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The opening section bubbles with anticipation the guitar strains are quiet and yet driving, pushing the listener toward something. Even “Closing Time” carries a theme much closer to the human condition than drinking – as blasphemous as that sounds.Īnalyzed through the lens of a gin-soaked shot glass, “Closing Time” sonically captures the chaotic emotion that goes along with last call.
#SEMISONIC CLOSING TIME REFERENCE TO BIRTH FULL#
Thematically, the album cycles through different stages of a relationship and is full of double meanings. Along with the pristine acoustic riffs, there are string sections, crunchy guitars, and a plinking piano set to a steady backbeat, as you can hear on “Singing In My Sleep.” The instrumentation one Feeling Strangely Fine is surprisingly diverse, extending far beyond what you’d expect from the group’s trio set-up. The band capitalized on the expert musicianship of their former group and paired it with tightly crafted melodies. Semisonic had risen from the ashes of Wilson’s former psychedelic quartet from Minneapolis, Trip Shakespeare, bringing along bassist John Munson and becoming a power-pop trio with percussionist Jacob Slichter. So much of what set Semisonic apart from typical late 90s radio fare is the intimacy of frontman Dan Wilson’s songwriting and his radiant vocals. But while “Closing Time” is a call to action for the bleary-eyed barfly, the tune and album itself is more than just alehouse anthems. Semisonic’s “Closing Time” appeared on 1999’s Now That’s What I Call Music! 2, alongside other 90s classics like New Radicals’ “You Get What You Give” and Fatboy Slim’s “Praise You.” Looking for more stories behind music’s biggest hits? Check out the Now! That’s What I Call Music page.When Feeling Strangely Fine was released, on March 24, 1998, “Closing Time”’s ascent to complete radio dominance was swift and efficient, spending 25 weeks on the Adult Alternative Song charts and peaking at No.4 in May 1998. And in 2020, Semisonic reunited for the You’re Not Alone EP, marking their first set of new music in nearly two decades. In 2006, he took home Song of the Year for the Chicks’ Top 5 single “Not Ready to Make Nice.” He also won Album of the Year as one of the contributors of Adele’s 2011 album 21 (he co-wrote the chart-topping “Someone Like You”). Wilson also became a songwriter and scored Grammy wins in the process. He followed up with 2014’s Love Without Fear and 2017’s covers album Re-Covered.
#SEMISONIC CLOSING TIME REFERENCE TO BIRTH FREE#
Throughout the band’s long hiatus, Wilson worked on his solo career, collaborating with famed producer Rick Rubin for his 2007 debut Free Life. It was even mockingly covered by Justin Timberlake in 2011’s Friends with Benefits when co-star Mila Kunis asked him to sing a Third Eye Blind song post-coitus.įollowing the success of “Closing Time” and the Platinum-selling Feeling Strangely Fine, Semisonic released its third album All About Chemistry in 2001 and re-released Feeling Strangely Fine on vinyl to commemorate its 20th anniversary in 2018. The single also became a pop-culture staple, popping up everywhere from The Office to The Simpsons. The catchiness and sincerity of “Closing Time” caught mainstream attention, topping Billboard’s Alternative Songs chart and earning a Grammy nomination for Best Rock Song. I had birth on the brain, I was struck by what a funny pun it was to be bounced from the womb.” My wife and I were expecting our first kid very soon after I wrote that song. If taken at face value, “Closing Time” is indeed a “last call” anthem, but Wilson intended for a double meaning: “It’s just, ‘Okay, you’ve got to go out into the light, make your way home, or wherever you’re going to be.’ Partway into the writing of the song, I realized it was also about being born. “Because all the bars that I would frequent in Minneapolis, they would yell out ‘closing time.’ There was one bar where a guy always would scream really loud, ‘You don’t have to go home, but you can’t stay here,’ and I guess that always stuck in my mind. So I set out to write a new closer for the set, and I just thought, ‘Oh, closing time,’” Wilson told American Songwriter in 2019. John and Jake were always impatient with ending the show with the same song. “We had always ended with a song called ‘If I Run,’ and I really liked it a lot. The song grew out of a much-needed change to the band’s setlists. Soon, the drums come crashing down on the singalong-ready chorus: “I know who I want to take me home!”
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“Closing Time” begins as an inconspicuous ballad, with Wilson’s modest vocals pouring over a tinkling guitar riff.