Ahead of their performance at the virtual David Bowie tribute Just For One Day, Duran Duran have dropped their cover of the late legend’s “Five Years.”
The band kick up the synths for The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars rendition, as Simon Le Bon is bolstered by backup singers for the climatic chorus. “Your face, your race, the way that you talk,” he sings. “I kiss you, you’re beautiful, I want you to walk.”
“My life as a teenager was all about David Bowie,” Le Bon said in a statement. “He is the reason why I started writing songs. Part of me still can’t believe in his death five years ago, but maybe that’s because there’s a part of me where he’s still alive and always will be. When we got the Ziggy Stardust LP and put the needle in the groove, our first taste of its perfection was the song ‘Five Years.’ I can’t begin to explain how honored I feel for Duran Duran to be given the opportunity to perform this icon, and to place our name alongside Bowie’s for this commemoration of his music.”