"Hourglass" was the first

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

released from Squeeze's seventh album, ''

Babylon and On ''Babylon and On'' is the seventh album released in September 1987 by the British new wave group Squeeze. History Eric "ET" Thorngren produced the album, along with Glenn Tilbrook. The group officially expanded to a sextet with the addition o ...

''. Aided by an

optical illusion Within visual perception, an optical illusion (also called a visual illusion) is an illusion caused by the visual system and characterized by a visual perception, percept that arguably appears to differ from reality. Illusions come in a wide v ...

-filled

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

directed by

Ade Edmondson Adrian Charles Edmondson (born 24 January 1957) is an English actor, comedian, musician, writer and television presenter. He was part of the alternative comedy boom in the early 1980s and had roles in the television series '' The Young Ones'' (1 ...

, it received substantial airplay on

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

, and "Hourglass" became the highest-charting hit the band ever had in the United States, peaking at number 15 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, while reaching number 16 in the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

Background

"Hourglass" was written by

Chris Difford Christopher Henry Difford (born 4 November 1954) is an English singer, musician, songwriter and record producer. He is a founding member and songwriter of the rock group Squeeze. Musical career Born in Greenwich, London, Difford has written ly ...

and

Glenn Tilbrook Glenn Martin Tilbrook (born 31 August 1957) is the lead singer and guitarist of the English band Squeeze, a band formed in the mid-1970s who broke through in the new wave era at the decade's end. He generally wrote the music for Squeeze's son ...

together in one room; traditionally, the two had written the lyrics and music, respectively, to their songs individually, but, at Tilbrook's suggestion, the two collaborated more directly for "Hourglass". Difford recalled, "I went to Glenn's house and within an hour we'd written 'Hourglass Glenn counteracted some lyrical ideas and I added some musical ideas, then he demoed it and made some changes, and finally the band got hold of it and changed it some more." Difford stated that the song "doesn't mean much" lyrically, while Tilbrook described the chorus' lyrics as "nonsense words". Musically, Tilbrook wrote the chorus; he explained, "I loved the idea of rapid delivery, which is what the chorus required." Originally written as a more dance-style number, the song took on, in the words of Tilbrook, a typical "Squeeze sound". The song's break and sound effects were contributed by producer Eric "ET" Thorngren.

Release

"Hourglass" was released as the debut single from ''Babylon & On'' and became one of the band's biggest hits, reaching number 15 in the US and number 16 in the UK. The single remains the band's highest-charting single in the US. Tilbrook argued that the negative lyrics were "ironic considering it went on to be a chart hit". The single's success was bolstered by a music video directed by

, who was recruited by keyboardist

Jools Holland Julian Miles Holland, (born 24 January 1958) is an English pianist, bandleader, singer, composer and television presenter. He was an original member of the band Squeeze and has worked with many artists including Jayne County, Sting, Eric C ...

. The video featured the band performing the song in a set with surrealist art and optical illusions. The video received an

MTV Award The MTV Video Music Awards (commonly abbreviated as the VMAs) is an award show presented by the cable channel MTV to honour the best in the music video medium. Originally conceived as an alternative to the Grammy Awards (in the video category ...

for its Art Direction by Nick Edwards and Clive Crotty. Difford later said, "The reason this song exists in my mind is purely for the video."

Track listing

;7" # "Hourglass" (3:16) # "Wedding Bells" (2:22) ;12" # "Hourglass" (3:16) # "Splitting into Three" (3:33) # "Wedding Bells" (2:22)

Charts

References

External links

Squeeze discography at SqueezenetPromo music video at YouTube
Squeeze (band) songs 1987 singles Songs written by Glenn Tilbrook Songs written by Chris Difford A&M Records singles {{1980s-rock-song-stub