4500 Times

Album: Hello! (1973)
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Songfacts®:

  • Status Quo mainstays Francis Rossi and Rick Parfitt wrote this song, which finds Rossi pleading with a girl to stay in their relationship. The song was never released as a single, but became one of their most popular numbers and a live favorite.
  • Why 4500? In our interview with Francis Rossi, he says that the number just sounds right and fits musically.

    Also, when he and Parfitt wrote the song, they had recently embarked on their first tour of America and were fascinated with the culture and the vagaries of the language. In England, the number 4500 is expressed, "four thousand five hundred," but Americans say "forty-five hundred," which is how they wrote it in the song.
  • Status Quo recorded this song many times, the first being on their 1973 album Hello!. Later versions included a drum solo.
  • The first recording was 10:00 long. The 1991 version was 13:00 and the song even topped a massive 30:00 live. The solos were primarily improvised but they soon became frequently used, as fans began to whistle and hum the licks. >>
    Suggestion credit:
    Greg - Barking, England
  • The song usually opens in the key of B-major before switching to various others.
  • The line, "I'm sitting still here in my chair" is a reference to the 1970 Status Quo hit, "In My Chair."

Comments: 1

  • Frozenhero from GermanyThe live versions, as well as the 1991 re-recording, all incorporate a riff from Quo's previous "long piece" (Is It Really Me/Gotta Go Home) as the starting point for the many improvisations. This is marked by the transition from B to E. The song is also remarkable for being sung by both Rick Parfitt (who gets the lion's share of the vocals) and Francis Rossi (who sings main melody on the "Sure wanna stay here..." parts). Not unlike The Rolling Stones' "Midnight Rambler", the song switches several times between a straight and a shuffle feel. The studio version features guests John Mealing playing piano and the sax players Steve Farr and Stewart Blandamer, although both are pretty low in the mix.
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