i know for a fact i was under the age of 12, possibly 9 or 10. the song, silly by most standards, for someone that little has a haunting quality that has stuck with me for years. the downbeat guitar strumming, strange, almost spanish sounding trumpets (they just make me think of bullfighting, for whatever reason), and the lyrical quality, as well as the way said lyrics are delivered is strange in deed.
i recall being in high school and hearing this song on an oldies station (back when they still played oldies, i.e. - songs primarily from the 1960s, maybe early 70s) lying in bed with all the lights out, and getting a horrible sense of dread. i wish i were exaggerating. but i truly did have to turn the lights back on for several minutes whilst a much peppier song played. i told my mom about this at some point, and in her very motherly and supportive way she said something to the effect of "oh, brother." needless to say, my parents are often hard-hearted people. i wish it weren't so. ANYway...
despite all this, the song is one of my favorites. i have strange associations with it, including a comic book from the 1990s called "What if... The Avengers had Lost The Evolutionary War". i'm not gonna get too into what that entails, not what the Evolutionary Was was, but suffice it to say, human kind evolves so greatly (Star-Trek-ish bulging craniums and all), no longer need to communicate with words, and form a giant hive mind, leaving Earth behind for who knows what kind of ultimate journey and whatnot. yeah, it's pretty great.
if you even remotely give a crap, go here (if not, don't... but you'll be sorry!): http://siskoid.blogspot.com/2010/10/what-if-avengers-lost-evolutionary-war.html
as for the song itself, i can only let Z&E speak (sing? strum?) for themselves:
In the year 2525 If man is still alive If woman can survive They may find In the year 3535 Ain't gonna need to tell the truth, tell no lies Everything you think, do, and say Is in the pill you took today In the year 4545 Ain't gonna need your teeth, won't need your eyes You won't find a thing chew Nobody's gonna look at you In the year 5555 Your arms are hanging limp at your sides Your legs got not nothing to do Some machine is doing that for you In the year 6565 Ain't gonna need no husband, won't need no wife You'll pick your son, pick your daughter too From the bottom of a long glass tube In the year 7510 If God's a-comin' he ought to make it by then Maybe he'll look around himself and say Guess it's time for the Judgement day In the year 8510 God is gonna shake his mighty head He'll either say I'm pleased where man has been Or tear it down and start again In the year 9595 I'm kinda wondering if man is gonna be alive He's taken everything this old earth can give And he ain't put back nothing Now it's been 10,000 years Man has cried a billion tears For what he never knew Now man's reign is through But through the eternal night The twinkling of starlight So very far away Maybe it's only yesterday In the year 2525 If man is still alive If woman can survive They may find In the year 3535 Ain't gonna need to tell the truth, tell no lies Everything you think, do or say Is in the pill you took today ....(fading...)
Zager And Evans only had one hit, and it was of course this song. their next song is a jaunty little upbeat number called "Mr. Turnkey", which, according to Wikipedia is a song about "a rapist who nails his own wrist to the wall as punishment for his crime". awesome.
lots of info here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_the_year_2525
