The Demos       "None of the demos would have been greatly different – just more sparse in that we wrote the tracks in the Studio, so they were constructed one layer at a time and any demos that would have been played to people early on would simply have been the bare bones of the songs. I would have to go back and listen to see if there is anything worthy of inclusion but there is certainly only two tracks that were recorded which did not make the album. One was 'Say The Word' which was written for the movie 'Playing for Keeps' and the other, an untitled instrumental which we never actually did a final mix of because at the time, there wasn’t enough space on the vinyl to make the album any longer. In fact, 'Rose Arcana' was also greatly edited for the album due to the same reason." - Nick Rhodes, December 2007 Election Day - The Lost Verse The following verse which was dropped from the released version of the song, but was accidentally included when Smash Hits magazine published the lyrics. Don't even try to induce, In all my restrain there's no hesitation All the signs on the loose 'cause sanity's rare this end of the hard day Shadows are crawling out of the subway Any way that you choose in every direction just to confuse me Missing In 2007 Simon Le Bon revealed that the song Missing had been influenced by the poem “On a Dead Child” by Richard Middleton. ON A DEAD CHILD by Richard Middleton Man proposes, God in His time disposes, And so I wander’d up to where you lay, A little rose among the little roses, And no more dead than they. It seemed your childish feet were tired of straying, You did not greet me from your flower-strewn bed, Yet still I knew that you were only playing– Playing at being dead. I might have thought that you were really sleeping, So quiet lay your eyelids to the sky, So still your hair, but surely you were peeping; And so I did not cry. God knows, and in His proper time disposes, And so I smiled and gently called your name, Added my rose to your sweet heap of roses, And left you to your game. The Promise       "It's about the western world's betrayal of the third world.” - Simon Le Bon, January 2001. Say The Word       "Say The Word was a track that existed as part of the original sessions for So Red The Rose. It never reached lyric stage, hence it didn’t make it onto the record. We were then approached by Miramax, who wanted a new song for the movie Playing For Keeps. So, it was at that time, that we wrote the lyric and completed Say The Word. Several versions were mixed and I cannot remember which one was used in the final cut of the movie. A 12" version was released, which , I think , included every computation. I am honestly not certian if Roger is on that track because we ended up using Steve Jordan on a lot of the songs and sometimes it was even a combination of players.” - Nick Rhodes, March 2002. The b-side of the Canadian promotional copy of the Say The Word 7" is mispressed with an different instrumental. According to Nick, the song isn't even by Arcadia and must have been caused by an error at the pressing plant resulting in an unknown artist to be substituted instead of Arcadia. Ball Of Confusion At one point Arcadia considered covering the song 'Ball Of Confusion'. The story goes that Simon wanted to change one of the lyrics but Nick against it. Both went off to sulk in separate rooms and Nick started to play what would become the chords for 'Goodbye Is Forever'. Duran Duran eventually covered 'Ball of Confusion' on the album 'Thank You' a decade later.       "...we were listening to The Temptations a lot during that period. Nick particularly liked the song Ball Of Confusion but in hindsight, we probably shouldn't have covered it on the Thank You album. ...the Duran consensus is that the original is such a definitive version we probably should not have attempted to change it so radically, and Simon feels that the original vocals were to extraordinary that it was difficult to find a new take. We can't remember which line Simon wanted to change - maybe 'gun Control and the sound of soul' - but know that we did not end up changing any of the lyric." - Simon and Nick, May 2008 Blackmail This was the working title for The Promise. Larold Crystal Rare copies of the Japanese Test pressing of the Election Day 12" include a track called 'Larold Crystal', but thus far none of Arcadia have been able to get hold of a copy and identify the track.       "...The one thing I am certain of is that 'Larold Crystal' must have been a working title. We often give songs utterly ridiculous names so that we don’t get attached to them. Not sure how this one slipped through the cracks in Japan, can only imagine it must have been lost in translation. I don’t recall which track 'Larold' became but would imagine it was one used on the album. There is only one unreleased Arcadia track ...it is an instrumental but I don’t believe it could have been 'Larold' as we never actually did a mix of the instrumental. Therefore, I cannot imagine that the Japanese version would have included a rough mix of something we have not ever authorized. The only other possibility is that I completely have forgotten that we wrote something else and sent it to Japan just for fun." - Nick Rhodes, July 2007 The Unfinished Instrumental       "There is only one unreleased Arcadia track, which is instrumental, and we have a feeling it will take a while to dig out from the vaults as it was never mixed and completed." - Nick Rhodes, November 2005 Unusual Instruments In an article about Arcadia in BAM magazine Nick mentioned the percussionist emptying his bag of instruments to reveal a vibrator and a pan, both of which ended up being used on the album. Nick refused to reveal at the time where they had been used, but later confirmed the songs:       "...The sound you are hearing in 'The Flame' is actually Steve Jordan hitting an ashtray with a stick. David Van Tiegen’s magic wand was used on the song 'Missing'.” - Nick Rhodes, July 2007 Simon played a clay wind instrument called an ocarina on El Diablo. This instrument is also used during Duran Duran's The Chauffeur. Codes and the Jean Cocteau Influence Nick Rhodes has admitted to being a great admirer of Cocteau who was said to have been a Grand Master of the Knights Templar. Nick has confirmed that Arcadia has many Cocteau references, particularly in the video for Election Day, as well as there being many references and codes withn the album itself.       "The Arcadia video for 'Election Day' was partly inspired by Cocteau, however the title of the album didn’t bear any specific relation to his work." - Nick Rhodes, February 2002 Ridley Scott and the "Legend" Movie       "At the time we were actually in discusssions with Ridley Scott to direct the first Arcadia video, 'Election Day'. Unfortunately, he had some complications with the movie 'Legend' so working together never quite materialised. He was keen to use a track for the movie and I believe 'El Diablo' was under consideration. However, it already existed before we saw a rough cut of the movie and it seemed to be a good match. I think the timing wasn’t good for either of us, so it didn’t work out." - Nick Rhodes, February 2002