"Hourglass" was the first single released from Squeeze's seventh album, Babylon and On. Aided by a music video that received substantial airplay on MTV, "Hourglass" became the highest-charting hit the band ever had in the United States, peaking at #15 on the Billboard Hot 100, while reaching #16 in the UK Singles Chart.
An hourglass, also known as a sandglass, sand timer or sand clock, is a device for the measurement of time. It consists of two glass bulbs placed one above the other which are connected by a narrow tube. One of the bulbs is usually filled with fine sand which flows through the narrow tube into the bottom bulb at a given rate. Once all the sand has run to the bottom bulb, the device can be inverted in order to measure time again. The hourglass is named for the most frequently used sandglass, where the sands have a running time of one hour.
Factors affecting the amount of time that the hourglass measures include: the volume of sand, the size and angle of the bulbs, the width of the neck, and the type and quality of the sand. Alternatives to sand that have been used are powdered eggshell and powdered marble.
Hourglasses are still in use, but typically only ornamentally or when a relatively approximate measurement of time is needed, as in egg timers for cooking or board games. Hourglass collecting has become a niche but avid hobby for some, with elaborate or antique hourglasses commanding high prices.
