doug nelson: DISENGAGE!

Semisonic’s drummer Jacob Slichter indicates that (the song “Closing Time”) is, instead, about being born: the place that is closing is the womb, and the mention of alcohol is a reference to pregnant women not drinking. This can be seen in the lines:

Time for you to go out to the places you will be from
…
This room won’t be open ’til your brothers or your sisters
come

Note: In a show in which he opened up for Sondre Lerche, Dan Wilson noted that the song was written for the birth of his child, in an attempt not to be one of those annoying songs that an artist wrote for the birth of a “jr,” he made sure the meaning was abstracted.