seconds

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asha

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"Seconds"

Takes a second to say goodbye
Say goodbye, oh, oh, oh
It takes a second to say goodbye
Say goodbye, oh, oh, oh, say bye bye...
Where you going to now...

Lightning flashes across the sky
East to west, do or die
Like a thief in the night
See the world by candlelight.

Fall, rise and...Fall, rise and...

In an apartment on Time Square
You can assemble them anywhere
Held to ransom, hell to pay
A revolution everyday
USSR, GDR, London, New York, Peking
It's the puppets, It's the puppets
Who pull the strings

Fall, rise and...Fall, rise and...

Say goodbye, say goodbye
Say goodbye, say goodbye
Say goodbye

It takes a second to say goodbye
Say goodbye, oh, oh, oh
Push the button and pull the plug
Say goodbye, oh, oh, oh

Fall, rise and...Fall, rise and...

And they're doing the atomic bomb
Do they know where the dance comes from
Yes they're doing the atomic bomb
They want you to sing along
Say goodbye, say goodbye
Say goodbye
Say goodbye.


Please discuss.
 
Seconds is extremely cool. The way Edge sings the first part and then gives up to Bono....


Lightning flashes across the sky
East to west, do or die
Like a thief in the night
See the world by candlelight

Allusion to Jesus; there's some part in the bible that says that Jesus/God will come like a thief in the night......don't know the exact quote.....

I love that song. :up: It reminds me strongly on A Celebration with the atmoc bomb and so...
 
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Re: Re: seconds

FallingStar said:
Seconds is extremely cool. The way Edge sings the first part and then gives up to Bono....


Lightning flashes across the sky
East to west, do or die
Like a thief in the night
See the world by candlelight

Allusion to Jesus; there's some part in the bible that says that Jesus/God will come like a thief in the night......don't know the exact quote.....

I love that song. :up: It reminds me strongly on A Celebration with the atmoc bomb and so...

Has anyone ever heard that this was intended as a love song for Ali?
 
can't go wrong with larry

FallingStar said:

:confused: Maybe it was written for Ali though I doubt that. :)

poihaps cos it was written by the edge? ;)


i love this song...i BELT it out when i hear it..it was like my favorite song...well and still is. that drum THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP it gets me every time.
 
Re: Re: seconds

FallingStar said:
Seconds is extremely cool. The way Edge sings the first part and then gives up to Bono....


Lightning flashes across the sky
East to west, do or die
Like a thief in the night
See the world by candlelight

Allusion to Jesus; there's some part in the bible that says that Jesus/God will come like a thief in the night......don't know the exact quote.....



?For you yourself know perfectly, that the day of the Lord shall so come, as a thief in the night? (I. Thess. 5:2).

Just for the record, I really don't know my Bible that well. I had to do an enormous paper on "The Pardoner's Tale" and I had to devote quite alot of space to Biblical allusions....it's really amazing what will stick in your head from finals week!

BUT, I never thought about it in regards to this song...so, wow!
:eeklaugh: Cool!

Elisabeth
 
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I think this song could be about the uncertainty of life - one minute you're here, the next, you're gone.
 
I don't know the ages of the people who are discussing this question, but can I throw in a little historical perspective? Back in the early to mid-80s, the Reagan era, while communism still existed, there was a major nuclear armaments buildup going on.

We all thought the leaders of the world were going to "push the button" out of their own male egos and launch a nuclear war that would destroy the world almost instantly. Military rhetoric arguing for more and more spending on arms was on the news all the time. There was a hugely high profile TV special on this called "The Day After" which a whole generation of youth were assigned to watch for school, and big films that dealt with it as well. Anti-nuclear protests were common. Churches and towns would declare themselves "nuclear-free zones" in symbolic protest. It was an immense cultural fear that those who held the strings of power would destroy our planet.

In that era, and esp. given the pacifist material on the rest of the album, and its title "War," the song instantly seemed to me to be about this threat we were all living through. I mean as soon as I heard "it takes a second to say goodbye...push the button," which was verbatim the kind of talk that was in the air. And "it's the puppets who pull the strings"? The chanting soldiers, enamored with war? That Bible allusion to the end of the world from I Thess.? And the ominous warning at the end: "THEY're doing the atomic bomb -- they want YOU to sing along!" Do you have enough moral fiber to stand up against them, or are you going to sing their song and vote more money for war?

And I have to say I would have major trouble even forcing myself to try and hear "Seconds" as about anything else other than the 80's sense of living under a global nuclear threat. As that, it seems dated to me, of course, since our global political situation is very different nearly 20 years later.... but I still like it.
 
mebythesea said:
I don't know the ages of the people who are discussing this question, but can I throw in a little historical perspective? Back in the early to mid-80s, the Reagan era, while communism still existed, there was a major nuclear armaments buildup going on.

We all thought the leaders of the world were going to "push the button" out of their own male egos and launch a nuclear war that would destroy the world almost instantly. Military rhetoric arguing for more and more spending on arms was on the news all the time. There was a hugely high profile TV special on this called "The Day After" which a whole generation of youth were assigned to watch for school, and big films that dealt with it as well. Anti-nuclear protests were common. Churches and towns would declare themselves "nuclear-free zones" in symbolic protest. It was an immense cultural fear that those who held the strings of power would destroy our planet.

In that era, and esp. given the pacifist material on the rest of the album, and its title "War," the song instantly seemed to me to be about this threat we were all living through. I mean as soon as I heard "it takes a second to say goodbye...push the button," which was verbatim the kind of talk that was in the air. And "it's the puppets who pull the strings"? The chanting soldiers, enamored with war? That Bible allusion to the end of the world from I Thess.? And the ominous warning at the end: "THEY're doing the atomic bomb -- they want YOU to sing along!" Do you have enough moral fiber to stand up against them, or are you going to sing their song and vote more money for war?

And I have to say I would have major trouble even forcing myself to try and hear "Seconds" as about anything else other than the 80's sense of living under a global nuclear threat. As that, it seems dated to me, of course, since our global political situation is very different nearly 20 years later.... but I still like it.

Sounds good to me. Great point.
 
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