"Come Undone" is a song by British singer

Robbie Williams Robert Peter Williams (born 13 February 1974) is an English singer and songwriter. He found fame as a member of the pop group Take That from 1990 to 1995, launching a solo career in 1996. His debut studio album, ''Life thru a Lens'', was re ...

for his fifth studio album ''

Escapology Escapology is the practice of escaping from restraints or other traps. Escapologists (also classified as escape artists) escape from handcuffs, straitjackets, cages, coffins, steel boxes, barrels, bags, burning buildings, fish-tanks, and ...

'' (2002). Written by Williams, Boots Ottestad,

Ashley Hamilton Ashley George Hamilton (born September 30, 1974) is an American actor. He made his acting debut in the 1993 film '' Beethoven's 2nd''. He has since starred in films such as ''Lost in Africa'' (1994), '' Off Key'' (2001), '' Lost Angeles'' ...

, and Daniel Pierre, it was released as the second single from ''Escapology'' on 31 March 2003 by

Chrysalis Records Chrysalis Records () is a British independent record label that was founded in 1968. The name is both a reference to the pupal stage of a butterfly and a combination of its founders' names, Chris Wright and Terry Ellis. It started as the Ell ...

. "Come Undone" peaked at number four on the UK Singles Chart and reached the top 20 in seven other European countries.

Composition

"Come Undone" lyrically tells the story of a life of fame unravelling in excess, featuring some "wry" observations from

, including the telling lines of the song's bridge: "Do another interview/Sing a bunch of lies/Tell about celebrities that I despise/And sing love songs/We sing love songs/So sincere".

Chart performance

The song reached number four in the United Kingdom, falling out of the top 10 in its second week. Worldwide, the single did not equal the success of Williams' previous single, " Feel", reaching the top 20 in Austria, Denmark, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, and the Netherlands.

Music video

The

Jonas Åkerlund Hans Uno Jonas Åkerlund (; born 10 November 1965) is a Swedish filmmaker and musician who is best known for his work in music videos. Åkerlund was a member of the Swedish black metal band Bathory. He has directed well-known videos for artists ...

directed music video features a hungover Robbie waking up in the morning after a house party the previous evening. He then proceeds to walk around the house, wearing pink socks, as flashbacks of the events of the night before are shown. As the song reaches its climax, Williams is seen participating in three-way sex with two women. These shots are interspersed with graphic and unsettling images of snakes, rats and bugs, mostly crawling on women. In the final shots, the two women have been replaced by men in drag.

Controversy

The video was heavily censored by MTV Networks Europe for depicting a fully clothed Williams having three-way sex with both women and men in drag. The uncensored version of the video was released as a

DVD single A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to promote the sale of m ...

in Europe and was also included on the

enhanced CD Enhanced CD is a certification mark of the Recording Industry Association of America for various technologies that combine audio and computer data for use in both CD-Audio and CD-ROM players. Formats that fall under the ''enhanced CD'' cate ...

single.

BBC Radio 2 BBC Radio 2 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It is the List of most-listened-to radio programs, most popular station in the United Kingdom with over 14 million weekly listeners. Since launching in 1967, the sta ...

also banned the song for its explicit content. During this time, it was confirmed that Williams and

Guy Chambers Guy Antony Chambers (born 12 January 1963) is an English songwriter, musician and record producer, best known for his work with Robbie Williams. Education Chambers attended Quarry Bank Comprehensive School sixth form in Liverpool. From 18, ...

were to officially part ways.

Knebworth performances

A memorable performance of the song took place at one of Williams' concerts at Knebworth in August 2003. Singing to 125,000 people, he interjected with "Britain, I'm your son", and further interacted with the audience when he brought a girl up on stage.

Track listings

UK CD single # "Come Undone" – 4:34 # "One Fine Day" – 3:36 # "Happy Easter (War Is Coming)" – 4:03 # Photo gallery # Robbie video clips UK cassette single # "Come Undone" # "One Fine Day" # "Happy Easter (War Is Coming)" European CD single # "Come Undone" – 3:34 # "One Fine Day" – 3:36 UK DVD single # "Come Undone" (video) – 4:34 # "One Fine Day" (audio) – 3:36 # "Happy Easter (War Is Coming)" (audio) – 4:03 # Robbie photo gallery # Robbie live video clip

Credits and personnel

Credits are taken from the ''

'' album booklet. Recording * Recorded in Los Angeles and London * Mixed at

The Record Plant The Record Plant was a recording studio established in New York City in 1968 and last operating in Los Angeles, California. Known for innovations in the recording artists' workspace, it produced highly influential albums, including the New York ...

(Los Angeles) * Mastered at Marcussen Mastering (Los Angeles) Personnel * Robbie Williams – writing, lead vocals, backing vocals * Boots Ottestad – writing, keyboards *

– writing * Daniel Pierre – writing, piano, keyboards *

Phil Spalding Philip Trevor Spalding (19 November 1957 – 5 February 2023) was an English bass player. He was best known as a session musician and player of Fender Precision Bass guitars. He played and appeared with performing artists such as Mike Oldfiel ...

– electric guitars, bass * Neil Taylor – electric guitars *

Jeremy Stacey Jeremy Stacey (born 27 September 1963) is a British drummer and keyboard player. His early works included the 1990s band The Lemon Trees (with twin brother Paul Stacey on guitars, Guy Chambers and others) and Denzil (band), Denzil. He has also ...

– drums * The London Session Orchestra – orchestra *

Gavyn Wright Gavyn Wright is a British violinist and orchestra leader with the London Session Orchestra and Penguin Cafe Orchestra. He is best known for his orchestral arrangements on pop productions (including Elton John, Simply Red, Bush, Mecano, ...

–

concertmaster The concertmaster (from the German language, German ''Konzertmeister''), first chair (U.S.) or leader (UK) is the principal first violin player in an orchestra (clarinet or oboe in a concert band). After the Conducting, conductor, the concertma ...

* Sally Herbert – orchestral arrangement * Steve Price – orchestral engineering * Tom Jenkins – assistant orchestral engineering * Isobel Griffiths – orchestral contracting * Jim Brumby – programming, additional engineering * Guy Chambers – production *

Steve Power Steve Power (born in Liverpool) is an English record producer best known for his work with Robbie Williams. He has produced and mixed for a wide variety of artists over the years, including Blur, Busted, Andrea Bocelli, Feeder, Joe Cocker,Pe ...

– production, mixing * J.D. Andrew – assistant mixing * Richard Flack – engineering, programming * Steve Marcussen – mastering

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

External links

the ''Clean'' version of the music video
comments about the video, and extra material, requires QuickTime 5.02 or higher. {{DEFAULTSORT:Come Undone (Robbie Williams Song) 2002 songs 2003 singles Chrysalis Records singles Music video controversies LGBTQ-related controversies in music Obscenity controversies in music Robbie Williams songs Song recordings produced by Guy Chambers Song recordings produced by Steve Power Songs written by Robbie Williams