why is "The second hand unwinds" mean?

Question

Time after time - Cyndi Lauper

Sometimes you picture me
I'm walking too far ahead
You're calling to me, I can't hear
What you have said
And you say go slow
I fall behind
"""The second hand unwinds"""


And why the Lyrics writer insert the weird sentence at the bottom line?

""what"" is "The second hand unwinds" mean?

Answer 1

Ah the young generation growing up in a world without analog watches. (Non digital)

"The second hand unwinds" referrs to the passage of time

Old clocks and watches were once powered by the energy stored in a coil spring. To keep the clock watch running you wound have to periodically wind up the clock. ( On large clocks this is done with a key inserted onto a crankshaft and turned with the key, watches have a built in knob on the side to wind and set the time.)

So if you did not wind up the clock to recharge and energize the coil spring it would eventually unwind and the clock would stop... (Now think aboud the new Gwen Steffani video "Wind It Up")

Hands on a clock : There are at least 2 and sometimes three

1.) Hour Hand - revolves once every 12 hours (unless a 24 hr clock)
2.) Minute hand - revolves once every 60 minutes
3.) Second hand - revolves once per minute

The second hand moves fast enough to easily perceive its motion.
So in the songs context "The second hand unwinds" means the realization of seeing time pass before your eyes or waiting while time continues marching on

Answer 2

It means exactly as it is said ..the second hand unwinds

If you remember the watches and the clocks That had to be re winded ever 24 hours for it to continue to work and keep time ..Once rewinded the second hand than starts to unwind ..and at the end it would stop ..
coming to a end ..stop working..time will be no more ..run out of time ..time stood still ...heading towards the end ..

You can see with the meaning of those 4 words..it can say a lot....lol

Answer 3

I always assumed it to be a metaphor for "time passes".

The ticking of the second hand slowly unwinds the spring in the clock. Or the moments of thier lives.

For the very young out there, you must remember that until the mid to late 20th century most timepeices were driven by a wound spring - not a battery.

Then again, I'm admittedly unqualified to understand anything metaphorical. Especially where it relates to people and music.

Answer 4

LOL - answers just show how technology has changed. People younger than, say, 35 really don't know what a clock looks like anymore, or how to read them.

The second hand, aka the sweep second hand, is the one that counts the seconds (not the minutes or hours). In other words, it's one of THREE hands on a clock or watch. Yes, it's true that not all watches and clocks have a second hand, but that's what Lauper is talking about.

Other than that, I have never understood that line in the song.

Answer 5

2 hands on a clock.. they are both in motion.. so the second had unwinds refers to the other hand on the clock.. i think

Answer 6

well the song has to do with time, and a second hand on a watch is the minutes hand so... I guess that time falls apart when they are seperated. Like the watch is going all crazy and time is falling apart.

Answer 7

like when a clock moving and one hand passes the other

Answer 8

Time stop since he/she left you and you can't move on