The song was first recorded by Kai Winding, a Danish-American jazz trombonist who was looking to take his career in a more mainstream direction.[1] Session arranger Garry Sherman contacted friend and colleague Jerry Ragovoy,[citation needed] who wrote the title, melody and chorus. The session singersDee Dee Warwick, Dionne Warwick and Cissy Houston sang "time is on my side – you'll come running back" in a gospel style over Winding's trombone melody.[1] Produced by Creed Taylor and engineered by Phil Ramone, the recording was released on the Verve Records label[citation needed] in October 1963. It received some radio coverage but did not chart.[1]
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.
Thomas' song came to The Rolling Stones' attention as they often bought U.S.-imported music from Soho shops. According to Garth Cartwright of the Financial 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 a rock anthem song, with vocalist Mick 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 album 12 X 5.
The single peaked at No. 6 on the US Billboard 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] on The 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]
The song was part of the British 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 given support act slots to other singers like Tina Turner. In 1992, she began performing it again following a TV show appearance in which the host Bonnie Raitt introduced her as the original singer.[1] On May 2, 2024, during the Rolling Stones' performance at the New 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]
Pop singer and pianist Vanessa Carlton recorded a version for a Time 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 newspaper Metroland 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 album Little Pieces.
^Sargent, William (2021). Superstar in a Masquerade. Page Publishing. ISBN978-1-64628-896-0.
^ abElliott, Martin (2012). The Rolling Stones Complete Recording Sessions 1962–2012 (50th anniversary ed.). London: Cherry Red Books. p. 42. ISBN978-1-901447-77-4.
^Elliott, Martin (2012). The Rolling Stones Complete Recording Sessions 1962–2012 (50th anniversary ed.). London: Cherry Red Books. p. 38. ISBN978-1-901447-77-4.
^Hallberg, Eric (1993). Eric Hallberg presenterar Kvällstoppen i P 3: Sveriges radios topplista över veckans 20 mest sålda skivor 10. 7. 1962 - 19. 8. 1975. Drift Musik. p. 243. ISBN9163021404.
