The artist admits though he says he's trying to break his habits, he always find himself back in them. In the beginning of the song, Gaye shouts out in a preacher's tone, saying "Jesus said time will heal all wounds/but we have to live right to get the time". As with many of the songs on Here My Dear, "Time to Get It Together" lacks a chorus, but concludes with a vamp in which Gaye mixes his optimism with a depressive tone. He chants in one instance that his days of drug abuse and, as he puts it, "foolin' 'round with midnight hos" were over, and in another harmoniously states "my life's a clock and it's winding down/from the day you're born 'till the day you're in the ground". Gaye used the song's intro as the opening number for his late 1970s/early 1980s concerts, including his performance at the 1980 Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland.
Personnel
All vocals, keyboards and synthesizers by Marvin Gaye
