Twenty years ago, Semisonic’s Feeling Strangely Fine dropped into a pop rock world teetering on the edge of Nickelback. It had no business becoming iconic—at least according to the label that told frontman Dan Wilson the album had “no singles.” This, of course, was before “Closing Time” became every bar’s drunk last call and a permanent fixture in retail purgatory. “I hear songs from that album at Home Depot,” Wilson deadpans. “It’s kind of weird.”
Weird, maybe, but not accidental. Wilson had been intentionally chasing something timeless while MCA was busy begging him for radio bait. “I was thinking about Simon & Garfunkel, Carole King, and The Beatles,” he says, which, at the time, struck label execs as “a formula for irrelevance.”
Not exactly. “Closing Time,” “Secret Smile,” and “Singing in My Sleep” would become inescapable anthems. The former landed them an American Music Award slot—where they found themselves backstage with Whitney Houston and Stevie Wonder. “They were doing harmonies, gospel-style. Then Stevie just walks up and listens,” Wilson says, eyes wide even now. “We were just standing there like… are we dead? Is this heaven?”
Wilson laughs off any idea that they were built for excess. “We’d been road dogs for years. Semisonic wasn’t gonna implode in a cloud of cocaine and leather pants.” Their version of excess was a punishing schedule of morning radio, endless interviews, and five hours of sleep. “It was like having a super-duper busy job, all the time.”
But make no mistake: Wilson is that guy. He is the “Closing Time” guy. He is the “Secret Smile” guy. And he’s also the guy who has quietly written monster hits for Adele, Taylor Swift, Halsey, and Dixie Chicks. “I don’t need to do ‘Closing Time’ again for the rest of my life,” he says. “Now I help other people have that same whirlwind. That’s incredible.”
Still, his past refuses to stay politely in the past. “Secret Smile,” he confesses, came to him in a dream. Like, literally. “I woke up with it in my head, ran to the piano, and played the chords. That’s the exact same instrument we used on the album.” When he tells this story, he casually mentions Paul McCartney did the same thing with “Yesterday,” just to keep your expectations appropriately humble.
As for those 60 songs he wrote for Feeling Strangely Fine, many were lovingly demoed, recorded, then discarded like slightly overripe fruit. “Sixteen were mixed. We used twelve,” he says, shrugging like it’s no big deal. “Some were just too mellow. We didn’t want to be that band.” But a few—like “One True Love”—found strange second lives. That one got rewritten with Carole King. “She wrote a whole new verse melody. It became really good.”
There’s no anniversary tour on the books yet, but Wilson says they’re still close. They played the album front to back in Minneapolis last year, and the itch is still there. “I’m waving the flag internally,” he grins. “It felt special.”
And don’t think he’s slowing down. There are new songs out with Vance Joy and Halsey. He hints at work with “a couple of big stars” and “a couple of brilliant new people.” When asked how he keeps doing it, he just shrugs again. “It’s amazing how many of these brilliant people are just good eggs.”
In the end, Dan Wilson is still chasing the perfect song—whether it comes in a dream, in the studio, or over breakfast with Carole King. But if you ever forget who he is, don’t worry. Just go to Home Depot.
Listen to the interview above and then check out the classics below!
