About The Song
“Is There Something I Should Know?” is the eighth single by the English pop rock band Duran Duran, released on 14 March 1983.
The song was released as a stand-alone single and became the band’s first UK number one record. It debuted in the number one position on the UK Singles Chart on 26 March 1983. The single also had great success in America, where it was released in late May. The song reached number four on the US Billboard Hot 100 on 6 August 1983 and sold more than a million copies.
“Is There Something I Should Know?” was recorded at Tony Visconti’s Good Earth Studios in Soho, London with producer Ian Little, who was recommended to the group by Roxy Music’s Phil Manzanera. Eventually, the song would undergo several rounds of mixing due to a lack of compression on the drums as Little asserted: one mix was done at Good Earth, one at Eel Pie Studios, one at The Gallery and one at The Power Station in New York with Bob Clearmountain. Keyboardist Nick Rhodes remembered being present most of the night during the mix with Clearmountain and leaving the next day thinking the band had something special on their hands. But upon reflection some days later, it was decided that despite being what they considered a “beautiful mix”, it was a little too soft for the sound they were trying to achieve for the record. So the final mix would be done with producer Alex Sadkin (who’d be brought in to produce the band’s next album alongside Little, Seven and the Ragged Tiger) and Phil Thornalley at RAK Studios, London, who replaced the drums with samples triggered via AMS delay units. According to Nick Rhodes, the pulsing keyboard sound is from a Roland Jupiter-8 synth, while the Prophet-5 was used for a small melodic part.
Video
Lyrics
Please, please tell me now
Please, please tell me now
Please, please tell me now
Please, please tell me now
I made a break, I run out yesterday
Tried to find my mountain hideaway
Maybe next year, maybe no go
I know you’re watching me every minute of the day, yeah
I’ve seen the signs end the looks, and the pictures
They give your game away, yeah
There’s a dream that strings the road
With broken glass for us to hold
And I cut so far before I had to say
Please, please tell me now
Is there something I should know?
Is there something I should say
That would make you come my way?
Do you feel the same ’cause you don’t let it show?
People stare and cross the road from me
And jungle drums, they all clear the way for me
Can you read my mind?
Can you see in the snow?
And fiery demons all dance
When you walk through that door
Don’t say you’re easy on me
You’re about as easy as a nuclear war
There’s a dream that strings the road
With broken glass for us to hold
And I got so far before I had to say
Please, please tell me now
Is there something I should know?
Is there something I should say
That would make you come my way?
Do you feel the same ’cause you don’t let it show?
Please, please tell me now
Is there something I should know? (Please, please tell me now)
Is there something I should say (please, please tell me now)
That’ll make you come my way? (Please, please tell me now)
Please, please tell me now
Can you see what makes me blow? (Please, please tell me now)
Can you see how much I’d die? (Please, please tell me now)
Every time it passes by? (Please, please tell me now)
Please, please tell me now
What it takes to make it show (please, please tell me now)
Is there something I should know? (Please, please tell me now)
Is there something I should know? (Please, please tell me now)