Squeeze - Hourglass - Lyrics Meaning

A hit in 1987 for British band Squeeze, this track contained less of the traditionally British orientated lyrics and created a more international appeal. This was the first track guitarists Chris Difford and Glen Tilbrook had worked on together, "in the same room." In an interview about their song writing methods, Difford said, "...it wasn't anything other than, okay, I've got to write a bunch of songs...I don't really know where they came from but within an hour we'd written `Hourglass'. Lyrically it doesn't mean much but we had some fun writing it."

The overall theme of the song is time and with the image created by the lines about sand trickling through an hourglass we get a sense of someone feeling out of control as time is running out The lyrics may lack deep meaning, or even make sense, but the furious pace of the song grabs listeners attention. The speed of delivery in the almost frantic chorus lines, `Take it to the bridge, throw it overboard, see if it can swim...' creates a panicky sense of time running out, along with breath, which anyone who has ever tried to sing along and keep up with the track will know!