In the Year 2525
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- "2525" redirects here. For the year 2525, see 26th century.
"In the Year 2525 (Exordium and Terminus)" is the title of a hit song from 1969 by the Lincoln, Nebraska duo Zager and Evans, which reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 for six weeks, commencing July 12. The song was written by Rick Evans in 1964 and originally released on a small local record label in 1967. Two years later, an Odessa, Texas radio station popularized the disc, which RCA Records quickly picked up for nationwide distribution.
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[edit] Song summary
The song opens with the words "In the year 2525, If man is still alive, If woman can survive, They may find...". Subsequent verses pick up the story at 1010-year intervals (namely 3535, 4545, 5555, 6565). Then the pattern as well as the music changes and verses for the years 7510, 8510 and 9595 follow.
The song has no chorus, and at the conclusion a cyclic idea of man's history, a brief interlude occurs over Latin-styled guitar (Now it's been 10,000 years. Man has cried a billion tears...), before the song effectively "starts over" with the first verse again and fading out.
The song is based on a nightmarish vision of the future as man's technological inventions gradually dehumanize him. The song includes a reference to the Rapture (In the year 7510, if God's a' coming, He ought to make it by then.) which echoed the zeitgeist of the Jesus Movement. The song also references examples of technology that would come in to existence long before prophesied in the song, such as test tube babies, and robotic automation. However, it is debatable if the advances in these topics is as yet as far forward as the meaning in the song lyrics suggest.
[edit] Legacy
It is very rare for a recording artist to have a number one hit single and then never have another chart single for the rest of their career. "In the Year 2525" gave Zager and Evans this uniquely dubious status twice. They were, and remain, the only act to do this in both the U.S. and UK singles charts.
The song has been covered many times. One notable version is the UK new romantic group Visage. Another version was used as the theme song for the short-lived science fiction series, Cleopatra 2525. It was also featured in the second season finale of Millennium. The Slovenian industrial group Laibach edited the lyrics in their cover version to make it appropriate for 1994's NATO album. There was also a dance cover of this song by The Act featuring Clinton III in 1993. More recently, it was covered by the gothic rock band Fields of the Nephilim.
Also, in the movie Alien³, which debuted in 1992, a prisoner is heard singing a line or two of the song, while scraping the inside of a ventilator shaft, shortly before he is attacked by a juvenile Xenomorph and subsequently diced by a large ventilation fan. The movie takes place a few hundred years from the 20th century.
Although the song topped the charts in 1969, more recently it has been found listed among the worst songs ever performed. In a 1993 column, humorist Dave Barry reported on his "Bad Song Survey". Among the runners up was "In the Year 2525", and Barry stated that he personally has a "VIOLENT hatred" for it. He also references the song in "Dave Barry's Book of Bad Songs". Other mentions citing the song's awfulness include a 2001 Cincinnati Enquirer article [1] listing it among the 50 worst rock and roll songs. The song also appears on the list of songs deemed inappropriate by Clear Channel following the September 11, 2001 attacks.
Despite such criticisms, the song still receives regular airplay on many radio stations. It is often featured as bumper music on Coast to Coast AM. It has also sold many records. Upon release by RCA in 1969, it quickly became a million-seller.
[edit] Trivia
- Singer songwriter Paul Solecki wrote a fake folk song as an ode to "In The Year 2525"", and the guys who sang it called "Zager and Evans." It can be found on his 2005 CD release Paul and Me.
- This song was allegedly written in 30 minutes.
- The song was referenced in The Simpsons, when Lisa is seen reading a psychic magazine with a cover headline "The year 2525: Were Zager & Evans right?"
- This song appears in the film Alien³, sung by the character Murphy.
- There is a joke that the following conversation occurred between Zager and Evans while writing the final verse ("He's taken everything this old earth can give, and He ain't put back nothing"):
ZAGER: What rhymes with "give"?
EVANS: Nothing.
ZAGER: Perfect!
- Zager and his son operate a web based business selling guitars altered for easy playability and offering video guitar lessons.
[edit] Similar Works
- Ray Bradbury's short story There Will Come Soft Rains bears an eerie resemblance to this song in that they both share a similar message: humankind's quest for technology will eventually be the end of the species.
[edit] See also
| Preceded by: "Love Theme From Romeo and Juliet" by Henry Mancini |
Billboard Hot 100 number one single July 12, 1969 |
Succeeded by: "Honky Tonk Women" by The Rolling Stones |
| Preceded by: "Honky Tonk Women" by The Rolling Stones |
UK number one single August 26, 1969 |
Succeeded by: "Bad Moon Rising" by Creedence Clearwater Revival |
