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In the Year 2525

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Wikipedia article




"'In the Year 2525 (Exordium & Terminus)'" is a 1969 hit song by the American pop-rock duo of Zager and Evans. It reached number one on the 'Billboard' Hot 100 for six weeks commencing July 12, 1969.[http://www.billboard.com/charts/hot-100/1969-07-12 The Hot 100, Week of July 12, 1969 – Billboard.] It peaked at number one in the UK Singles Chart for three weeks in August and September that year. The song was written and composed by Rick Evans in 1964 and originally released on a small regional record label (Truth Records) in 1968. It was later picked up by RCA Records. Zager and Evans disbanded in 1971.

Zager and Evans were a one-hit wonder, never releasing another charting single. This occurred in both the U.S. 'Billboard' Hot 100 and the UK Singles Chart and , they are the only recording artists ever to have a chart-topping number one hit on both sides of the Atlantic and never have another Billboard charting single in the US or the UK for the rest of their career. Their follow-up single on RCA Victor, "Mr. Turnkey", reached number 48 in the Canadian pop charts and number 41 in the Canadian AC chart. Another single, "Listen to the People", managed to make the bottom slot of the 'Cashbox' chart at number 100 and number 96 in Canada.

Summary



"In the Year 2525" opens with an introductory verse explaining that if mankind has survived to that point, they would witness the subsequent events in the song. The following verses pick up the story at 1,010-year intervals from 3535 to 6565. In each succeeding millennium, life becomes increasingly sedentary and automated: thoughts are pre-programmed into pills for people to consume, eyes, teeth, and limbs all lose their purposes due to machines replacing their functions, and marriage becomes obsolete because children are conceived in test tubes.

The song ends after 10,000 years. By that time, humans have finally become extinct. But the narrator notes that somewhere 'so very far away', possibly in an alternative universe, the scenarios told in the song have still yet to play out, as the song repeats from the top (but in the same key, tone, and speed as the previous verse) and the recording fades out.

The overriding theme, of a world doomed by its passive acquiescence to and overdependence on its own overdone technologies, struck a resonant chord in millions of people around the world in the late 1960s.

Recording



The song was recorded primarily in one take in 1968, at a studio in a cow pasture in Odessa, Texas.

Personnel

*Denny Zager & Rick Evansacoustic guitars & vocals

*Mark Daltonbass guitar

*Dave Truppdrums

*The Odessa Symphonyadditional instruments

*Tommy Allsupproducer

The record had regional success so RCA Records picked it up for a national release. RCA producer Ethel Gabriel was tasked with enhancing the sound and arrangement. The track went to number 1 on the U.S. charts within three weeks of release.

Legacy



The song has been covered at least 60 times in seven languages, including an Italian version recorded by Zager and Evans called "Nell'Anno 2033".

It was included in a Clear Channel memorandum, distributed by Clear Channel Communications to every radio station owned by the company, which contained 165 songs considered to be "lyrically questionable" following the September 11, 2001, attacks.

Two lines of the song are sung by the inmate Murphy in the 1992 movie 'Alien 3' immediately prior to his death. The song was rewritten and used as the introductory theme for the 2000 TV series 'Cleopatra 2525'. In 2010, it was parodied as "In the Year 252525" in the seventh episode of 'Futurama's sixth season, "The Late Philip J. Fry", as Fry, Professor Farnsworth and Bender travel forwards through time to find a period in which the 'backwards' time machine has been invented. The song acts as an aesthetic theme to the film 'Gentlemen Broncos'."[https://www.theguardian.com/film/2021/apr/12/gentlemen-broncos-jared-hess-napoleon-dynamite Hear me out: why Gentlemen Broncos isnt a bad movie]" by Ryan Gilbey. 'The Guardian' April 12, 2021. Accessed June 3, 2021.

Chart history



Weekly charts



Year-end charts



All-time charts



See also



* 26th century

* Brave New World

* Dystopia

* Human extinction

* Human impact on the environment

* Anthropocene

* List of one-hit wonders in the United Kingdom

* List of one-hit wonders in the United States

References




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