"Union of the Snake," the ninth single by Duran Duran and the first single from their third album Seven and the Ragged Tiger, was released on October 17, 1983.
Duran Duran rarely discloses the meanings behind their songs. In 1984, the band released The Book Of Words, which contains lyrics to their songs. In the book, Simon Le Bon commented the line:
“Moving up it's gonna race it's gonna break through the borderline.”
"Borderline might be one between the conscious and subconscious minds." He later admitted in interviews that it was a reference to tantric sex.
LeBon was inspired by Jim Morrison's lyrics for The Doors' albums. He stated: "There are times when I get into books and things and some of that comes up on the record or I'll get into a certain artist. An obvious example of that is 'Union of The Snake' and 'Hungry Like The Wolf' are very much related to Jim Morrison and his lyrical ideas."
The music video for "Union of the Snake", featured the band members in a cave with serpent-like dancers and Le Bon as leather-wearing road warrior. It received heavy air-play from MTV, but according to Duran’s John Taylor, the band did not care for the video.
