2525

I rarely watch TV except when I am ironing, and this afternoon that was what I was doing. Daytime TV is pretty dire, but I found a channel which played old videos of hit songs from the 60’s. A song came on by the one-hit-wonders, Danny Zager and Rick Evans. It was written by Rick Evans in 1964, and released in 1968 but didn’t make much impact. However, re-released in 1969, it hit number one in the American top 100 for six weeks, and number one in the UK for three weeks in August-September. It went on to be covered many, many times over the years, probably more than sixty different versions in at least seven languages.

You will have guessed from my title even if you don’t remember it or Zager and Evans as ‘In the year 2525 – a most unusual song, looking to the distant future and imagining what disasters humankind might have caused and inflicted on the world.

Zager and Evans was an American rock-pop duo active during the late 1960’s and early 1970’s, comprising Denny Zager (born February 14, 1944, Wymore, Nebraska) and Rick Evans (born January 20, 1943, Lincoln, Nebraska; died February 2018, Santa Fe, New Mexico)
Wikipedia

I wionder what Denny Zager thinks of his lyric now – prescient, but wildly optimistic, because much of what they imagined seems to be looming ever nearer, and one prediction is already here “you’ll pick your son, pick your daughter too from the bottom of a long glass tube”. Here is part of the lyric which imagines future life :

Ain’t gonna need to tell the truth, tell no lieEverything you think, do and sayIs in the pill you took todayIn the year 4545You ain’t gonna need your teeth, won’t need your eyesYou won’t find a thing to chewNobody’s gonna look at youIn the year 5555Your arms hangin’ limp at your sidesYour legs got nothin’ to doSome machine’s doin’ that for youIn the year 6565You won’t need no husband, won’t need no wifeYou’ll pick your son, pick your daughter tooFrom the bottom of a long glass tube.