"Do You Believe In Shame?" is the nineteenth single by Duran Duran. Released on 10 April 1989, it was the third and final single from the Big Thing album.

The song was dedicated to three of the band's dead friends: record producer Alex Sadkin, artist Andy Warhol and Simon Le Bon's childhood friend David Miles. Le Bon has since said that "Shame" is the first part of a trilogy of songs written as a tribute to Miles, the other songs being "Ordinary World" and "Out of My Mind".

There was a successful legal challenge over the close resemblance of the melody of "Do You Believe In Shame?" to that of the Dale Hawkins classic "Suzie Q" (more famously covered by Creedence Clearwater Revival and The Rolling Stones). The writing credits were changed accordingly. The members of Duran Duran have always denied that they intentionally copied any other works, and that the similarity of the two songs was based on what they described as a "basic blues progression".

"Do You Believe In Shame?" was released to coincide with the band's Electric Theatre Tour which began in Newcastle on 15 April 1989. As such, the 7" triple pack issued by EMI in the UK included tour dates in the artwork.

The song's first week of release was complicated because the original CD single was discovered to have an overlong playing time that disqualified it from some of the sales charts. The CD single was recalled two days after its release, and reissued a few days later, but for several days during the song's initial promotion, the CD was unavailable in shops.

The lyrical video for "Do You Believe In Shame?" was filmed by the Chinese director Chen Kaige, who later directed acclaimed films such as Farewell My Concubine. It was set in New York City, and shows the three original members of Duran Duran in separate storylines. Nick Rhodes appears to be mourning a friend; he attends an auction and bids on a snow globe, which he later throws in the bin along with other mementos. This is most probably an allusion to Warhol, whose possessions were auctioned off after his death. John Taylor appears to be searching for faith and connection; he attends a Catholic church, and then a birthday party for a little girl. While singing, Le Bon seems to be watching the world around him, observing people on the streets, including a little girl who drops her crutches in order to hop up a flight of stairs and a blind man who confidently crosses the street in front of oncoming traffic.

...
Wikipedia