About The Song
“Girls on Film” is the third single by English new wave band Duran Duran, released on 13 July 1981. It became Duran Duran’s first top 10 hit on the UK Singles Chart, peaking at number 5 in July 1981, and an international hit reaching the top 20 in several countries, including number 1 in Portugal, number 4 in New Zealand and number 11 in Australia.
Originally written and demoed in 1979 by an early line-up of the band featuring lead vocalist Andy Wickett, Duran Duran re-wrote and re-recorded the song for their 1981 debut album. The different original version, which co-writer Wickett said “was inspired by the dark side of the glitz and glamour”, was released as part of an EP in 2018.
A music video was made with directing duo Godley & Creme (of 10cc) and director of photography Steven Bernstein at Shepperton Studios in July 1981. Due to the inclusion of female nudity the video exists in both uncensored form (which was played in nightclubs and on The Playboy Channel) and a heavily censored version for MTV. [citation needed]
Retrospectively, music journalist Annie Zaleski hailed “Girls on Film” as “the perfect balance of post-disco and futuristic pop”, describing it as a song that “starts with the clicking camera sound before jumping into a funky rhythmic strut — courtesy of John Taylor’s rubber-band-stretch bass lines and Roger Taylor’s percolating drums — and a vibrant counterpoint: Andy Taylor’s lilting, slashing riffs and Nick Rhodes’ avant, spacey keyboards.” and lyrics featuring “warning about the downsides of fame and modeling” with “some pointed critiques of an industry that values only surface beauty.”
In 2024, The Guardian’s Alexis Petridis ranked it Duran Duran’s greatest song: “It remains the most exciting thing they ever made, its choppy distorted guitar as close as they got to achieving their original “Chic-meets-the-Sex-Pistols” blueprint. Its chorus is a six-note call sign; its lyrics are unable to decide whether they think the fashion world is an exploitative nightmare or a glamorous world to aspire to.”
Video
Lyrics
See them walking hand in hand
Across the bridge at midnight
Heads turning as the lights flashing out
Are so bright
And walk right out to the four line track
There’s a camera rolling on her back
On her back
And I sense a rhythm humming in a frenzy
All the way down her spine
Girls on film
Girls on film
Girls on film
Girls on film
Lipstick cherry all over the lens as she’s falling
And miles of sharp blue water coming in
Where she lies
The diving man’s coming up for air
‘Cause the crowd all love pulling dolly by the hair
By the hair
And she wonders how she ever got here
As she goes under again
Girls on film (two minutes later)
Girls on film
Girls on film (got your picture)
Girls on film
Wider, baby, smile and you’ve just made a million
Fuses pumping live heat twisting out on a wire
Take one last glimpse into the night
I’m touching close
I’m holding bright
Holding tight
Give me shudders in a whisper
Take me up ’til I’m shooting a star
Girls on film (she’s more than a lady)
Girls on film
Girls on film (two minutes later)
Girls on film
Girls on film (see you together)
Girls on film
Girls on film (see you later)
Girls on film