"Seconds" is the second track on U2's

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to Internet protocol suite, TCP/IP is officially completed (this is consid ...

album, ''

War War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

''. The track, with its recurring lyric of "it takes a second to say goodbye", refers to

nuclear proliferation Nuclear proliferation is the spread of nuclear weapons, fissionable material, and weapons-applicable nuclear technology and information to nations not recognized as " Nuclear Weapon States" by the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Wea ...

. It is the first song in the band's history not sung solely by

Bono Paul David Hewson (born 10 May 1960), known by his stage name Bono (), is an Irish singer-songwriter, activist, and philanthropist. He is the lead vocalist and primary lyricist of the rock band U2. Born and raised in Dublin, he attended M ...

, as

the Edge David Howell Evans (born 8 August 1961), better known as the Edge or simply Edge,McCormick (2006), pp. 21, 23–24 is an English-born Irish musician, singer, and songwriter. He is best known as the lead guitarist, keyboardist, and backing voca ...

sings the first two

stanzas In poetry, a stanza (; from Italian ''stanza'' , "room") is a group of lines within a poem, usually set off from others by a blank line or indentation. Stanzas can have regular rhyme and metrical schemes, but they are not required to have eithe ...

. There is a break of approximately 11 seconds in the song at 2:10 featuring a

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of a 1981 documentary film titled '' Soldier Girls''. Bono said that he was watching this documentary while he was waiting in the

green room In show business, the green room is the space in a theatre or similar venue that functions as a waiting room and lounge for performers before, during, and after a performance or show when they are not engaged on stage. Green rooms typically have ...

Windmill Lane Studios Windmill Lane Recording Studios (earlier Windmill Lane Studios) is a recording studio in Dublin, Ireland. It was originally opened in 1978 by Brian Masterson and James Morris in premises at 22 Windmill Lane, and it subsequently relocated to its cu ...

and he recorded it. The band felt it would fit well into the song as unsettling evidence of soldiers training for an atomic bomb explosion.

Writing and inspiration

During his writer's block period in 1982, Bono felt it was lonely writing lyrics, so he asked the Edge to assist in writing, but the guitarist wasn't interested in such a goal. The Edge finally wrote the line "It takes a second to say goodbye". Bono wrote the remainder of the lyrics. On the recording, the Edge sings the first verse of the song. Lyrics in the song about dancing to the atomic bomb is a reference to "

Drop the Bomb ''Drop the Bomb'' is a studio album released in 1982 by the Washington, D.C.-based go-go band Trouble Funk. The album included the songs "Drop the Bomb" and "Pump Me Up" which have been sampled numerous times by many hip hop artists. Track listi ...

," a song by

Go-go Go-go is a music subgenre, subgenre of funk music with an emphasis on specific rhythmic patterns, and live audience Call and response (music), call and response. Go-go was originated by African-American musicians in the Washington, D.C. area du ...

group

Trouble Funk Trouble Funk is an American R&B and funk band from Washington, D.C. The group helped to popularize funk and the subgenre go-go in the Washington metropolitan area. Among the band's well-known songs are the go-go anthem "Hey, Fellas". They rele ...

, who were U2's labelmates on

Island Records Island Records is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded in 1959 by Chris Blackwell, Graeme Goodall, and Leslie Kong in Jamaica, and was eventually sold to PolyGram in 1989. Island and A&M Records, anoth ...

Reception

In a ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'' review of the album itself, editor J.D. Considine wrote, "'Seconds,' ... opens with a sleepy funk riff driven by a cheerful toy bass drum. It's a pleasant juxtaposition, but as the song's subject matter becomes clear – the insanity of nuclear blackmail, where, as Bono Vox puts it, 'the puppets pull the strings'—you realize that this jolly noisemaker is no more an innocent plaything than is the one in Gunter Grass' The Tin Drum." In 2008, for a review of new reissues of the band's first three albums, ''

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'' editor Joe Tangari wrote "'Seconds' rides a hypnotic bass line to a final verse that conflates nuclear standoff with a dance craze".

Live performances

"Seconds" accordingly became the first song to feature the Edge on lead vocals live when it debuted at the first concert of the

War Tour War is an intense armed conflict between State (polity), states, governments, Society, societies, or paramilitary groups such as Mercenary, mercenaries, Insurgency, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violenc ...

on 26 February 1983. It was a regular inclusion in the first half of the band's main sets for the

during 1983 and during the

Unforgettable Fire Tour The Unforgettable Fire Tour was a concert tour by Irish rock band U2 that took place in 1984 and 1985 in support of band's album ''The Unforgettable Fire''. Beginning in August 1984 with the band's first tour to Australia and New Zealand, the t ...

during 1984 and 1985. It has not been performed in concert since July 7, 1985. A live performance of the song at

Red Rocks Amphitheatre Red Rocks Amphitheatre (also colloquially as simply Red Rocks) is an open-air amphitheatre built into a rock structure in the Western United States, western United States, near Morrison, Colorado, west of Denver. There is a large, tilted, flyi ...

is featured on the concert film '' U2 Live at Red Rocks: Under a Blood Red Sky'', recorded on 5 June 1983.

Other versions

Mundy Edmond Enright (born 19 May 1975), known professionally as Mundy, is an Irish singer-songwriter and founder of the independent record label Camcor Records. Biography He released his debut album ''Jelly Legs'' in 1996 on the Epic Records label ...

contributed a cover version to '' Even Better Than the Real Thing Vol. 3'', a charity album composed entirely of U2 songs and released in 2005. *

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released an iTunes Store-exclusive cover of this song in 2005. *

Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars (also called Refugee All Stars) is a band from Sierra Leone which was formed by a group of refugees displaced to Guinea during the Sierra Leone Civil War. Since their return to Freetown in 2004, the band has to ...

released a cover of the song in 2007, featuring

Aerosmith Aerosmith is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Boston in 1970. The group consists of Steven Tyler (lead vocals), Joe Perry (musician), Joe Perry (guitar), Tom Hamilton (musician), Tom Hamilton (bass), Joey Kramer (drums) and Brad Whi ...

's guitarist Joe Perry.

References

External links

Seconds' performance history from U2-Vertigo-Tour.com
- Lists all known performances of "Seconds". {{U2 1983 songs U2 songs Songs written by Bono Songs written by the Edge Songs written by Adam Clayton Songs written by Larry Mullen Jr. Songs about nuclear war and weapons Song recordings produced by Steve Lillywhite