"You're Only Human (Second Wind)" is a song written and performed by

Billy Joel William Martin Joel (born May 9, 1949) is an American singer, pianist and songwriter. Commonly nicknamed the " Piano Man" after his album and signature song of the same name, he has led a commercially successful career as a solo artist since th ...

originally appeared on '' Greatest Hits – Volume I & Volume II'' in 1985. The song deals with teenage depression and

suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and ...

. It became a top-ten hit, peaking at on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' Hot 100.

Background and recording

Joel, who said he once attempted suicide himself, stated in a 1985 interview that he wrote the song as a way to help young people struggling with depression and suicidal thoughts. In its original draft, he was concerned the song sounded too depressing so he imbued it with a bouncy, joyous beat and melody, with lyrics emphasizing personal

forgiveness Forgiveness, in a psychological sense, is the intentional and voluntary process by which one who may initially feel victimized or wronged, goes through a change in feelings and attitude regarding a given offender, and overcomes the impact of t ...

and

optimism Optimism is an attitude reflecting a belief or hope that the outcome of some specific endeavor, or outcomes in general, will be positive, favorable, and desirable. A common idiom used to illustrate optimism versus pessimism is a glass filled w ...

. The song was originally titled simply "Second Wind” but Joel changed it to "You're Only Human" with "Second Wind" as the subtitle after drummer Liberty DeVitto mocked the name.Archived a
Ghostarchive
and th
Wayback Machine
Joel donated all royalties from the song to the National Committee for Youth Suicide Prevention. During the song, Joel audibly chuckles after briefly hesitating and stuttering during one of the verses. At the prompting of Paul Simon and

Christie Brinkley Christie Lee Brinkley (née Hudson; born February 2, 1954) is an American model, actress, and entrepreneur. Brinkley gained worldwide fame with her appearances in '' Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issues'', ultimately appearing on an unprecedented ...

, who were listening in the studio, he left it in the finished recording as it seemed to illustrate the song's point about celebrating personal fallibility.

Reception

'' Cash Box'' said that the song has "a lilting

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, "Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use the ...

rhythm much like that in

Julian Lennon Julian Charles John Lennon (born John Charles Julian Lennon; 8 April 1963) is an English musician. He is the son of Beatles member John Lennon and his first wife, Cynthia, and he is named after his paternal grandmother, Julia Lennon. Julian ...

’s '

Too Late For Goodbyes "Too Late for Goodbyes" is the first single (second in the U.S.) from Julian Lennon's 1984 album ''Valotte''. It featured the harmonica of Jean "Toots" Thielemans, and it was a top-10 hit, reaching No. 6 in the UK Singles Chart in November 1984,< ...

'" and "Joel’s own inimitable sense of melodic and musical themes." ''

'' said that it has a "

syncopated In music, syncopation is a variety of rhythms played together to make a piece of music, making part or all of a tune or piece of music off-beat. More simply, syncopation is "a disturbance or interruption of the regular flow of rhythm": a "plac ...

synthesized rhythm."

Personnel

–

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of th ...

, keyboards *David Brown –

lead guitar Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the feature ...

* Russell Javors –

rhythm guitar In music performances, rhythm guitar is a technique and role that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with other instruments from the rhythm section (e.g., drum kit, bass guita ...

Doug Stegmeyer Douglas Alan Stegmeyer (December 23, 1951 – August 25, 1995) was an American musician who was best known as the bassist and back-up vocalist for Billy Joel. Stegmeyer also performed as bassist for Debbie Gibson and Hall & Oates. Biography ...

–

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and s ...

Liberty DeVitto Liberatori "Liberty" DeVitto (born August 8, 1950) is an American rock drummer. He is best known for his work as a drummer for New York singer-songwriter Billy Joel's recording and touring band. He has also been a session drummer on recordings o ...

–

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair of matching drumsticks ...

*Jimmy Bralower –

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

*Peter Hewlett –

background vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are us ...

*Frank Simms – background vocals *David Lebolt –

synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis ...

Ronnie Cuber Ronald Edward Cuber (December 25, 1941 – October 7, 2022) was an American jazz saxophonist. He also played in Latin, pop, rock, and blues sessions. In addition to his primary instrument, baritone sax, he played tenor sax, soprano sax, clarinet ...

– syntharmonicas *

Jon Faddis Jon Faddis (born July 24, 1953) is an American jazz trumpet player, conductor, composer, and educator, renowned for both his playing and for his expertise in the field of music education. Upon his first appearance on the scene, he became known ...

– syntharmonicas *

Mark Rivera Mark Rivera (born May 24, 1953) is an American saxophonist, multi-instrumentalist, singer, musical director and corporate entertainment provider who is mostly known for his work with Billy Joel. In addition to playing soprano, alto, tenor and ...

– syntharmonicas * David Matthews – horns arrangements

Music video

At the beginning of the video, Joel plays " Piano Man" on his

harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica in ...

. The entire video pays homage to the film ''

It's a Wonderful Life ''It's a Wonderful Life'' is a 1946 American Christmas fantasy drama film produced and directed by Frank Capra, based on the short story and booklet '' The Greatest Gift'', which Philip Van Doren Stern self-published in 1943 and is in turn loo ...

'', as the angelic Joel shows a suicidal young man threatening to jump off a bridge because of a break-up with his girlfriend what life will be like without him, as his family and friends mourn his death—as well as showing him the joys in his future he would be missing if he dies (e.g. high school graduation, marriage). The video ends with the young man choosing to live, and reconciling with his girlfriend when Joel plays "Piano Man" once again before tossing him his harmonica. One of the extras in the music video is

Adam Savage Adam Whitney Savage (born July 15, 1967) is an American special effects designer and fabricator, actor, educator, and television personality and producer, best known as the former co-host (with Jamie Hyneman) of the Discovery Channel televi ...

, who later found fame as the co-host of the

popular science ''Popular Science'' (also known as ''PopSci'') is an American digital magazine carrying popular science content, which refers to articles for the general reader on science and technology subjects. ''Popular Science'' has won over 58 awards, incl ...

television show ''

MythBusters ''MythBusters'' is a science entertainment television program, developed by Peter Rees and produced by Australia's Beyond Television Productions. The series premiered on the Discovery Channel on January 23, 2003. It was broadcast internation ...

''. The video was shot on

Staten Island Staten Island ( ) is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located in the city's southwest portion, the borough is separated from New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull an ...

and

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the List of co ...

and features landmarks such as the 59th Street Bridge and

Monsignor Farrell High School Monsignor Farrell High School is an American Catholic high school for boys, located in the Oakwood section of Staten Island, New York. Opened in 1961, the school is named in honor of Monsignor Joseph Farrell, a Catholic priest, as well as a r ...

Single and album edits

The single version is 27 seconds shorter than the album version, removing the

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of Single-reed instrument, single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed (mouthpi ...

solo between the bridge and the third verse.

Charts

References

External links

Billy Joel - You're Only Human (Second Wind) (Official Video)
{{Billy Joel 1985 singles Billy Joel songs Songs about suicide Songs written by Billy Joel Columbia Records singles Songs about depression Song recordings produced by Phil Ramone 1985 songs