Closing Time (Semisonic song)
"Closing Time" is a song by American rock band Semisonic. It was released on March 10, 1998, as the lead single from their second studio album, Feeling Strangely Fine, and began to receive mainstream radio airplay on April 27, 1998. The ballad was written by Dan Wilson and produced by Nick Launay.
| "Closing Time" | ||||
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| Single by Semisonic | ||||
| from the album Feeling Strangely Fine | ||||
| Released | March 10, 1998 | |||
| Studio | Seedy Underbelly (Minneapolis, Minnesota) | |||
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| Label | MCA | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Dan Wilson | |||
| Producer(s) | Nick Launay | |||
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| "Closing Time" on YouTube | ||||
The single reached number one on the US Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart and the top 50 in Australia, Ireland, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. It is certified gold in the UK and was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Rock Song in 1999. The song reappeared on the charts of three countries in 2011 after being featured in the 2011 movie Friends with Benefits and an episode of the television sitcom The Office; it attained its highest chart peaks in Australia and Ireland during this period.
While the song is about people leaving a bar at closing time (also called last call), and widely interpreted as such, drummer Jacob Slichter has also indicated that the song was written by Wilson "in anticipation of fatherhood" and that it is about "being sent forth from the womb as if by a bouncer clearing out a bar".