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7 INCH VS-466: DON'T
YOU WANT ME - (3.57) / SECONDS - (4.59)
(LIMITED EDITION ALSO RELEASED WITH FREE POSTER)
12 INCH VS-466-12:
DON'T YOU WANT ME - (3.57)
/ SECONDS - (4.59) /
DON'T YOU WANT ME - EXTENDED DANCE MIX - (7.30)
Don't You Want Me
Part Two
Lyrics:
 You
were working as a waitress in a cocktail bar
When I met you
I picked
you out, I shook you up and turned you around Turned you into
someone new
Now five years
later on you've got the world at your
feet
Success has been so easy for you
But don't forget
it's me who put you where you are now
And I can put you back down too
Don't
Don't you want me
You know I can't believe it when I hear that you won't
see me
 Don't
Don't you want me
You know I don't believe you when you say that you
don't need me
It is much too late to find
- when you think you've changed your mind -
You'd better change it back or we will both be sorry
Don't you want me baby
Don't you want me
Don't you want me baby
Don't you want me
I was working as a waitress in a cocktail
bar
That much is true
 But
even then I knew I'd find a much better place
Either with or without you
The five years we have had have been
such good times
I still love you
But now I think it's time I live my
life on my own
I guess it's just what I must do
Don't
Don't you want me
You know I can't believe it when I hear that you won't
see me
Don't
Don't you want me
You know I don't believe you when you say that you
don't need me
 It
is much too late to find
- when you think you've changed your mind -
You'd better change it back or we will both be sorry
Don't you want me baby
Don't you want me
Don't you want me baby
Don't you want me
Trivia:
(1)
The promo was a tribute
to French film-maker Francois Truffaud, which is why the clapper
board/slate shown in shot reputedly bears the legend "Le
League Humaine" (not that you can actually read it or
anything). Steve Baron - working with The Human League for
the first time after someone at Virgin decided they liked
what he'd done for Adam and the Ants' "Ant Music"
-directs this most self-conscious of videos.
 In
the same way that the song itself contains so many steals/influences
that it is really a song about pop music and pop culture (as
opposed to being about real life or real people), so the accompanying
promo is a film about the making of a film. Thus, as the song
nears its end, Adrian Wright looks into the camera with an
arch expression on his face, and the camera pulls back to
reveal that the cutting room in which Phil paces - supposedly
the video's "reality" - is
really as fake as the film that we have seen being made. It's
a bit like a Russian Doll.
This film-set scenario
also provides a context for Susan and Philip to act out the
song's story of ascent to stardom, with Susan as the film
star and Philip as a director or movie mogul, complete with
cars trailing each other and Philip playing a director, playing
at aiming a gun at Suzanne, so that "actor" Jo Callis
can
imitate him by threating "actress" Joanne with a
gun. Confused? I think that was the idea.
 All
that's really important is that you appreciate the looks of
thwarted desire and murderous intent, and the impressive lighting
effects (the bit when Susan walks away from the glow of light
around the film shoot, into the wintery darkness, is actually
quite moving, and accompanies the line "I still love
you" - the most
stirring part of the song).
(2) The
video's highlighting of its own artifice is reflected in the
great UK single sleeve, which shows the other band members
looking in - through a "frame - on the drama: Suzanne
is standing defensively whilst behind her, jilted lover Philip
hits the bottle.
(3)
Susan cried with happiness
when she heard that Don't You Want Me had reached Number One
in the USA,
because it displaced "Ebony and Ivory", which she
thought was horrible.
B-side
Seconds (Callis/Oakey/Wright)
Perhaps because the League's
biggest hit hadn't been intended as a single, there was no
purpose-written B-side. Instead, the single provided exposure
for one of Dare's (many) outstanding album tracks.
"Seconds" is
a single chord progression layed over Dare's most unusual
drum pattern - an insistent pneumatic rhythm, punctuated by
the sound of muffled gunshots. The track eschews the variety
and structure of most of the Dare set, but instead builds
in intensity, with the addition of a strafing keyboard line
and strategically-placed booming sound effects.
The lyrics - addressed
to the assassin of US president JFK (one of Adrian Wright's
pet obssessions, hence the
lovely collage slides shown on the reverse of the UK single
cover) - also abandon traditional song structure. Lines that
impressionistically set the scene of a sun-drenched day, with
the president's motorcade driving by and the assassin waiting,
in hiding, become interspersed with the refrain "it took
seconds of your time, to take his life, it took seconds".
This refrain is repeated with increasingly
regularity until it overwhelms the song, a clever means of
building to a frantic climax.
 Seconds
is the song on Dare that is most reminiscent of Human League
Mark I, and it is a little like "Zero As A Limit"
in the way that it hurtles towards its conclusion, before
pulling back into a melee of pulsing synths. However, the
repetition towards the end of "Seconds" becomes
almost tedious, which is perhaps why Philip Oakey introduces
more variety into the end-of-song vocal melody when he performs
"Seconds" live.
So, taking
into account this slight defect, "Seconds" as recorded
gets a Secrets Online Score
of
8/10, and 9/10
for the live version.
Lyrics:
 All
day
Hiding from the sun
Waiting for the Golden One
Waiting for your fame
After the parade had gone
Outside
Was a happy place
Every face had a smile like the golden face
For a second
Your knuckles white as your fingers
curled
The shot that was hurled rang around
the world
For a second
It took seconds of your time to take
his life
It took seconds
 It
took seconds of your time to take his life
It took seconds
It took seconds of your time to take
his life
Seconds of your time to take his life
For a second
For a second
All lyrics are property and copyright
of their owners and are provided for non-profit purposes only.
Smash Hits Review (12/81)
The boys and girls from Sheffield with
the synths and silly haircuts seem hell-bent on noithing short
of world domination. This is the story of 'A Star is Born'
in four minutes flat and the most obvious single on the album,
is a suitable step in that direction…assuming there's
anyone out there who hasn't already got the LP.
Opposite: A rare behind
the scenes shot during the filming of the video in glorious
Slough.
Secrets Online Review
© Angus
Tindle 2002 - screen grabs kindly provided by Tony B
Being
Boiled / Sound Of
The Crowd / Love
Action / Don't
You Want Me / Mirror
Man /
(Keep Feeling) Fascination /
The Lebanon /
Life On Your Own /
Louise / I
Need Your Loving /
Heart Like A Wheel Review 01 / Heart
Like A Wheel 02 /
Tell Me When
/ One Man In My Heart
/ AIEW
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