe version of their 15th studio album, Future Past. The LP arrives digitally on Friday and is available for preorder.
The song addresses abandoning scenes and wants that are futile. “Oh I have been your laughing boy/I took it on the chin — accepted gracefully,” Simon Le Bon sings. “And all the heat that you deploy — your laughing boy/The more I take — your laughing boy — the more I break.”
Future Past Deluxe Edition includes “Laughing Boy,” “Velvet Newton,” and “Invocation” in addition to the album’s original 12 tracks. “Laughing Boy” follows LP singles “Give It All Up” featuring Tove Lo; “More Joy” featuring the Japanese rock band Chai and Blur’s Graham Coxon; and “Tonight United” with disco legend Giorgio Moroder.
Last week, Duran Duran was named as a nominee into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s Class of 2022 alongside Eminem, Dolly Parton, Lionel Richie, Beck, Pat Benatar, Carly Simon, A Tribe Called Quest, Kate Bush, Devo, Judas Priest, Eurythmics, Fela Kuti, MC5, New York Dolls, Rage Against the Machine, and Dionne Warwick. The final inductees will be announced in May and inducted in the fall.
“Just to make it onto the nominations list is an honor that I never expected to experience,” Le Bon said. “This distinction is due in large part to the fact that we have an army of fans around the world who have unwaveringly supported us for the past four decades.”
From Rolling Stone US