E-Types – "Put the Clock Back on the Wall" (1967)

I’ve been away where the night meets the morning

Flashes of gray bring the day and it’s warning me

Hey! Put the clock back on the wall

Do you find that changing your clocks to keep up with Daylight Saving Time is a major pain in the ass?  Or is it just a minor pain in the ass?  (Yes, I said “Daylight Saving Time” – “Daylight Savings Time” is NOT the correct name.)

Your answer to that question may depend on whether you have mostly old-fashioned analog clocks with hands, or digital clocks.  It’s easy to change the time on a clock with hands.

The digital clock in the car I drive now adjusts automatically when DST begins and when it ends.  That wasn’t the case in my previous car – which is one reason why it became my previous car.

My mother has two digital clocks in her assisted-living apartment.  One changes automatically, one doesn’t – so the clocks show different times from the time she wakes up on the second Sunday of March (and the first Sunday of November) until I arrive for Sunday lunch and make the required adjustment.  You wouldn’t believe the confusion and angst that causes her.

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There’s a lot not to like about Daylight Saving Time.  

A Pennsylvania state legislator recently wrote a memo to his colleagues that makes the case against DST:

Daylight Saving Time (DST), launched during World War I as an attempt to save energy, has outlived its usefulness.

Energy savings from changing clocks has historically been negligible at best.  Due to the proliferation of air conditioning, energy usage during DST may actually increase.  The phase-out of incandescent bulbs further minimizes energy differentials. . . .

In fact, there are more negative side effects from changing clocks than benefits.  Studies have shown that automobile accidents, workplace injuries, heart attacks, strokes, cluster headaches, miscarriages, depression, and suicides all increase in the weeks following clock changes.  

These government-mandated interruptions of natural biological rhythms and sleep cycles can wreak havoc on job performance, academic results, and overall physical/mental health.  Clock changes require farmers to make needless adjustments, as crops and animals live by the sunlight.

A 2016 study of 300 US metropolitan areas based on evidence from peer-reviewed academic journals found that $434 million in annual economic losses are realized in those metro areas due to DST.  A 2008 report by the Independent Institute estimated that the annual US “opportunity cost” of changing clocks could be as high as $1.7 billion.

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The federal Uniform Time Act of 1966 imposed DST on the country, but allowed individual states and territories to opt out if they wished.  Two states – Arizona and Hawaii – don’t observe DST, and neither do Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, and American Samoa.  

Bills currently under consideration in Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, and other states would get rid of DST and keep standard time in effect all year round.  

The main opponents of such legislation seem to be golfers and golf-related businesses.  After all, more people play golf after work than get up to play before work.  So golfers are opposed to taking an hour of sunlight from the end of the day and adding it to the beginning of the day instead.

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Eliminating DST is one way to avoid those pesky twice-a-year clock changes.  But there’s another way to accomplish that goal: keep DST in effect for the entire year.

Opting out of DST and staying on standard time has the effect of making sunrise an hour earlier from March until November.  

Opting out of standard time in favor of year-round DST makes sunset an hour later from November until March.

The problem with that latter solution is that the federal law that created DST only allows states to opt out of observing it – not opt out of observing standard time.

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In 2018, about 60 percent of voters in California said “yes” to year-round DST – pending the required amendment of federal law.

The Florida legislature passed a similar bill last year, and Florida’s two United States Senators have introduced a bill that would allow states to choose year-round DST. 

President Trump is on board with that proposal.  He recently tweeted that “Making Daylight Saving Time permanent is O.K. with me!”

Of course, his support means that the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives will never pass pro-DST legislation.  (Mark my words: the repeal of DST will be a major issue in the 2020 campaign!)

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Even if legislation allowing states to observe DST all year round fails to become law, the six New England states may have come up with a loophole.  

Some New Englanders want to move their states from the Eastern time zone to the Atlantic time zone – which is one hour ahead – and then opt out of DST.

That would have the same effect as staying in the Eastern time zone and observing DST all year round.  But it wouldn’t necessitate a change in federal law.

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In 2011, Russia decided to adopt year-round DST.  

Some of you are already thinking to yourselves, “No wonder Trump likes permanent DST!”

But you are jumping to the wrong conclusion.  In 2014, Russia did an abrupt about face and went back to 365-day-a-year standard time.  In other words, President Trump’s position on DST is in direct opposition to the Russkies.

So there!

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The E-Types were formed in Salinas, California in 1965.  I’m guessing that they named themselves after the iconic Jaguar E-Type sports car (known as the Jaguar XK-E in the United States) – but that’s just a guess.

Jaguar E-Type

The E-Types were very popular in northern California, where they appeared on tour with the Jefferson Airplane and Paul Revere and the Raiders (among others), but they never broke out nationally.

“Put the Clock Back on the Wall,” their third single, was written by Alan Gordon and Gary Bonner, who also penned “Happy Together” for the Turtles and “Celebrate” for Three Dog Night.

Click here to listen to “Put the Clock Back on the Wall.”

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