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. So I started writing this song and it’s just, “Okay, you’ve got to go out into the light, make your way home, or wherever you’re going to be.” Part way into the writing of the song, I realized it was also about being born. So I set out to write a new closer for the set, and I just thought, “Oh, closing time.” 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. John and Jake, the other two members of the band, 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. I was initially trying to write a song to end the Semisonic shows with. It wasn’t exactly conscious, but it became pretty obvious as I was writing the song. It says “Closing Time’s” lyrics were partly about the birth of your child. I was checking out Wikipedia today, and I wanted to see if this stuff was true. I’ll probably play it at another gig soon. And just by chance, I decided to give it a rest that night. I almost always play “Closing Time.” By that gig, I had actually done “Closing Time” so many times at so many gigs that I had been telling this long, involved story. I’ve never agreed with artists who avoid their big hit song at their concerts, that annoys me, actually. Semisonic’s big hit “Closing Time” is not on the record. So it seemed like a nice way to put a cap around that period of time.
The previous show in Minneapolis, year before, it was a little bit proper and precise, and like an execution of an idea, and this show we ended up recording, I knew that it was going to be loose and more of a live experience. It seemed like it was going to be loose and fun and the band, we’ve played a lot together. I don’t know if I thought about it consciously, but I didn’t want to wrap up that phase without documenting it somehow.
#Semisonic closing time year free#
I was so enjoying the free life, the stretch of touring and playing those songs live and getting the band kind of happening. I knew that I was heading into writing and recording a new jam of some kind. Why did you decide to put out a live record? Wilson’s latest album, Live At The Pantages, surveys his career so far. Instead, he’s become the king of the co-write, working with artists as diverse as Dixie Chicks, Weezer, Keith Urban, Josh Groban, and The Bravery. Dan Wilson’s band Semisonic may have gone on hiatus, but the man behind “Closing Time” has never stopped writing.
0 kommentar(er)
