Rock
The song “Five O’Clock World” by The Vogues is a good example of Sixties rock music. The Vogues were a vocal-only group from Turtle Creek, Pennsylvian (a suburb of Pittsburgh). Their best-known record, “Five O’Clock World,” tells the story of a man who doesn’t much like his job, but when five o’clock comes around he is happy to go home to his wife and life looks much better.
The song opens with a twelve-string riff and is punctuated with work-song shouts of “hey.” A modal tune signals the monotony of a day at work, while the melody lifts when the group sings about quitting time.
On January 9th 1966, “Five O’Clock World” peaked at #4 (for 2 weeks) on the Billboard Hot 100. The record had entered the chart on November 21st, 1965 and spent 14 weeks in the Top 100.
The Vogues were: Bill Burkette (lead baritone), Don Miller (baritone), Hugh Geyer (first tenor) and Chuck Blasko (second tenor).
“Five O’Clock World” was used in the soundtrack to the 1987 movie Good Morning, Vietnam, in the soundtrack to the 2003 movie Big Fish, and was heavily featured on The Drew Carey Show as its opening theme song during the second season.
1 Comment
[…] For another song by The Vogues: “Five O’Clock World.” […]