Time Is on My Side

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“Time Is on My Side”
45 rpm single B-side to "Baby Don't Come On With Me" by Kai Winding
Released October 3, 1963 (U.S.)
Label Verve
VK 10307
Writer Norman Meade
Producer Creed Taylor
“Time Is on My Side”
“Time Is on My Side” cover
Single by The Rolling Stones
B-side Congratulations (Jagger/Richards)
Released September 26, 1964
Format 7"
Recorded June 24, 1964
Genre Rock
Length 2:52 (organ intro)
2:58 (guitar intro)
Label London 45-LON9708 (US-only)
Writer(s) Norman Meade
Producer Andrew Loog Oldham
The Rolling Stones singles chronology
"Tell Me"
(1964)		 "Time Is on My Side"
(1964)		 "Little Red Rooster"
(1964)
“Time Is on My Side”
“Time Is on My Side” cover
Single by The Rolling Stones
from the album Still Life (American Concert 1981)
Released September 13, 1982
Format 7"
Recorded 1981
Genre Rock
Length 3:36
Label Rolling Stones/Virgin
Producer The Glimmer Twins
The Rolling Stones singles chronology
"Going to a Go-Go"
(1982)		 "Time Is on My Side"
(1982)		 "Undercover of the Night"
(1983)

"Time Is on My Side" is a song written by Jerry Ragovoy (under the pseudonym of Norman Meade). First recorded by jazz trombonist Kai Winding and his Orchestra in 1963, it was covered by both soul singer Irma Thomas and The Rolling Stones in 1964.

Contents

[edit] History

Ragovoy originally wrote the song after Winding had expressed an interest in going in a more commercial and rhythmic direction, but had thought of no lyrics for the song other than "time is on my side". Produced by Creed Taylor and engineered by Phil Ramone, the song contained background vocals by The Enchanters (Cissy Houston, Dionne Warwick and Dee Dee Warwick) and was released on the Verve Records label in October 1963.

In early 1964 Irma Thomas recorded a gospel-influenced cover of the song as the B-side for her single "Anyone Who Knows What Love Is (Will Understand)", released on Imperial Records. Songwriter Jimmy Norman was enlisted by the arranger H. B. Barnum to create some more lyrics for the song, and he managed to finish moments before Thomas entered the studio to record it. Produced by Allen Toussaint, Thomas' version of "Time Is on My Side" provided the inspiration for the title of her 1996 greatest hits release Time Is on My Side.

[edit] Rolling Stones version

The Rolling Stones recorded two versions of "Time Is on My Side" in 1964. The first with the organ intro was released in the U.S. in 1964 on single and on the 12 X 5 album. The superior rerecording with the guitar intro was released in the UK on January 15, 1965 on the The Rolling Stones No. 2 album. This is the version that appears on all the "best of" compilations.

The U.S. version was released on September 26, 1964 as a single (a month after Thomas' cover) and peaked at number six on the U.S. Billboard Pop Singles Chart to become the Stones' first top ten hit in the U.S. (their previous single, "Tell Me", had peaked at number 24). When they performed "Time Is on My Side" during their first guest spot on The Ed Sullivan Show, Sullivan was shocked by their appearance and declared that they would never be invited onto the show again, but he subsequently invited them back several times.

The Stones version (with the guitar intro) is sung repeatedly by the demon Azazel in the 1998 Denzel Washington film Fallen. This is keeping with the Stones' "Satanic Majesties" image.

A live version of the song from the band's 1982 live album, "Still Life", reached number sixty-two on the UK singles chart.

[edit] Other covers

"Time Is on My Side" has since been covered by artists such as Michael Bolton, Cat Power, Hattie Littles, Wilson Pickett, Brian Poole and the Tremeloes, The Pretty Things, Paul Revere and the Raiders, Kim Wilson, Tracy Nelson, Patti Smith[1], Andrés Calamaro (for his "El Salmón", a CD with 103 songs), and The Moody Blues (The Magnificent Moodies).

Pop singer and pianist Vanessa Carlton recorded a version of the song for a Time Warner digital video recorders commercial, which also served as promotion for her second album, Harmonium (2004), and received heavy rotation on U.S. television during early 2005.[2] The newspaper Metroland reviewed her rendition of the song negatively, and wrote, "we tend to think time is most definitely not on her side — how else to explain the near-universal apathy to the release of her second album, Harmonium?"[3] Harmonium was not re-issued to include the song.

In 2004, Jimmy Norman, who wrote the lyrics to "Time is on My Side," recorded it for the first time as the last track on his album "Little Pieces."

In 2007, British soul singer Beverley Knight recorded a version of the song featuring Ronnie Wood for her fifth studio album, Music City Soul.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Patti Smith's b-side
  2. ^ JS Online: Time Warner's DVR is on your side!
  3. ^ Metroland Online - Noteworthy

[edit] References

[edit] External links

v • d • e
The Rolling Stones singles
Decca/London singles
Rolling Stones/ Atlantic
singles
Rolling Stones/Virgin
singles

1978: Miss You, Beast of Burden, Respectable, Shattered • 1980: Emotional Rescue, She's So Cold •
1981: Start Me Up, Waiting on a Friend • 1982: Hang Fire, Going to a Go-Go (live), Time Is on My Side (live) •
1983: Undercover of the Night • 1984: She Was Hot • 1986: Harlem Shuffle, One Hit (to the Body) •
1989: Mixed Emotions, Rock and a Hard Place • 1990: Almost Hear You Sigh, Terrifying • 1991: Highwire, Ruby Tuesday (live) •
Virgin singles
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