Hey, hey.
If you’ve ever shouted along to Duran Duran’s “Friends of Mine” with the kind of conviction usually reserved for the last-lap overtake of Formula1, then you’re familiar with Georgie Davies, who – according to Simon, is coming out.
Coming out of what? Jail.
Because Duran Duran Georgie Davies is aka, George Davis, the real-life bank robber.
So, if you’re a certain kind of Duranie (the best kind), you might want to know:
Why is a 1970s London bank robber sharing lyrical real estate on Duran Duran’s masterful debut album?
Welcome to the George Davis rabbit hole.
Bring snacks.
Who Was George Davis?
Short version: a Londoner with a talent for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, except for the times he was very much in the right place doing very illegal things.
Longer version, via Simon Le Bon himself:
“George Davis was controversially convicted in the ’70s,” Le Bon said in 2000. “After years of lobbying for his acquittal by the ‘Free George Davis’ campaign, he was released in the mid-’80s. Within a year, he was arrested and tried for armed robbery; his conviction was not contested and still stands.”
source: DuranDuran.com
In 1974, George Davis was arrested and charged with an armed payroll robbery at the London Electricity Board offices in Essex. Despite having a solid alibi (his friend Peter Chappell claimed they were driving together at the time), and a total lack of forensic evidence (blood found at the scene didn’t match his), Davis was convicted in 1975 and sentenced to 20 years in prison.
The conviction relied almost entirely on identification by police officers. To his family and friends, it was a clear “fit-up” by the Met Police.
“George Davis is Innocent, OK”
What started as a grassroots push by his wife, Rose, quickly mutated into a city-wide movement. The slogan “George Davis Is Innocent OK” became the original 1970s viral meme, colonizing the walls of Buckingham Palace, the House of Commons, and every railway bridge in between. His buddy Peter eventually skipped the spray paint and went for the juggernaut approach, ramming his truck into the front doors of both the Daily Mirror and The Times just to ensure the press was paying attention.
The movement’s peak anarchy arrived in August 1975. Protesters broke into the Headingley Cricket Ground the night before an England-Australia Test match, dug holes in the pitch, and doused the wicket in oil, forcing the match to be canceled.
Inevitably, the George Davis movement did what all culturally sticky things do: it leaked into music. Roger Daltrey of The Who famously wore a “George Davis is Innocent” T-shirt on stage back when Simon was still scribbling in his Retrospective notebook.
Release and Reversal
The spray paint, the door-ramming, and the cricket-disrupting actually worked. In 1976, Home Secretary Roy Jenkins pulled the “Royal Prerogative of Mercy” card, admitting the evidence was “unsafe” and handing Davis a hero’s exit. He walked out of prison a London legend.
The halo lasted exactly two years.
In 1978, Davis was caught red-handed robbing a bank in Holloway — an awkward pivot for a man whose name was currently plastered across the House of Commons as a victim of the system. He pleaded guilty, took a six-year sentence, and told the BBC:
“I wasn’t an angel. I never said I was.” – George Davis, BBC
He meant it because he went back to prison again for another robbery in 1987. While his original 1974 conviction was eventually quashed, Davis is now remembered as the man who was officially innocent of the one crime that made him famous, but undeniably guilty of being exactly the villain the posters said he wasn’t.
To some Londoners though, he’ll just be that guy who stopped cricket.
Friends of Mine Was Kinda Unhinged
By 1981, Duran Duran were blending high-art aesthetics with the grit of the post-punk underground, and Davis was the perfect lyrical shorthand for a world that was cynical, media-saturated, and deeply suspicious of heroes.
In “Friends of Mine,” the mention of George Davis serves as that cynical and suspicious anchor for a song that’s essentially about social exhaustion and the crumbling of illusions.
Simon said it himself. He’s “sick of your alibis” and “silly lies”, George.
