Haunted When The Minutes Drag

Album: Seventh Dream Of Teenage Heaven (1985)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • "Haunted When The Minutes Drag" is about dwelling on a long lost lover. Vocalist Daniel Ash sings about holding the clothes and other personal belongings of a woman he's lost and feeling haunted by her memories.
  • The song is partially based on an actual person. In his Songfacts interview, Ash said bassist David J wrote the first half of the lyric about an art-school crush of his. The second half of the song is Ash's contribution. In it, he writes about a struggling romance occurring in his circle of friends at the time. So, "Haunted When The Minutes Drag" is really "two songs joined together."
  • At just over eight minutes long, "Haunted When The Minutes Drag" is the longest track on Love And Rockets' debut album, Seventh Dream Of Teenage Heaven. The song wasn't released as a single but it's a solid display of the inventiveness of their sound.

    Like many pioneering albums, Seventh Dream Of Teenage Heaven didn't catch a lot of popular attention upon release, but it has since aged like fine wine and come to be appreciated by music aficionados. AllMusic, for example, called it "as profound an experience as any of the lauded trips of the original psychedelic era."
  • The 2000 compact disc re-release of Seventh Dream Of Teenage Heaven has a "USA Mix" version of "Haunted When The Minutes Drag" that wasn't on the original.

Comments: 2

  • J F KaleugherActual!y, 38 years...just never get tired of it
  • J F Kaleugher from ArizonaThis is one of the most mesmerizing songs ever recorded. I can't count how many times in the last 28 years I've put the headphones on, dropped the needle (or hit play) and just gotten completely lost in the music and words, the harmonies, the soundscape it paints. Just a transcendent masterpiece, and a forever favorite of mine.
see more comments

Editor's Picks

James Williamson of Iggy & the Stooges

James Williamson of Iggy & the StoogesSongwriter Interviews

The Stooges guitarist (and producer of the Kill City album) talks about those early recordings and what really happened with David Bowie.

Jesus Thinks You're a Jerk: Rock vs. Televangelists

Jesus Thinks You're a Jerk: Rock vs. TelevangelistsSong Writing

When televangelists like Jimmy Swaggart took on rockers like Ozzy Osbourne and Metallica, the rockers retaliated. Bono could even be seen mocking the preachers.

He Hit Me (And It Felt Like A Kiss): A History Of Abuse Pop

He Hit Me (And It Felt Like A Kiss): A History Of Abuse PopSong Writing

Songs that seem to glorify violence against women are often misinterpreted - but not always.

Paul Williams

Paul WilliamsSongwriter Interviews

He's a singer and an actor, but as a songwriter Paul helped make Kermit a cultured frog, turned a bank commercial into a huge hit and made love both "exciting and new" and "soft as an easy chair."

Thomas Dolby

Thomas DolbySongwriter Interviews

He wrote "She Blinded Me With Science" so he could direct a video about a home for deranged scientists.

Eric Clapton

Eric ClaptonFact or Fiction

Did Eric Clapton really write "Cocaine" while on cocaine? This question and more in the Clapton edition of Fact or Fiction.