In 1957, the immortal crooner Johnny Mathis graced the world with a single recording entitled “Chances Are.” The song climbed to #4 on the charts. On the flip or backside of that 45 record was a curious piece that Johnny reportedly did not at first care much for, although he sang the tune so well.
For the history buffs, a “45” was a small disc about the size of a modern CD or DVD on which was recorded a single song to be played on a phonograph or record player. For the more current among us, 45’s have long gone the way CD’s and DVD’s are now going. They quietly disappeared from our midst as technology advanced and introduced easier and more available means to enjoy music. Yes, soon it will be as difficult to find a CD as it is to spot a 45, and in time the moderns of their day will wander the aisles of dusty curio shops and wonder what purpose the small flying saucers once served – 45 or CD.
I first listened to Johnny M.’s 45’s on one of the first portable record players. It was the size of a small suitcase and could be transported anywhere with ease, provided you had room for a small suitcase and another large box for the 45’s and 33’s (the 33 long plays, or LP’s, were the bigger vinyl discs with more songs). Our first portable was battery operated and could be used outside for maybe up to an hour or so. We were in heaven and parts of our heaven were the croons of and swoons to the Master Mathis as we shyly and ineptly asked our dates and proceeded to dance the hour away.
On the 50’s channel driving today, I heard that curious song on the flipside that Johnny did not at first favor. Here is a sampling of the lyrics:
“You ask how long I’ll love you
“I’ll love you ‘til the blue bells forget to bloom
“I’ll love you ‘til the clover has lost its perfume
“I’ll love you ‘til the poets run out of rhyme
“Until the twelfth of never
“And that’s a long long time.”
The name of the song is “The Twelfth of Never.”
The meaning is clear: “I’ll love you forever.”
But, why?
Why does the “twelfth of never” mean “forever.”
On the Internet most people say because that’s what the phrase has always meant. It’s a colloquialism, a form of conversational speech people use when they’re talking. You don’t write it, you say it. Everyone knows it’s forever.
But, was it really always forever?
Apparently not – at least not before clocks, and it seems not for some time after clocks were first devised. In olden times, clocks did not have faces. The first clocks were mechanical mechanisms designed to chime and let you hear the hour of the day, not see it. Then, the inventors of time figured out how to add a face and hands to make clocks more friendly, to resemble more closely the likes of you and me. Of course, hands needed something to do, so someone added numbers for the hands to point the hour of the day. At that first directed time, there was no “12.” Instead, the hands spun to 11:59 and faced back around to “zero,” nothing at the top, ought. Noon was noon. Midnight was midnight. The end was the end. When you got there, you started over the same as when you were born, with no age, not “1” until you earned it. You certainly were not “12” — we just passed that. One minute past zero was one minute after noon. Ought-30 was 30 minutes past midnight. Olden folks talked like that, I guess, but it didn’t make much sense. You never got to say “12”, because no 12 could be found on the face of time, although everyone knew it was there and always would be. Twelve could never be reached. So the phrase developed: “This is taking longer than the twelfth of never.” “You are slower than the twelfth of never in January.” “Wow, I haven’t seen a 45 or CD since, I don’t know, the twelfth of never.” “I’ll love you until the twelfth of never.” Now, that had a nice ring to it.
It did. It was time for 12 o’clock to appear again.
Around 850 AD, Pope Leo IV said: “Enough. These may be the Dark Ages, but we’re not backward. For the ease of common parlance, I formally pontificate that hereafter the first hour shall be called the 12th hour. Twelve thirty is twelve thirty, not ought thirty. Who ever heard such talk? It’s time for some enlightenment.”
It was. Time moved on, with a new and better hour.
Still, the twelfth of never had a nice sound and was not forgotten.
To the 1950’s the phrase reached the ear of a weary songwriter who penned the lyrics that concerned the singer until he heard the lost chime of the twelfth of never and sang a song of simple speech for all to see and hear forever.
Until the twelfth of never.
Take a minute.
Grandpa Jim