"Forty Five Hundred Times" is a song by British

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

band

Status Quo is a Latin phrase meaning the existing state of affairs, particularly with regard to social, political, religious or military issues. In the sociological sense, the ''status quo'' refers to the current state of social structure and/or values. W ...

. It is the final track on their 1973 album '' Hello!'', almost ten minutes long and regularly performed live. The group's frontmen,

Francis Rossi Francis Dominic Nicholas Michael Rossi, (born 29 May 1949) is an English musician, singer and songwriter. He is the co-founder, lead singer, lead guitarist and the sole continuous member of the rock band Status Quo. Early life Rossi was born o ...

and

Rick Parfitt Richard John Parfitt, (12 October 1948 24 December 2016) was an English musician, best known as a singer, songwriter and rhythm guitarist with rock band Status Quo. Parfitt began his career in the early 1960s, playing in pubs and holiday cam ...

, have said it is one of their favourite songs by the band, with Parfitt using a special

dropped tuning Guitar tunings are the assignment of pitches to the open strings of guitars, including acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and classical guitars. Tunings are described by the particular pitches that are made by notes in Western music. By ...

. While never released as a single, the song was #1 as voted by fans.

Composition

The song was one of the few that members

and

wrote together. Rossi recalled, "Each time we'd get something good Rick would try to improve it and we'd lose track of where we were. It was like pulling teeth, which is among the reasons why we stopped writing together." Parfitt sang lead and played rhythm guitar using an alternative

tuning Tuning can refer to: Common uses * Tuning, the process of tuning a tuned amplifier or other electronic component * Musical tuning, musical systems of tuning, and the act of tuning an instrument or voice ** Guitar tunings ** Piano tuning, adjusti ...

with the top and bottom strings retuned from E to B. He discovered the tuning while randomly playing around with the

tuning peg A variety of methods are used to tune different stringed instruments. Most change the pitch produced when the string is played by adjusting the tension of the strings. A tuning peg in a pegbox is perhaps the most common system. A peg has a g ...

s on his guitar after "a few glasses of wine". To get the required sound, he replaced the bottom string with a 60-gauge one from a

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

. The song features a

time signature The time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, or measure signature) is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats (pulses) are contained in each measure (bar), and which note value ...

change from to partway through, before reverting to at the end. Jazz pianist

John Mealing John Mealing (born 5 April 1942 in Yeovil, Somerset) is a British keyboardist, composer and arranger. After leaving the Don Rendell-Ian Carr Quintet in the late sixties, Of the title, Rossi remarked: "Rick and I were in a Yankee phase at the time… In 'real' English it would've been called 'Four Thousand, Five Hundred Times' – which doesn't quite work, does it?"

Release

The song was first released in 1973 as the last track on ''Hello!''. When that album was reissued on a Japanese

compact disc The compact disc (CD) is a Digital media, digital optical disc data storage format that was co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. In August 1982, the first compact disc was manufactured. It was then rele ...

in 1987, as a double set with the earlier '' Piledriver'', "Forty Five Hundred Times" had to be dropped owing to space reasons. The original studio version has been included on several compilation albums. The version on ''XS All Areas'' was shortened to roughly seven minutes. It was re-recorded for the album ''

Rock 'til You Drop ''Rock 'til You Drop'' is the twentieth studio album by English rock band Status Quo and their last on the Vertigo label after nearly 20 years. Singer and guitarist Francis Rossi produced the album. "Rossi is particularly fond of 1991's ''Rock ' ...

'' (1991), including the jam over ''Gotta Go Home'' as played live, though at twelve minutes, it is more brief than typical live versions (see below).

Live performances

The song was not performed live when ''Hello!'' was first released, but was introduced into the set around 1975. For concert performances, Parfitt used a custom

Gibson SG The Gibson SG is a solid-body electric guitar model introduced by Gibson in 1961 as the Gibson Les Paul SG. It remains in production today in many variations of the initial design. The SG (where "SG" refers to Solid-Body Guitar) Standard is Gib ...

tuned specifically for the song, leaving the bottom B string slightly flat. It was subsequently played frequently, always elongated with a jam in E minor that originates from the song ''Gotta Go Home'' from

Ma Kelly's Greasy Spoon ''Ma Kelly's Greasy Spoon'' is the third studio album by English rock band Status Quo, released in August 1970. It was the first album by the band to leave behind their early psychedelic sound and begin experimenting with a hard rock style, ...

. There is one bootleg from 1975 that includes the vocal from ''Gotta Go Home'' but the vocal was omitted thereafter. The first released live version is extended to 17 minutes on 1977's ''

Live! Live may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Live!'' (2007 film), 2007 American film * ''Live'' (2014 film), a 2014 Japanese film *'' ''Live'' (Apocalyptica DVD) Music *Live (band), American alternative rock band * List of albums ...

'', recorded at the

Glasgow Apollo The Apollo was a music venue at 126 Renfield Street in Glasgow city centre, Scotland. The Apollo operated from 5 September 1973 until closure on 16 June 1985 and was Glasgow's leading music venue during this period. The Apollo was a re-brand o ...

. A 20-minute version was performed at the

NEC Arena is a Japanese multinational information technology and electronics corporation, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo. The company was known as the Nippon Electric Company, Limited, before rebranding in 1983 as NEC. It provides IT and network soluti ...

in 1982 at a charity concert for

The Prince's Trust The Prince's Trust ( cy, Ymddiriedolaeth y Tywysog) is a charity in the United Kingdom founded in 1976 by King Charles III (then Prince of Wales) to help vulnerable young people get their lives on track. It supports 11-to-30-year-olds who are u ...

, with Coghlan's replacement

Pete Kircher Peter Derek Kircher (born 21 January 1945, Folkestone, Kent) is a retired English rock/ pop drummer. Between 1982 and 1985 he was a member of Status Quo, performing with the band at Live Aid and on the albums '' Live at the N.E.C.'' and '' Back ...

reinterpreting the original drum parts. This rendition was subsequently released in the expanded version of the album '' Live at the N.E.C.'' in 2017. The song disappeared from the set after the End of the Road tour in 1984, but it was reintroduced in 1990. These fifteen minute versions, played before the 1991 re-recording, marked the last time the song was extended greatly. In 1993, the song was played in a shortened version for the first time, seguing into '' Junior's Wailing''. The same configuration was used again in 1999. From 2000 onwards, Status Quo regularly played an abbreviated version which transitioned into ''

Rain Rain is water droplets that have condensed from atmospheric water vapor and then fall under gravity. Rain is a major component of the water cycle and is responsible for depositing most of the fresh water on the Earth. It provides water f ...

''. It was performed the same way at the "Frantic Four" concerts in 2013 featuring original Quo members Rossi, Parfitt,

Alan Lancaster Alan Charles Lancaster (7 February 1949 – 26 September 2021) was an English musician, best known as a founding member and bassist of the rock band Status Quo, playing with the band from 1967 to 1985, with brief reunions in 2013 and 2014. As ...

and John Coghlan. In 2014, however, the classic line-up opted for a version closer to the original that segued into ''Gotta Go Home'' (with vocals), together clocking in around eight minutes.

References

External links

Lyrics
from Status Quo official website {{authority control 1973 songs Songs written by Francis Rossi Songs written by Rick Parfitt Status Quo (band) songs