Writers: Glenn Tilbrook and Chris Difford
Producers: Eric “E.T.” Thorngren and Glenn Tilbrook
Recorded: Early 1987 at Swanyard Studios, England
| Players: | Glenn Tilbrook — vocals, guitar, horns Chris Difford — guitar, vocals Keith Wilkinson — bass Julian “Jools” Holland — organ Gilson Lavis — drums |
| Album: | Babylon And On (A&M) |
“Hourglass” was Squeeze's first Top 40 hit in the U.S., reaching Number 15 on the Billboard Hot 100 in October of 1987.
Chris Difford, who co-wrote the song with partner Glenn Tilbrook, said at the time that “Hourglass” was indicative of the creative mission Squeeze set for all of the Babylon On And On album: “'Simplify' is the word I use. We wanted to make things more accessible to people, not so wordy.”
Difford said that getting a Squeeze song into the Top 40 after seven previous albums was due to label commitment: “The record company was really on top of that record. There was a lot of money and a lot of effort put into it, by everybody.”
Squeeze had disbanded in 1982 but reunited in 1985, the year after Difford and Tilbrook released their duo album Difford & Tilbrook.
Babylon And On hit Number 36 on the Billboard 200 chart and spawned Squeeze's only other top 40 hit, “853-5937.”