| "Time Is on My Side" | |
|---|---|
| Single byKai Winding | |
| A-side | "Baby Don't Come On with Me" |
| Released | October 3, 1963 (1963-10-03) |
| Genre | Rhythm and blues |
| Length | 3:05 |
| Label | Verve |
| Songwriter(s) | Norman Meadea.k.a.Jerry Ragovoy |
| Producer(s) | Creed Taylor |
"Time Is on My Side" is a song written byJerry Ragovoy (using thepseudonym "Norman Meade"). First recorded byjazz trombonistKai Winding and his orchestra in 1963, it was covered (with additional lyrics byJimmy Norman) by bothsoul singerIrma Thomas and then laterthe Rolling Stones in 1964.
The song was first recorded byKai Winding, a Danish-Americanjazz trombonist who was looking to take his career in a more mainstream direction.[1] Session arrangerGarry Sherman contacted friend and colleague Jerry Ragovoy,[citation needed] who wrote the title, melody and chorus. Thesession singersDee Dee Warwick,Dionne Warwick andCissy Houston sang "time is on my side – you'll come running back" in a gospel style over Winding's trombone melody.[1] Produced byCreed Taylor and engineered byPhil Ramone, the recording was released on theVerve Records label[citation needed] in October 1963. It received some radio coverage but did not chart.[1]
| "Time Is on My Side" | |
|---|---|
| Single byIrma Thomas | |
| A-side | "Anyone Who Knows What Love Is (Will Understand)" |
| Released | June 1964 |
| Genre | Rhythm and blues |
| Length | 2:50 |
| Label | Imperial |
| Songwriter(s) |
|
| Producer(s) | Eddie Ray |
On April 16, 1964,Irma Thomas recorded anR&B cover of the song as theB-side for the single "Anyone Who Knows What Love Is (Will Understand)", released onImperial Records.H. B. Barnum, the session director, suggested the song, andsession singerJimmy Norman wrote the lyrics during the recording.[2][3] Thomas monologues during the song that her ex-lover, not she, will suffer for his bad behavior.[1]
Produced by Eddie Ray, Thomas' version of "Time Is on My Side" provided the inspiration for the title of her 1996 greatest hits releaseTime Is on My Side.
| "Time Is on My Side" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single bythe Rolling Stones | ||||
| from the albumThe Rolling Stones No. 2 and12 x 5 | ||||
| B-side | "Congratulations" | |||
| Released | September 25, 1964 (1964-09-25) (US single version) | |||
| Recorded | June 24–26, 1964 (US single version) | |||
| Studio | Regent Sound, London | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 2:50 | |||
| Label | London | |||
| Songwriter(s) |
| |||
| Producer(s) | Andrew Loog Oldham | |||
| The Rolling Stones American singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
Thomas' song came toThe Rolling Stones' attention as they often bought U.S.-imported music fromSoho shops. According to Garth Cartwright of theFinancial Times, Thomas' "big chorus, blues flavour and callous dismissal of a lover" suited the band.[1] They first recorded the song in June 1964, within days of hearing it, at London's Regent Sound studios. They used a briefer organ-only intro and guitars in place of horns to create arock anthem song, with vocalistMick Jagger imitating Thomas'ad-libs.[1][4] This looser arrangement was released as a single in the US, on September 25, 1964,[4] and was included the following month on their US album12 X 5.
The single peaked at No. 6 on the USBillboard Pop Singles Chart to become the Rolling Stones' first top ten hit in the US.[5] Their previous single, "It's All Over Now", had peaked at No. 26.Cash Box described the song at the time as a "throbbing rhythm affair" with "an effective mid-deck recitation".[6]
The second arrangement (more tightly arranged and featuring guitar in the intro), recorded in Chicago's Chess studio on November 8, 1964,[7][1] was released in the UK on January 15, 1965,[8] onThe Rolling Stones No. 2. This later rendition is the one that receives the most airplay and appears on most "best of" compilations. Both versions incorporate elements of Irma Thomas's recording, including spoken-word interjections in the chorus, a monologue in the middle of the song, and distinctive lead guitar.[citation needed]
A live version of the song from the band's 1982 live album,Still Life, reached No. 62 in theUK Singles Chart.[9]
The song was part of theBritish Invasion, in which English covers of black American songs received more U.S. radio attention than the original. Thomas refused to sing her version after the Rolling Stones' recording for multiple decades, telling interviewers that the band had not acknowledged her despite givensupport act slots to other singers likeTina Turner. In 1992, she began performing it again following a TV show appearance in which the hostBonnie Raitt introduced her as the original singer.[1] On May 2, 2024, during the Rolling Stones' performance at theNew Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, Jagger and Thomas performed the song as a duet, which was the first time the Rolling Stones had performed the song live since 1998.[10]
The Rolling Stones version of "Time Is on My Side" plays a key plot element in the 1998 movieFallen starringDenzel Washington.
Credits adapted from Margotin and Guesdon[5]
| Chart (1964–65) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)[11] | 5 |
| Canada Top Singles (RPM)[12] | 3 |
| Finland (Soumen Virallinen)[13] | 20 |
| France | 4 |
| Germany (GfK)[14] | 28 |
| Netherlands (Single Top 100)[15] | 6 |
| New Zealand (Lever Hit Parade)[16] | 2 |
| Sweden (Kvällstoppen)[17] | 17 |
| Switzerland | 3 |
| USBillboard Hot 100[18] | 6 |
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"Time Is on My Side" has since been covered by artists such asIndexi,Michael Bolton,Cat Power,Hattie Littles,Blondie,Wilson Pickett,Brian Poole and the Tremeloes,the O'Jays,the Pretty Things,Lorraine Ellison,Paul Revere and the Raiders,Kim Wilson,Tracy Nelson,Patti Smith,[19]Andrés Calamaro (for his "El Salmón", a CD with 103 songs), andthe Moody Blues (in 1965 and on the 1985 re-release ofThe Magnificent Moodies).
Pop singer and pianistVanessa Carlton recorded a version for aTime Warnerdigital video recorders commercial, which also served as promotion for her second album,Harmonium (2004), and received heavy rotation on US television during early 2005.[20] The newspaperMetroland reviewed her take on 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?"[21]Harmonium was not re-issued to include the song.
In 2004, Jimmy Norman, who wrote the lyrics to "Time is on My Side" but whose name was eventually removed from credits,[22] recorded it for the first time as the last track on his albumLittle Pieces.
In 2007, English soul singerBeverley Knight recorded it, featuringRonnie Wood, for her fifth studio album,Music City Soul.
In 2012, American professional wrestlerBray Wyatt would often menacingly sing the chorus of the song during his promos.[23]
"Time Is on My Side" appears on the 2022 release ofLive at the Fillmore 1997 byTom Petty and the Heartbreakers.
