Youssou N'Dour & Neneh Cherry '7 Seconds'

'7 Seconds' is a song composed by Senegalese and Swedish singer-songwriters Youssou N'Dour and Neneh Cherry with Cameron McVey and Jonathan Sharp.

It was released in June 1994 by Columbia as a single performed by N'Dour and Cherry, and achieved great success, reaching the number-one position in numerous countries; in France, it stayed at number one for 16 weeks, a record at the time.

'7 Seconds' also won the MTV Europe Music Award in the category for Best Song of 1994.

All instruments on the single were produced and arranged by Swedish music producer Christian Falk, who also played bass on the track.

The song is trilingual as N'Dour sings in three languages: French, English and the West African language Wolof.

Cherry sings only in English.

The title and refrain of the song refers to the first moments of a child's life; as Cherry put it, "Not knowing about the problems and violence in our world".

Shocked by the single's enormous commercial success, she told The Independent in an interview, "We did it as an experiment. The tune grew on its own, completely out of proportion. It was out there doing its own thing. But that is a dream when you write a song."

As one commente said: "With this song, I danced with my newborn baby girl to calm her down because she had ear problems. Today she is 28 years old and she always reminds me that she loves this song."

Without doubt "One of the world´s most beautiful songs EVER !!!"

Comments:

GrandHotel.SeagullMagique

If you are listening to this song right now, your brain is functioning well and you have great taste in music. Congratulations! Kisses from Italy.

Robin_Hood054

0% nudity, 0% thrashtalk, 0% autotune & 100% Youssou N' Dour .

Woolfie902

"And when child is born, into this world. It has no concept of the tone of skin it's living in." 

Ghettomentality

As a kid born into poverty in one of the UK's most deprived cities ( Birmingham ) in the 80's this song really resonates with me on such a profound and emotional level and also with so many decent working class and ethnic minority kid's born into similar circumstances like mine that have encountered similar social and economic disadvantages during that period growing up in England kids who literally had nothing but hardship yet still aspired to work hard and educate themselves out of poverty! It was tough, draining and challenging but i managed to do it thanks to surrounding myself with kids who were smarter and more ambitious than me and my poor, uneducated parents, who worked hard for pittance and yet still pushed me to excel at school academically and now, years later, whenever i hear this track its quite soul destroying, tearful and sad to hear this track as its a prime example of how tough life is if your born into poverty and the odds are stacked against you.

maimounafall2137

Indeed Youssou Ndour revolutionized African music not to say culture. As a Senegalese girl, it always gives me goosebumps while listening to his songs (old and new) - let me just say I am proud of our interplanetary star. He is timeless  ????????

pcon71

Timeless masterpiece. This man's voice is so incredible. Whithout understanding a single word in that language he sings, just gives my chills

DogLover17177

My dad used to play this song over & over for my mom and would go hug her so tight, telling her how much he loves and adores her.

20 some years later, I still remember those moments.

That pure love between them is what has kept me and my 4 siblings away from hatred, negativity and racism.

She passed away in 2006, my dad still plays the song. 16 years later and he never remarried. Love from Iran. 

Dot21234

Rest in peace dad - you loved this song. I hope your next life is better

hymura

I have just listen this song over a radio at work and i told my colleagues who the singer is and they where surprised.

A song like this is a masterpiece even after 30 years it will be forever a masterpiece and timeless composition.

Just by listening the song at that moment over the radio, I started to cry because i know the message of this song and i couldn`t help not to cry. I will never forghet this song .

dorkasaurus_rex

you know an artist's cultural contribution is great when you have Russians, Brazilians and Americans all in the comments in perfect agreement. God bless Yossou N'Dour and all the amazing Senegalese musicians of the world.

psilow7789

This song kind of triggers a not-quite-PTSD.

I was in a serious car accident in the late nineties - there was chaos, severe injury and destruction everywhere but the radio kept playing this song.

I was paralysed, upside down with this song playing.

I occasionally come and listen for cathartic reasons.

Robin_Hood054

Youssou N'Dour 7 Seconds ft Neheh Cherry, Amazing song, Amazing voice. Timeless Masterpiece .

murpon7286

Très belle chanson, les voix, la mélodie, de la vraie musique

andrzejsadowski30

With this song, I danced with my newborn baby girl to calm her down because she had ear problems. Today she is 28 years old and she always reminds me that she loves this song

alisonsalt5149

This song was my favourite on the day my eldest daughter was born in the summer of 1994... I loved the line '"..and when a child is born into this world, it has no concept of the tone of skin it's living in". She is a very balanced adult now in a caring profession but when I hear this, I remember the little baby like it was yesterday

foreignparticle1320

I came here just for nostalgia, but the lyrics made me think how much things have changed since 1997. I was brought up to look past the colour of people's skin, but now it seems that skin colour is the single most defining quality of a person.

It feels like common humanity is now an outdated idea. I'll just switch off the news and social media and live in the mist of nostalgia.  It's an infinitely happier place.

bzilla1090

As a kid he taught me to never blame my circumstances...you can achieve anything...even as a child born in Africa...and today I want to personally thank this man for setting me on my path..Youssou you legend

laurenwickham

I brought my first born son home and on the first night I just sat and stared at him in amazement - the radio was playing and on came this song, it reminds me of a beautiful moment in my life - I waiting so long for him.

arowhite

Their voices together give me chills.

mumcydire6131

What a masterpiece of all time, 2024 & still absolutely classic.

Spartacus45

Not only a song a message too. Two beautiful voices bouncing off of each other, two different languages and a complete masterpiece !! Im half English and French, so can appreciate both voices to the fullest.

modousanyang8545

Used to listen to this song driving in an overloaded van going to school in The Gambia. Youssous language is Wollof! He is just saying "Don't see me Smile and think that I do not know what is under and behind me" African metaphor for self consciousnesses.

I wrote my first piece of poetry from this song way back when I was eleven! Meaningful Nostalgia now and forever!

johnyasmin13

This beautiful song has such beautiful lyrics. I dedicate this to everybody who has humanity running through their veins and not about how rich they are or what colour or religion they are as we are all equal it's what you call humanity. I wish that we could all live in peace as life is very short 

Rich_Daniel78

One of the world's most beautiful songs - EVER !!!