1982Released
5:37

Did You Know?

Interesting facts and trivia about Rio - 2009 Remaster. By Songfacts®.

On the VH1 show True Spin, Duran Duran explained that Rio is a metaphor for America, and the song expressed their desire to succeed there, which they did. The wordplay is interesting, as Rio is sung as if it's a girl's name, and the word conjures images of the popular and glamorous Brazilian city, which goes with the exotic image the band was cultivating. The lyrics clearly state, however, "from mountains in the North down to the Rio Grande," which is the span of America. The Rio Grande river separates the US from Mexico.

A few studio tricks were employed to get a distinctive sound for this song. The synthesizer was hooked up to an arpeggiator, which is a tool that creates an arpeggio effect by automatically stepping through a sequence of notes. Also, keyboard player Nick Rhodes made the sound at the beginning of the song by placing some metal rods on the strings of a grand piano, playing the instrument, then recording the sound backward.

The girl heard laughing in the instrumental break is Nick Rhodes' girlfriend at the time, Cheryl. You can also hear her on "Hungry Like The Wolf," where she does some heavy breathing and another laugh.

Top Listeners

Song Analysis

Key, BPM (tempo) and time signature of Rio - 2009 Remaster.
AKey
MajorMode
4/4Time Signature
141BPM

Album

The album Rio - 2009 Remaster is released on.

Released By

The record label that has released Rio - 2009 Remaster.
Parlophone UK
© 2009 Parlophone Records Ltd, a Warner Music Group Company
℗ 2009 Parlophone Records Ltd, a Warner Music Group Company

See your Spotify stats (with number of plays and minutes listened) and discover new music.

Music data, artist images, album covers, and song previews are provided by Spotify. Spotify is a trademark of Spotify AB.

5.8MArtists
73.6MSongs
12.3MAlbums
6.3KGenres
2.5MLabels
493KPlaylists