Remember the Grammy-winning ‘90s song, “Closing Time,” by Semisonic? Until recently, no one really knew what the song was actually about – although we all thought we knew. The song was about a bar’s last call for the night, and what might ensue once the bar-goers left… right? Surprisingly, no. Even more surprising is the song’s Pro-Life message.
Dan Wilson, the band’s lead singer, revealed the song’s meaning at his 25th reunion at his alma mater, Harvard. Wilson explains to his fellow alumni that when he and his wife were expecting their daughter, he didn’t want to write a cliché song to commemorate the occasion:
[Bandmates] instinctively know that as soon as junior arrives on the scene, the next thing that’s going to come is a song about junior, written by the singer, guaranteed to be that singer’s favorite song he or she ever wrote…
It gets personal because when my wife Diane and I were expecting our one and only child, I knew this. I knew that my bandmates… were feeling that dread. So I did what any good sneak would do, and I hid my junior song, and I did it in plain view, which is where a good sneak knows is the best place to hide something. And I hid it so well in plain view that millions and millions of people heard the song and bought the song and didn’t get it. They think it’s about being bounced from a bar, but it’s about being bounced from the womb.
Listen to Wilson explain the real meaning behind each verse of the song, beginning about 4 ½ minutes into the video: