Semisonic’s 1998 hit single “Closing Time” is a last-call staple. It incorporates the iconic phrase “You don’t have to go home, but you can’t stay here,” making it a great song to blast over the speakers of a dive bar or even at a house party. On the surface, it’s a narrative about people leaving a bar at closing time. But digging deeper, “Closing Time” is about more than one last call for alcohol.
The song originated from the band’s desire to end their shows with something different. Allegedly, they got sick of playing their 1993 track “If I Run” so many times. “Closing Time” emerged from a desire for something new, specifically to close out live shows.
Semisonic frontman Dan Wilson wrote “Closing Time” with that in mind, but it also encompassed more personal events in his life. Although, according to Wilson, it didn’t start out that way. Eventually, he realized he’d written a song about the anticipation of childbirth.
Semisonic’s 1998 Hit Turned Out Way Deeper Than Just a Way To Close a Live Show
In 1997, Semisonic was working on their second album, Feeling Strangely Fine, which would officially release in early 1998. Dan Wilson’s wife, Diane Espaldon, was pregnant with their daughter, Coco, during this time. She was born three months premature. So “Closing Time” was not only about anticipating her birth, but also anticipating her finally coming home.
In 2005, drummer Jacob Slichter published a memoir titled So You Wanna Be a Rock ‘n’ Roll Star. He detailed his experiences with the music industry and shared behind-the-scenes stories of Semisonic. This included a recollection of the tension that surrounded Dan Wilson as his newborn daughter fought to survive after arriving much too early.
Initially, the band and producers reassured Wilson that they could cancel the recording sessions for the album with no problems. But, as Slichter recalled, “Dan and Diane decided that recording would provide Dan a welcome relief from pacing the halls of the neonatal intensive care unit. The studio was a short drive from the hospital, and he could still visit several times a day.”
He continued, “So we started to record our second album, which had become both an art project and an emotional lifeboat.” Coco grew as work on the album continued over a few weeks, until Wilson and Espaldon could finally hold their daughter.
“The extreme fragility of Coco’s existence revealed deeper dimensions to the songs Dan had written in anticipation of having a child,” Slichter wrote.
“I Know Who I Want To Take Me Home”
“Closing Time” had been penned in anticipation of the birth of Dan Wilson’s daughter, however, unknowingly at first. Jacob Slichter described it as “a song about being sent forth from the womb as if by a bouncer clearing out a bar.”
When Coco finally went home after months in the neonatal ward, Wilson and Espaldon rode with her in the ambulance. According to Slichter, the driver looked at Wilson in the rearview mirror and asked, “Aren’t you in Semisonic?”
By this time, “Closing Time” had been getting some airplay. The ambulance driver said he’d “just heard your new song on the radio.” With all this context for “Closing Time”, it becomes more than a last call song, and even more than a song about impending fatherhood.
In his book, Slichter called attention to the song’s chorus while recalling this story: “I know who I want to take me home / I know who I want to take me home / I know who I want to take me home /Take me home”.
The post This 1998 Rock Anthem Is About More Kinds of ‘Last Call’ Moments Than You Might Think appeared first on VICE.
