Twilight Zone (Golden Earring song)
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| “Twilight Zone (When The Bullet Hits The Bone)” | ||
|---|---|---|
| Single by Golden Earring | ||
| Released | 1982 | |
| Format | 7" (45 RPM) | |
| Genre | Hard rock | |
| Length | 4:40[1] | |
| Writer(s) | George Kooymans | |
Twilight Zone is a 1982 hit song by the Dutch hard rock band Golden Earring. It was written by the band's guitarist George Kooymans, and it appears on their 1982 album "Cut". The single had a good run on the charts in Europe as well as in the United States, where it was helped out in part by MTV. It reached #10 in the US, the band's only Top 10 hit in that country.
Lead vocals on the song are performed first by George Kooymans (who sings up to, and including, the line "maybe my connection's tired of taking chances"), then by Barry Hay who sings the rest of the song. If the the first 5 or 6 seconds of the song is played in reverse, the words "Sirens in my head, my whole life spins into" can be heard. These are part of the lyrics for the song, although the that exact line does not appear in the song itself.
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[edit] Music Video
The music video for the song had a storyline involving lead singer Barry Hay as an espionage agent who is inevitably apprehended by three henchmen (played by the other members of the band). It is unclear whether the character that Barry portrays is deserving of his fate. Some speculate that he was an agent who could bring down the corrupt mafia that was after him, the cards in his briefcase symbolically representing that he "held all the cards" and that's why the henchmen were after him and double crossing him. It's implied he killed someone before the video starts, seeing as how he places the arm of a dead man into a chest. Since the dead man suspiciously resembled the three henchmen who would later do Barry in, it could be assumed that the man attacked Barry and he killed him in self-defense.
Such an instance happens later on in the video, right before Barry is apprehended by the henchmen. A woman, posing as an ally, comes upon Barry while he was ducking away from the henchmen. They meet and she has the top half of a card that Barry has (a code of sorts for agents to know who they could trust?). They eventually end up in bed and she pulls a gun on him while they're embracing. Though nothing is shown, it is assumed he killed this woman in self-defense. The next scene shows Barry running down an alley, a henchman hot on his pursuit, where he is cornered by the henchman's other partners.
During the interlude of the song, Barry, tied to a chair, is interrogated by the henchmen and is knocked unconscious. When he comes to, he is surrounded by three female dancers (a trademark for the video) who are clad in leather and who handle him roughly, eventually injecting him with a needle. The henchmen then drag Barry, at this point very limp with his tanktop in tatters, through the street and then throw him up against a wall and tie him to it. He is then blindfolded, and the camera does a close up of his face and then slowly fades away.
Given that the hook of "Twilight Zone" is "when the bullet hits the bone" and the video is interspersed with clips of Barry, in a gauze red haze, falling dead after being shot by three guns, it is assumed that Barry is eventually shot by the henchmen, although the shooting is never shown.
The Cut album cover's iconic image of the jack of diamonds playing card being shredded by a bullet is used in the video and represents the life of the rogue agent. However, in the video, the bullet hits about two inches lower than on the album cover.
[edit] Twilight Zone in popular culture
"Twilight Zone" was used as the theme song in the 1993 hit pinball game, "The Twilight Zone" (based on the classic TV series), made by Midway Games.
[edit] Chart positions
| Country | Chart | Peak position |
|---|---|---|
| The Netherlands | Dutch Top 40 | 1[2] |
| United States | Billboard Hot 100 | 10[3] |
| United States | Billboard Rock Tracks | 1[3] |
[edit] References
- ^ This song length refers to the edited single version. The full album version was 7:58.
- ^ De Nederlandse Top 40, week 37, 1982. Retrieved on 2008-02-18.
- ^ a b Golden Earring Billboard Singles Charts Performance at Allmusic
