Timeless

audio

Kai Winding / Irma Thomas / The Rolling Stones / Wilson Pickett

“Time Is On My Side”was written early sixties by Jerry Ragovoy. In those years there were two music rights associations for artists in America. Jerry was already affiliated with ASCAP under his own name and was connected with another name, pseudonym Norman Meade, to BMI. This method was not unusual in the starting years of modern music. 1*

Kai Winding 1963

Trumpet player Kai Winding was the first artist recording this song. The first version is almost without lyrics. The only two sentences are ‘Time is on my side’ en ‘You’ll come runnin’, sung by a background choir. Not just a group of singers as Cissy Houston, Dionne Warwick and Dee Dee Warwick were the members.

Irma Thomas 1964

Lyricist Jimmy Norman was asked by arranger H.B. Barnum to wrote accompanying lyrics, so Irma Thomas could record the song as a B-side (for her single ‘Anyone Who Knows What Love Is (Will Understand)’.
Jimmy Norman is a man with a special lifecycle in music. He worked with Jimi Hendrix and Bob Marley in their early carreers.

The Rolling Stones 1964

The Stones started with a lot of cover versions on their repertoire. As with this song. Probably attended by Guy Stevens 2*, a man who was a DJ and music connoisseur operating in London, they recorded ‘Time is on my side’, it became their first top 10 hit in the USA. The name of Jimmy Norman disappeared from the credits on the The Rolling Stones version as a result from a ‘clerical error’ with the registration by record company Decca…

There are many versions of this great song and it is played a lot live. A true ‘Evergreen’ so to speak. I pick one for example.

Wilson Pickett 1967

Wilson’s memorable version is a beautiful, soulful song that is carried by the powerful voice of mister Pickett and the guitarsolo from Chips Moman.

1* Record Collector Magazine #465
2* Record Collector Magazine #460

Most information in this article comes from Wikipedia / secondhandsongs.com / Record Collector Magazine / information on the records and singles I own and via discogs.com