Time Is on My Side

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"Time Is on My Side"

Single by Kai Winding
Released	October 3, 1963 (U.S.)
Format	45 rpm
Genre	Soul
Label	Verve VK 10307
Producer(s)	Creed Taylor

"Time Is on My Side"

Single by The Rolling Stones
from the album 12 X 5
Released	1964
Format	7"
Recorded	1964
Genre	Rock
Length	3:00
Label	Decca
Producer(s)	Andrew Loog Oldham
Chart positions
#6 (U.S.) #62 (1982) (U.K.)
The Rolling Stones singles chronology
"Tell Me" (1964)	"Time Is on My Side" (1964)	"Little Red Roaster" (1964)

"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 rock band The Rolling Stones in 1964.

1 History
2 Notes
3 References
4 External links

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 words 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 Touissant, 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 a cover of the song for their second U.S. album 12 X 5, and a slightly different version (featuring a guitar track instead of an organ) was included on their second UK album The Rolling Stones No. 2 (1965). The Andrew Loog Oldham-produced U.S. version was released on September 26, 1964 (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 last single, "Tell Me", had gone no higher than the top forty). 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 promised that they would never be invited onto the show again, but he subsequently invited them back several times. The Stones version is sung repeatedly by the demon Azazel in the 1998 Denzel Washington film Fallen. A live version of the song from the 1982's live album, Still Life, reached number 62 in the British chart.

"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 and Andres Calamaro (for his "El Salmón", a CD with 103 songs). 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.^[1] 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?"^[2] Harmonium was not re-issued to include the song. In 2007, British soul singer Beverley Knight recorded a version of the song featuring Ronnie Wood for her fifth studio album, Music City Soul.