I see this as the antithesis of Rio. I see this as the disillusionment of Duran Duran. Someone once criticized this song as not being as good a song about America as Bruce Springsteen's songs. Well maybe that's because Bruce Springsteen takes the American standpoint whereas this is an outsider's point of view. It's not supposed to be about America, I don't believe. It's supposed to be about the grand dream the band had, the illusion of perfection, being smashed. There is the line "So tell me here beside the sterile sea..." This seems to be a direct reference to Rio, Duran Duran's tribute to America. But it wasn't America, like I said, it was the dream and The Edge of America is about the loss of that dream. At least that's what I think. I love the line "Salvation lost among the crowd". That says it for me too. And "Now Paradise is lost". Paradise was all an illusion. It was not at all about the truth, it was about the naive belief in perfection and then the realization of the lie.
I see this as the antithesis of Rio. I see this as the disillusionment of Duran Duran. Someone once criticized this song as not being as good a song about America as Bruce Springsteen's songs. Well maybe that's because Bruce Springsteen takes the American standpoint whereas this is an outsider's point of view. It's not supposed to be about America, I don't believe. It's supposed to be about the grand dream the band had, the illusion of perfection, being smashed. There is the line "So tell me here beside the sterile sea..." This seems to be a direct reference to Rio, Duran Duran's tribute to America. But it wasn't America, like I said, it was the dream and The Edge of America is about the loss of that dream. At least that's what I think. I love the line "Salvation lost among the crowd". That says it for me too. And "Now Paradise is lost". Paradise was all an illusion. It was not at all about the truth, it was about the naive belief in perfection and then the realization of the lie.