"Close Every Door" is a song from the musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat is an Andrew Lloyd Webber musical with lyrics by Tim Rice. The story is based on the "coat of many colors" story of Joseph from the Hebrew Bible's Book of Genesis. This was the first Lloyd Webber and Rice musical to be performed publicly...

by Tim Rice

Tim Rice

Sir Timothy Miles Bindon "Tim" Rice is an British lyricist and author.An Academy Award, Golden Globe Award, Tony Award and Grammy Award-winning lyricist, Rice is best known for his collaborations with Andrew Lloyd Webber, with whom he wrote Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Jesus...

 and Andrew Lloyd Webber

Andrew Lloyd Webber

Andrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber is an English composer of musical theatre.Lloyd Webber has achieved great popular success in musical theatre. Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End and on Broadway. He has composed 13 musicals, a song cycle, a set of...

. It is the penultimate song of the first act of the musical, sung by Joseph

Joseph (Hebrew Bible)

Joseph is an important character in the Hebrew bible, where he connects the story of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in Canaan to the subsequent story of the liberation of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt....

 while imprisoned for his supposed relationship with Potiphar

Potiphar

Potiphar or Potifar is a person in the Book of Genesis's account of Joseph. Potiphar is said to be the captain of the palace guard and is referred to without name in the Quran. Joseph, sold into slavery by his brothers, is taken to Egypt where he is sold to Potiphar as a household slave...

's wife.

In addition to voicing Joseph's despair at being jailed for a crime he did not commit, the song appears to contain oblique references to the Jewish Holocaust of World War II. Lyrics such as "Just give me a number/Instead of my name ... Destroy me completely/Then throw me away" reflect the well-documented Nazi practices of tattooing numbers on imprisoned Jews and working them to death (or gassing them) in concentration camps, then burning the bodies or burying them in mass graves. The lyrics have even been incorporated into a Seder

Passover Seder

The Passover Seder is a Jewish ritual feast that marks the beginning of the Jewish holiday of Passover. It is conducted on the evenings of the 14th day of Nisan in the Hebrew calendar, and on the 15th by traditionally observant Jews living outside Israel. This corresponds to late March or April in...

 service for educators in New South Wales

New South Wales

New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...

.

The song was released as a single by former BBC

BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

 children's TV anchor Phillip Schofield

Phillip Schofield

Phillip Bryan Schofield is an English broadcaster and television personality best known for presenting shows such as This Morning, Dancing on Ice, and various game shows including The Cube.-Early life and career:...

 in 1992, when he played the role of Joseph in the London Palladium

London Palladium

The London Palladium is a 2,286 seat West End theatre located off Oxford Street in the City of Westminster. From the roster of stars who have played there and many televised performances, it is arguably the most famous theatre in London and the United Kingdom, especially for musical variety...

 production, with "Any Dream Will Do

Any Dream Will Do (song)

"Any Dream Will Do" is a popular song written by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice for the 1968 musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat...

" as a B-side. The single achieved moderate success in the UK charts. He later sang Close Every Door at the Royal Variety Performance

Royal Variety Performance

The Royal Variety Performance is a gala evening held annually in the United Kingdom, which is attended by senior members of the British Royal Family, usually the reigning monarch. In more recent years Queen Elizabeth II and The Prince of Wales have alternately attended the performance...

.

A special cello version of the song was recorded by Julian Lloyd Webber

Julian Lloyd Webber

Julian Lloyd Webber is a British solo cellist who has been described as the "doyen of British cellists".-Early life:Julian Lloyd Webber is the second son of the composer William Lloyd Webber and his wife Jean Johnstone . He is the younger brother of the composer Andrew Lloyd Webber...

 for the 2001 album Lloyd Webber Plays Lloyd Webber

Lloyd Webber Plays Lloyd Webber

Lloyd Webber Plays Lloyd Webber is a 2001 album by British cellist Julian Lloyd Webber. For the album, the musician chose to interpret songs written by his older brother, the popular musical theatre composer Andrew Lloyd Webber. The album was recorded with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra...

.

The song was used as the exit song on Andrew Lloyd Webber

Andrew Lloyd Webber

Andrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber is an English composer of musical theatre.Lloyd Webber has achieved great popular success in musical theatre. Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End and on Broadway. He has composed 13 musicals, a song cycle, a set of...

's BBC One

BBC One

BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...

 reality show

Reality television

Reality television is a genre of television programming that presents purportedly unscripted dramatic or humorous situations, documents actual events, and usually features ordinary people instead of professional actors, sometimes in a contest or other situation where a prize is awarded...

 Any Dream Will Do

Any Dream Will Do (TV series)

Any Dream Will Do, often known as 'Joseph', was a 2007 talent show-themed television series produced by the BBC in the United Kingdom. It searched for a new, unknown lead to play Joseph in a West End revival of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.The show...

, sung by the "Joseph" leaving each show as he hands his dreamcoat back to the remaining contestants. On 9 June 2007 The Phantom of the Opera

The Phantom of the Opera (1986 musical)

The Phantom of the Opera is a musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber, based on the French novel Le Fantôme de l'Opéra by Gaston Leroux.The music was composed by Lloyd Webber, and most lyrics were written by Charles Hart, with additional lyrics by Richard Stilgoe. Alan Jay Lerner was an early collaborator,...

ensemble member and Raoul understudy Lee Mead

Lee Mead

Lee Stephen Mead is an English musical theatre actor, best known for winning the title role in the 2007 West End revival of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat through the BBC reality TV casting show Any Dream Will Do...

 won the role of Joseph.

On 10 June 2007, Mead recorded Any Dream Will Do

Any Dream Will Do (song)

"Any Dream Will Do" is a popular song written by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice for the 1968 musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat...

and was joined by third-placed Lewis Bradley

Lewis Bradley

Lewis Bradley is a British musical theatre actor, who came third place in the BBC reality talent show Any Dream Will Do. He was later chosen by Andrew Lloyd Webber to understudy the winning role of Joseph....

 and second-placed Keith Jack

Keith Jack

Keith Jack was the runner-up on the BBC reality talent show Any Dream Will Do, which offered the chance to be the next West End Joseph for the hit musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice...

 on "Close Every Door". The single was released to raise funds for the BBC

BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

's Children in Need

Children in Need

Children in Need is an annual British charity appeal organised by the BBC. Since 1980 it has raised over £500 million. The highlight of the Children in Need appeal is an annual telethon, held in November. A teddy bear named "Pudsey Bear" fronts the campaign, while Terry Wogan is a long...

 charity. On 17 June 2007 Mead's solo track entered the UK singles chart

UK Singles Chart

The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...

at No.18 on downloads only. A double A-sided CD single of both Mead's solo track and the ensemble recording was released on 18 June 2007. The single, credited to Mead, rose to No. 2 on 24 June 2007.