Five O'Clock World
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"Five O'Clock World" (also known as "5 O'Clock World") is a song written by
Allen Reynolds Allen Reynolds (born August 18, 1938) is an American record producer and songwriter who specializes in country music. He has been inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum. Biography Early ...
and recorded by American vocal group
The Vogues The Vogues are an United States, American Pop music, pop/rock and roll group from Turtle Creek, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Pittsburgh. The original lineup consisted of Bill Burkette (lead baritone), Don Miller (baritone), Hugh Geyer (first tenor) ...
. It reached number 1 on WLS on 17 December 1965 and 7 January 1966, number 1 in Canada on the ''
RPM Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or r⋅min−1) is a unit of rotational speed (or rotational frequency) for rotating machines. One revolution per minute is equivalent to hertz. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 def ...
'' singles chart on 10 January 1966 (their first of two chart-toppers there that year, followed by "Magic Town" in April), and number 4 in the U.S. on the
Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100, also known as simply the Hot 100, is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), o ...
on 15–22 January 1966 and is one of the Vogues' best-known hits, along with " You're the One".


Arrangement

The Vogues recording begins with a repeating modal figure on 12-string acoustic guitar (the sound reminiscent of medieval
chanson A (, ; , ) is generally any Lyrics, lyric-driven French song. The term is most commonly used in English to refer either to the secular polyphonic French songs of late medieval music, medieval and Renaissance music or to a specific style of ...
, or contemporaries
the Byrds The Byrds () were an American Rock music, rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1964. The band underwent multiple lineup changes throughout its existence, with frontman Roger McGuinn (known as Jim McGuinn until mid-1967) being the so ...
), and swings into stride with a low bass drone, and work-song shouts drenched in reverb. The baritone lead vocal by Bill Burkette is punctuated by counter-melodies and harmonies from the group and rises to a lilting
yodel Yodeling (also jodeling) is a form of singing which involves repeated and rapid changes of pitch between the low-pitch chest register (or "chest voice") and the high-pitch head register or falsetto. The English word ''yodel'' is derived from t ...
after the chorus, with crescendoing string instruments throughout, in anticipation of the after-work freedom promised in the lyric. The sound of a piano is heard, descending the scale, during the yodel. The sound of the other members of the Vogues can be heard repeating the word "up!" The instrumental track was a demo brought in by producer Tony Moon, cut at
RCA Studio B RCA Studio B was a music recording studio in Nashville, Tennessee, established in 1957 by Steve Sholes and Chet Atkins for RCA Victor. Originally known simply as the RCA Victor Studio, in 1965 the studio was designated as Studio B after RCA Vic ...
in Nashville. The vocal was then overdubbed in Pittsburgh at Co & Ce studios, with label co-head Nick Cenci. Cenci and the group were unhappy with the drum track, which was then re-recorded using local Grains of Sand drummer, Rich Engler. Later, when the group was signed to Reprise, strings were added by arranger
Ernie Freeman Ernest Aaron Freeman (August 16, 1922 – May 16, 1981) was an American pianist, organist, bandleader, and arranger. He was responsible for arranging many successful rhythm and blues and pop music, pop records from the 1950s to the 1970s. B ...
, overdubbed onto the original Co & Ce master.


Personnel

* Bill Burkette – lead vocals * Don Miller – backing vocals * Hugh Geyer – backing vocals * Chuck Blasko – backing vocals *
Chip Young Chip Young (born Jerry Marvin Stembridge, May 19, 1938 – December 20, 2014) was an American session guitarist, and later record producer who worked primarily out of Nashville, Tennessee. Biography Chip Young was born Jerry Marvin Stembridge in ...
– 12-string acoustic guitar * David Briggs – keyboards *
Norbert Putnam Norbert Auvin Putnam (born August 10, 1942) is an American musician, studio owner and record producer who was inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame in 2019.Robert McFarland, Jr"Norbert Putnam." '' Delta Business Journal''. November 2004. Acc ...
– bass * Jerry Carrigan – drums * Rich Engler – drums


Cover versions

* The song was also covered by
synthpop Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a music genre that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s ...
group Ballistic Kisses and released as a 12-inch single in 1982. A shortened version was subsequently included on their debut album, ''Total Access''. As with Cope's cover, some lyrics were changed to reflect views surrounding the
Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...
. *
Julian Cope Julian David Cope (born 21 October 1957) is an English musician and author. He was the singer and songwriter in Liverpool post-punk band the Teardrop Explodes and has followed a solo career since 1983 in addition to working on musical side proj ...
also released a cover of the song in 1989 on his album '' My Nation Underground''; Cope changed several of the lyrics and added in a section from the
Petula Clark Sally "Petula" Clark (born 15 November 1932) is a British singer, actress, and songwriter. She started her professional career as a child actor, child performer and has had the longest career of any British entertainer, spanning more than 85 y ...
song " I Know a Place". (Both songs were released in 1965.) * American
country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...
singer
Hal Ketchum Hal Michael Ketchum (April 9, 1953 – November 23, 2020) was an American country music singer and songwriter. He released eleven studio albums from 1986 to 2014, including nine for divisions of Curb Records. Ketchum's 1991 album ''Past the Point ...
covered the song on his 1991 album '' Past the Point of Rescue'' (which the song's writer, Allen Reynolds, co-produced with Jim Rooney) and released it as a single. The song peaked at number 16 on the
Hot Country Singles Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data along with digital sales and streaming. ...
chart in 1992. * Scottish rock band
The Proclaimers The Proclaimers are a Scottish Rock music, rock duo formed in 1983 by twin brothers Craig and Charlie Reid (born 5 March 1962). They came to attention with their 1987 single "Letter from America (song), Letter from America", which reached No. 3 ...
covered the song for their 2003 album '' Born Innocent''. * It was also covered by
Bowling for Soup Bowling for Soup is an American rock band formed in Wichita Falls, Texas, in 1994. The band consists of Jaret Reddick (lead vocals, guitar), Gary Wiseman (drums, percussion), and Rob Felicetti (bass, backing vocals, acoustic guitar). The band i ...
for several episodes of ''
The Drew Carey Show ''The Drew Carey Show'' is an American television sitcom that aired on ABC from September 13, 1995, to September 8, 2004. Set in Cleveland, Ohio, the series revolved around the retail office and home life of "everyman" Drew Carey, a fictionaliz ...
'' from 2002 to 2004 and included as a bonus track on some editions of their 2005 album '' Bowling for Soup Goes to the Movies''.


Chart history


The Vogues


Hal Ketchum


References


External links

* {{authority control 1965 songs 1965 singles 1992 singles Yodeling songs The Vogues songs Hal Ketchum songs Songs written by Allen Reynolds Song recordings produced by Allen Reynolds RPM Top Singles number-one singles Curb Records singles Comedy television theme songs