Closing Time (Semisonic song)
| "Closing Time" | |
|---|---|
| Song |
"Closing Time" is a song by Semisonic from their album Feeling Strangely Fine. The band's most popular song, it was written by Dan Wilson and produced by Nick Launay. The song was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Rock Song in 1999.[1] It peaked at #1 on the Modern Rock Tracks. The chorus was sampled in "Weird Al" Yankovic's polka medley "Polka Power".
The place that closes seems to be a pickup bar, noted by the lines:
- One last call for alcohol
- So finish your whiskey or beer
- ...
- You don't have to go home
- But you can't stay here
- ...
- So gather up your jackets
- Move it to the exits
- I hope you have found a friend
However, the book So You Wanna Be a Rock & Roll Star (ISBN 0-7679-1470-8) by Semisonic's drummer Jacob Slichter indicates that it is, instead, about being born[2]: the place that is closing is the womb, and the mention of alcohol is a reference to pregnant women not drinking. This can be seen in the lines:
- Time for you to go out to the places you will be from
- ...
- This room won't be open 'til your brothers or your sisters
- come
The memorable line repeated throughout the songs stanzas, "Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end" is a direct quote from the Roman Philosopher Seneca the Younger.[citation needed]
Music video
The music video was directed by Chris Applebaum. It features two continuous shots, running side by side on the screen. One side shows the band playing the song in a rehearsal space. The other side features a woman (played by Denise Franco), who is playing the part of the singer Dan Wilson’s girlfriend. As the video progresses, Dan and his girlfriend switch sides of screen, as they attempt to meet up. At the end of the video, they both wind up at the same nightclub, but just as they are about to leave, they see one another. The “trick” of the video is that each shot was done as one long, continuous shot, with no cuts or editing, and therefore relies on proper timing during the filming to get the two sides of the video lined up properly.
References
- ^ "41st Grammy Awards - 1999". Rock on the Net. Retrieved 2007-02-12.
{{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters:|month=,|curly=,|accessyear=, and|coauthors=(help) - ^ Slichter, Jacob (2004). So You Wanna Be a Rock & Roll Star. New York: Broadway Books. p. 135. ISBN 0767914708.