| "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" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by The Rolling Stones | ||||
| from the album 12 X 5 and The Rolling Stones No. 2 | ||||
| B-side | "Congratulations" (Jagger/Richards) | |||
| Released | September 26, 1964 (US) | |||
| Format | 7" | |||
| Recorded | June 24, 1964 | |||
| Genre | Rock, rhythm and blues | |||
| Length | 2:52 (organ intro) 2:58 (guitar intro) |
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| Label | London 45-LON9708 (US-only) | |||
| Writer(s) | Norman Meade, Jimmy Norman | |||
| Producer | Andrew Loog Oldham | |||
| The Rolling Stones singles chronology | ||||
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| "Time Is on My Side" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 | |||
| Producer | The Glimmer Twins | |||
| The Rolling Stones singles chronology | ||||
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"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 (with additional lyrics by Jimmy Norman) by both soul singer Irma Thomas and The Rolling Stones in 1964.
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Winding session arranger Garry Sherman (The Drifters, Jay & the Americans, Dusty Springfield) contacted friend and colleague Ragovoy after Kai had expressed an interest in going in a more commercial and rhythmic direction (in gratitude for the gig Ragovoy granted Sherman 50% of the publishing rights, which he kept until an expensive divorce in 1983). But Ragovoy had thought of no lyrics for the song other than "time is on my side". Produced by Creed Taylor and engineered by Phil Ramone, and including background vocals by Cissy Houston, Dionne Warwick and Dee Dee Warwick, the recording 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, which at that time consisted only of the words "Time is on my side" and "You'll come runnin' back."[1] He managed to finish moments before Thomas entered the studio to record it. Produced by Eddie Ray, 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.
The Rolling Stones recorded two versions of the song in 1964. The first version (a looser arrangement featuring a briefer, organ-only intro) was released in the U.S. in 1964, as a single from their album 12 X 5. The second version (recorded November 8, 1964, more tightly arranged and featuring guitar in the intro) was released in the UK on January 15, 1965 on The Rolling Stones No. 2. This is the version that receives 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.[2]
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 Rolling Stones' first top ten hit in the U.S. (their previous single, "It's All Over Now", had only peaked at number 26). 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.
A live version of the song from the band's 1982 live album, "Still Life", reached number sixty-two on the UK singles chart.
"Time Is on My Side" has since been covered by artists such as Indexi, 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[3], Andrés Calamaro (for his "El Salmón", a CD with 103 songs), The Moody Blues (in 1965 and on the 1985 rerelease of The Magnificent Moodies), and Four Plus One (with Keith West).
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.[4] 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?"[5] 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,[1] 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.
In the 1998 supernatural thriller Fallen, starring Denzel Washington, the Stones version (with the guitar intro) is used often in the movie to depict when a character's body has been infiltrated by the demon/fallen angel named Azazel. Various characters throughout the film sing the song (including actors James Gandolfini and John Goodman), and the song is featured in the opening scenes and well as the final one. This is keeping with the Stones' "Satanic Majesties" image.
It is the title for a season three episode of Supernatural.
The Irma Thomas version is played at the end of the Sopranos season two premiere episode, "Guy Walks Into a Psychiatrist's Office...".
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