“Night Boat or (Waiting For The) Nightboat ” is a song by Duran duran appearing as track six on their self-titled debut album. The song was originally written by Simon Le Bon when he was waiting for a ride from the night bus home. It is spooky and atmospheric, unlike most of the other songs on the album. It is instrumental until about two minutes into it. The video for “Nightboat” was directed by longtime music video director Russell Mulcahy. The video is a mini horror film shot on the Caribbean island side of Antigua. Before the music starts, a brief bit of dialog includes Le Bon’s recitation of part of a speech by Mercutio in William Shakespeare’s play, Romeo and Juliet. The band have gathered in a small beach village as the sun is setting, only to be separated and set upon one by one by zombies, until the ragged Nightboat arrives to carry Le Bon away. It is possible that the video is a homage to the Italian horror film Zombi 2, with settings and zombies that look very much like the ones in the film. The video was filmed in May 1982, several months before Michael Jackson began work on the video for his song Thriller, which also featured zombies.
[Dedicated to Katja Metz]
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