Close Every Door

"Close Every Door" is a song from the musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat by Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber. It is the penultimate song of the first act of the musical, sung by Joseph while imprisoned for his supposed relationship with Potiphar's wife. Along with "Any Dream Will Do", it is one of the most popular songs from the musical.

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 service for educators in New South Wales.

Australian singer Jon English released a version a single in Australia in 1973.

The song was released as a single by former BBC children's TV anchor Phillip Schofield in 1992, when he played the role of Joseph in the London Palladium production, with "Any Dream Will Do" as a B-side. The single peaked 27 in the UK charts. He later sang Close Every Door at the Royal Variety Performance.

A special cello version of the song was recorded by Julian Lloyd Webber for the 2001 album Lloyd Webber Plays Lloyd Webber.

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