Hourglass

Album: Caracal (2015)
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Songfacts®:

  • This song features vocals by Jillian Hervey from the New York soul duo Lion Babe. Disclosure's Guy Lawrence told Spin: "In our head I think it was going to be like blend between like a more poppy song that we had done like "Voices" but kind of darker, mixed with a clubbier song like 'Apollo,' for instance. The song's basically about getting old and being alright about it, just accepting age and not being afraid of it."

    His Disclosure partner and brother Howard Lawrence added: "I remember we were writing it hypothetically more than anything. We were making up a situation about how like, "Oh, we're getting old, but it's okay as long as we've got people around us."
  • Jillian Hervey's Lion Babe partner, producer Lucas Goodman, did not feature on the track. Guy Lawrence explained: "We kind of only really needed Jillian, because we've got two producers anyway. I've got massive respect for him, though."
  • Disclosure used the Beats 1 radio show to unveil a live version of the track recorded at Brighton's Wild Life Festival in June 2015.
  • An hourglass is a mechanical device used to measure the passage of time. It was invented about the year 250 BC and replaced the water-clock by using pure, dry sand passing through a narrow neck between two bulbs to determine the time.

    It is not known for what purpose the hourglass was first devised. Some assert that the Roman army first introduced it to measure "watches" in the night.

    A monk at Chartres, skilled in glass-blowing, is credited with having created the hour glass' final shape in the 8th century AD.

    During the Middle Ages, the hourglass was used to time tournaments and helped housewives in boiling their eggs. Congregations were said to restrict the time of their parson's sermon by placing a sand clock conspicuously on the pulpit.

    The hourglass is often depicted as a symbol that human existence is fleeting, and that the "sands of time" will run out for every human life. Artists that have recorded songs titled after the timepiece include Roger Clyne & The Peacemakers, Lamb of God, Squeeze and Lifehouse. (Source The Encyclopedia of Trivia).

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