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"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.[3] It peaked at number one in the UK Singles Chart for three weeks in August and September that year.[4] The song was written and composed by Rick Evans in 1964 and originally released on a small regional record label (Truth Records) in 1968.[5] It was later picked up by RCA Records. Zager and Evans disbanded in 1971.

"In the Year 2525 (Exordium & Terminus)"
RCA release
Single by Zager and Evans
from the album 2525 (Exordium & Terminus)
B-side	"Little Kids"
Released	1969 (Truth label) April 1969 (RCA label)[1]
Recorded	1969, Odessa, Texas
Genre	Folk rock, psychedelic rock,[2]
Length	3:10 (Truth label) 3:15 (RCA label)
Label	Truth; RCA Victor
Songwriter(s)	Rick Evans
Producer(s)	Zager and Evans
Zager and Evans singles chronology
"In the Year 2525 (Exordium & Terminus)" (1969) "Mr. Turnkey" (1969)
Alternative release
Artwork for the German vinyl single

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 as of 2022^[update], 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[6] in the Canadian pop charts and number 41 in the Canadian AC chart.[7] Another single, "Listen to the People", managed to make the bottom slot of the Cashbox chart at number 100 and number 96 in Canada.[8]

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.[9] 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.[9]

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.[10]

Recording

The song was recorded primarily in one take in 1968, at a studio in a cow pasture in Odessa, Texas.[11]

Personnel

• Denny Zager & Rick Evans – acoustic guitars & vocals
• Mark Dalton – bass guitar
• Dave Trupp – drums
• The Odessa Symphony – additional instruments
• Tommy Allsup – producer[12]

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.[13]

Legacy

The song has been covered at least 60 times in seven languages, including a Jewish parody recorded by Country Yossi,and an Italian version recorded by Zager and Evans called "Nell'Anno 2033".[14][15]

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.[16]

Two lines of the song are sung by the inmate Murphy in the 1992 movie Alien 3 immediately prior to his death. Brief snippets are played in "The Time Is Now", the second-season finale of the TV show Millennium, which depicts an apocalyptic event. 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.[17] The song acts as an aesthetic theme to the film Gentlemen Broncos.[18] The BBC Radio series 2525, a sketch show set in the year 2525, featured a cover of the song with its first lyric as its introductory theme.

The first few verses of the song are used as the opening theme while the credits roll in Uwe Boll's 2006 film "1968 Tunnel Rats" (Source: IMDB)

Chart history

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

External links

• Video on YouTube

На других языках

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[de] In the Year 2525

In the Year 2525 (manchmal auch In the Year 2525 (Exordium & Terminus) genannt) ist ein 1969 vom Duo Zager & Evans veröffentlichter apokalyptischer Folk-Rock-Song über die Beziehung des Menschen zur Technik und zur Erde, der sich zum weltweiten Millionenseller entwickelte.

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- [en] In the Year 2525

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[ru] In the Year 2525

«In the Year 2525 (Exordium and Terminus)» — сингл американского поп-рок-дуэта Zager and Evans, продержавшийся на первом месте Billboard Hot 100 шесть недель начиная с 12 июля 1969 года. Песня, написанная Риком Эвансом ещё в 1964 году, первоначально была выпущена на региональном лейбле Truth Records в 1968 году. Год спустя радиостанция Одессы (штат Техас) выпустила диск с этой песней, а вскоре последовало его переиздание в качестве национального сингла лейблом RCA Records, что и сделало композицию популярным хитом.

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