John and Andy RedRum Disco
As for the song, “Friends of Mine” is one of those early Duran Duran tracks where you can practically hear the band still shaking off the Rum Runner glitter and deciding whether they want to be art‑school intellectuals or legends of MTV. Plus, there’s Simon dropping into that low‑voice growl, then launching into the kind of theatrical overacting that would get anyone else kicked out of drama school.
The real backbone of the track, though, is John and Andy. John’s bassline stalks through the song like it’s looking for someone to mug, and Andy’s guitar comes in hot enough to incinerate any lingering traces of disco. People love to call it “rock‑disco,” but Andy’s riffs are so rockin’ it basically shoves disco into a locker and steals its lunch money.
Honestly, sometimes we wish the Durans would bring back a little of this feral energy. Go on, lads — dust it off.
Friends of Mine Must-See Video Deep Dive
Hammersmith Live 1982
If you haven’t seen Simon lose his absolute mind and flop around like a freshly-hooked sea bass during “Friends of Mine,” you haven’t lived. Watch til the end:
VH1 Hard Rock Live, 1999
During this performance, Simon decides to fill the John Taylor-shaped void with enough pelvic momentum to bring Elvis (and maybe John Wayne) back from the dead. Plus, Nick is wearing a cowboy hat.
Bottom line – Never, ever, ever, leave the band again, John.
London, 2023
Technical difficulties are for amateurs; stopping the band mid-verse to admit you’re a “consummate unprofessional” is for icons named Bon, Simon Le Bon. Good times, good times.
What (the hell) You Doing Friends of Mine?
Perhaps the most baffling performance of “Friends of Mine” aired on February 27, 1982, via the UK’s Saturday morning children’s series, Multi-Coloured Swap Shop. For the uninitiated, this was a show that featured a dinosaur named Paws (which is palindrome for “Swap” – you a legend for that one, fam).
In this bonkers video, the Durans have dressed up in their military-adjacent finery to play weird card games while Simon puts on a bravura display of forgetting the lyrics to his own song.
If these scenes look familiar, it’s because they were recycled into the “official” Friends of Mine music video. However, according to the gospel of Ask Katy, this footage was never intended to be the definitive visual for the track; it was just a contractually obligated TV spot they were forced to endure. That checks out, as the lads look like they’d rather be literally anywhere else than sitting at that table playing pretend Rummy.
It is, quite frankly, essential viewing.
Friends of Mine Lyrics
Friends of mine
They said they were friends of mine
Said they were passing time
More like a waste of time
Close the door
I said close the door
I’ve told you twice before
What are you waiting for
Georgie Davies is coming out
No more heroes we twist and shout
Oh no not me I’m not too late
And I know that I’m not taking anymore
Rocky Picture has lost his gun
Leave him out now he’s having fun
Oh no not me I’m not too late
And I know that I’m not waiting any more (hey hey)
Silly lies, don’t have to advertise
When will you realize, I’m sick of you alibis
Running cold, the water’s running cold
It’s time that you were told
I think you’re growing old
Georgie Davies is coming out
No more heroes we twist and shout
Oh no not me I’m not too late
And I know that I’m not waiting anymore
Rocky Picture has lost his gun
Leave him out now he’s having fun
Oh no not me I’m not too late
And I know that I’m not taking any more (hey hey)
Friends of mine
They said they were friends of mine
They were just wasting time
Out on the dotted line
Oh, money’s gone, I’ve known it all along
Why don’t you say I’m wrong
Why don’t they drop the bomb
‘Cause Georgie Davies is coming out
No more heroes we twist and shout
Oh no, not me I’m not too late
And I know that I’m not waiting anymore
Rocky Picture has thrown away his gun
Leave him out now he’s having fun
Oh no not me I’m not too late
And I know that I’m not taking any more
What you doing friends of mine
Holding back now friends of mine
I’ve always heard you calling
Songwriters: Andy Taylor / John Taylor / Nick Rhodes / Roger Taylor / Simon Le Bon
Friends of Mine lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Universal Music Publishing Group