Close the World at Five (narration)

Well as I'm talking to you now, it's 5: 11 on the 24th of June

Here in Sag Harbour, New York

where I'm in the studio, winding up the Mobile years portions of

Buried Treasure

What a trip this has been for me and I hope for you when you hear it

But let's just say that 5 'o clock seems to be

a very popular time of day in my world

There is not a show that goes by when we're on the road

that we're not having a time check

Not a sound check, a time check

For 5 'o clock was on my mind, years before Alan Jackson called me

in 2003 with the idea of an anthem dedicated

to quitting time around the world

Now Close the world at 5, was written in 1969

And I think it had something to do with the fact that in those days

i was actually working a 9 to 5 job before I went to my night job

at the Admiral's Corner

when you keep hours like that, as Willie Nelson says

Time will slip away

Time has never really been figured out, although Einstein came close

But, it certainly has been a great source of inspiration for writers

since the beginning of time

Whether you write lines about losing it,

stopping it, travelling forward or backward in it,

or just wanting a cocktail at quitting time

Time does not stop

We can't ever really close the world at 5

but I think it helps to be able to think that you can

So let's think about it,

Here's the last song on the Mobile section of Buried Treasure

And a fitting song to end it, Close the world at 5