“I feel like I’m pounding on a big door, no one can hear me
knocking…”
A little over ten
years ago, I posted something cool to my personal Facebook page. It
was a song that I had just heard on the radio for the first time
since it’s original late ‘80s chart run. I linked the music
video, and wrote a few sentences about it, praising the rapid fire,
nonsense lyrics, and surreal imagery. It only got maybe two or three
likes. However, it sparked a personal interest in writing about
overlooked songs from years prior, which directly lead to the
creation of Kyle’s Radio Dial several months after.
Yet in all the years
since, I’ve never given that specific song the proper Radio Dial
treatment… until now, that is. Ladies and Gentlemen, I’m proud to
present Glenn Tilbrook, Chris Difford, Jools Holland, Andy Metcalfe,
Keith Wilkinson, and Gilson Lavis… collectively known as Squeeze,
as they watch the grains tumble… upward through their “Hourglass”.
From the 1987 Babylon and On LP, “Hourglass” was Squeeze’s
biggest hit single in the U.S., peaking at #15 on the Hot 100
(slightly better than it’s UK peak of #16). What, you thought their
1981 classic “Tempted” was surely a top 10? Yeah… and so
did I! As awesome as it is, and as long lasting as it has proven to
be, the reality is that “Tempted” did not chart very high upon on
its initial release, peaking only at US #49 and UK #41. I know…
sometimes truth is weird.
The lyrics of
“Hourglass” are hard to pin down, but they seem to be about
insanity. The protagonist references falling with nobody to catch
him, no more sand in his hourglass, no more hands on his watch, no
crew on the ship, no one hears him when he calls them on the phone…
so is the guy going crazy? Or perhaps its a commentary on the stress
of daily life, in which most of us have so much going on, that we
feel like chickens running around with their heads cut off? I think
we can all identify with that.
I read an interview
with Chris Difford where he stated that the song has no true meaning.
He and Glenn Tilbrook simply wrote the song in an hour and he really
didn’t know where it came from. But that’s the cool thing about
music (and pretty much any art)… the listener (or viewer, or
reader, etc) can derive their own interpretation on the artist’s
work, filtered through their own life experiences. So what does that
say about me that I went straight to insanity and stress as the
deeper meaning here? *sigh* Maybe I should switch to decaf…
Anyway, the music
video, a favorite on MTV upon its release, is filled with wacky
optical illusions and forced perspective effects. Its quite a fun
video to watch, and it never fails to put a smile on my face! Check
out the guy falling up the stairs, the infinity doorways, the mirror
illusion, and the clock hands that become drumsticks) The mirror
illusion in particular amazed Zoey, (the Radio Dial daughter), who kept asking “How’d they
DO that?”
I
also appreciate that
Tilbrook rocks some
sweet ‘50’s rock and
roll dance moves (think
Elvis or Chuck Berry)
in one of the video’s
final scenes.
On a side note, I
briefly considered spotlighting not “Hourglass”, but Squeeze’s
1980 track “Pulling Mussels (From the
Shell)” for this article instead. But that was mainly
because I wanted to relate a story of how I once worked with a girl
named Michelle who was quite the chatterbox. A sweetheart, but rather
exhausting to listen to. Another co-worker, heard “Pulling
Mussels…” play over our in-store audio system, and started
singing the chorus as “Put A Muzzle on
Michelle”. You know, because she talked a lot. Yes, it was
mean, but she never knew because that co-worker and I kept it a joke
between the two of us. Hey, we all have skeletons in our closets.
So, refresh your
memory and check out Squeeze’s biggest stateside hit tune below.
And enjoy that crazy music video, which still looks good after all
these years – remember, this was 1987, so none of that pesky CGI in
this one folks! (and before the next time that you adjust your tie or
put on make up in the mirror, just make sure it’s ACTUALLY a
mirror… just a helpful hint from Kyle’s Radio Dial.)
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