Friday on My Mind: Songs About Time

It’s time again for Friday on My Mind, our weekly blog post where we look at videos centered around one common theme. This is a collaborative effort between KEXP and King 5 News. With Hanukkah and Christmas behind us, it’s time to focus on the New Year which is why our theme for this week is time.

With the New Year fast approaching, now becomes a chance for all of us to reflect on the past year, and to consider the possibilities of the year ahead of us. We take this opportunity to take stock of our lives, make resolutions, and overall, think about time. The memories of time that has passed and what time holds for us in the future. What exactly is time? It's a question that physicists and others have attempted to tackle forever and a day, but no one has been able to really fully give a definitive answer. We do know that it is a measure of the duration of experiences and events. Here are a few classic songs about time that can serve as a soundtrack for you as you make your list of resolutions for 2013...

The Rolling Stones - Time Is On My Side

Although the song “Time is On My Side” is recognized and associated with The Rolling Stones, the song was actually originally written by Norman Meade in 1963. The first recording of the song was an instrumental jazz version recorded by the trombonist Kai Winding. Two more additional recordings with lyrics were made before the Stones version by Jimmy Norman and Irma Thomas. In 1964, The Rolling Stones included a version of the song on their album, The Rolling Stones No. 2.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Hvavz3ESus

Jim Croce - Time In a Bottle

“Time in a Bottle” became Jim Croce’s biggest hit off of his third album from 1972, You Don’t Mess Around With Jim. At the age of 30, right as Croce’s career began to take off, he along with four other people including one of his band mates, was killed instantly in a plane crash outside of Los Angeles. Fans are still left to wonder today, what he could have accomplished with his career if he was not taken from us so soon. Here is home video footage of Jim Croce with his family.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTfwbtVVtAY

The Chambers Brothers - Time Has Come Today

The core members of the Chambers Brothers were indeed four brothers, originally from Mississippi. In 1968, “Time Has Come” spent five weeks on the Billboard charts. In a CNN article published earlier this week, the story of Lester Chambers was told and the struggle for the band members to ever receive any royalties for their highly popular and heavily used song. Chambers is currently working with the help of Reddit’s founder, Alexis Ohanian, to fund a new album of material, his first in many decades, through Kickstarter. The Ramones as well as Joan Jett have covered the song. This video footage of the song being performed by the band was recorded in 1970.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsBwBct0_5U

Honorable Mentions:

Bill Haley and the Comets - Rock Around the Clock

Bill Haley and the Comets formed in 1952 and actively performed until Haley's passing in 1980. "Rock Around the Clock" was released in 1954 and was considered to be one of the first songs to usher in Rock and Roll into mainstream consciousness.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5fsqYctXgM

The Cast of the Rocky Horror Picture Show - Time Warp

From the 1973 musical Rocky Horror Picture Show. Written by Richard O'Brien who starred in the film version as Riff Raff. This video is from the 1975 film adaptation starring Tim Curry.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rtkdo7bOmJc