Songs That Were Covers: Time Is On My Side

Welcome to the Songs That Were Covers series on Rock and Roll Flashback!  I'm Bill Price, and this series will feature the songs that were covers of the original version. In many instances the original recording did not always become a hit.  In some cases it would take at least one or more cover versions in order for the song to become a top hit.  However, sometimes the subsequent covers also failed to achieve hit status.  In this episode I will feature the song “Time Is On My Side”.

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Transcript

Welcome to Songs That Were Covers on Rock and Roll Flashback. This series will
feature the songs that were covers of the original version. In many instances the original recording did not always become a hit. In some cases it would take at least one or more cover versions in order for the song to become a top hit. However, sometimes the subsequent covers also failed to achieve hit status. In this episode I will feature the song “Time Is on My Side”.

Mention the song title and some of you might remember the well-known single released by The Rolling Stones. Unless you noted who was credited as the songwriter, one might assume that the Stones wrote it. However, in addition to not writing the song, The Rolling Stones’ recording of “Time Is on My Side” was not even the original version. 

The song has an interesting history. Jerry Ragovoy, who used the name Norman Meade, is credited as the song’s writer. The first recording of “Time Is on My Side” was by the Danish-American jazz trombonist Kai Winding. Kai was born on May 18th, 1922 in Aarhus, Denmark. After a few years, the Winding family eventually relocated to New York City. In 1940, Kia graduated from high school and started his career as a professional trombonist in the Shorty Allen band. He also played with other bands until he joined the US Coast Guard during World War II. After the war he performed with the Benny Goodman Orchestra and then with Stan Kenton.
Around 1954, Kai was interested in taking his music career more toward the mainstream.

Producer Ozzie Cadena urged Winding to begin an association and collaboration with trombonist J J Johnson, which led to recording trombone duets for Savoy Records, and later on the Columbia label in the early 1960s. Garry Sherman, who was a recording session arranger, contacted the song’s writer Jerry Ragovoy. He also enlisted session singers Dee Dee Warwick, Dionne Warwick and Cissy Houston to provide the vocals. The trio sang, "Time is on my side – you'll come running back" in a gospel style over Winding's trombone melody. The first version of “Time Is on My Side” was released on the Verve Records label in October 1963. Even though it received some radio air play, the recording failed to enter the record chart. 

Also in 1963, Kai’s recording of "More", which was the theme from the movie Mondo Cane, reached number 8 in the Billboard Hot 100. In the following years, Kai released several recordings up until 1979. However, “More” remained his biggest hit. In 1983, Kai Winding passed away, due to a reoccurring brain disorder.

Here is Kai’s original version of “Time Is on My Side”.

The first cover of “Time Is on My Side” was an R & B version recorded by Irma Thomas on April 16th 1964. Irma was born on February 18,1941 in Ponchatoula, Louisiana. As a teenager she sang in a Baptist church choir. Later bandleader Tommy Ridgley was instrumental in helping Irma get a record deal with a local record label. Her first single, released on the Ron label in 1959, was “ Don’t Mess with My Man”, which managed to reach number 22 on the Billboard R & B chart. Later she began recording on the Minit label, and also worked on songs with producer and songwriter Allen Toussant, which included “Ruler of My Heart” and “It’s Raining”. In 1963 Imperial Records acquired the Minit label. Several successful singles were released which included “Wish Someone Would Care”, which was her biggest hit nationally and rose to number 17 on the US Pop chart. 

The next release "Anyone Who Knows What Love Is –Will Understand ", released on the Imperial Records label was co-written by Randy Newman and future country star Jeannie Seely and only managed to reach number 52 on the Pop chart. For the B-side, session director H. B. Barnum made the suggestion of using “Time Is on My Side”. Interestingly, session singer Jimmy Norman actually wrote additional lyrics for the song during the recording. Irma’s initial four releases on the Imperial label charted on Billboard’s pop chart. However, subsequent recordings were not as successful as the previous releases. Unlike others artists such as Aretha Franklin, Gladys Knight and Dionne Warwick, she was not able to achieve mainstream success.

From 1967 to 1968, she did achieve some success while recording at Chess studios in Chicago, Illinois. A cover of Otis Redding’s “Good to Me” did make it on to the R&B chart. Later she moved to California where she recorded and released several records on various small labels. Then in the early 1980s, she returned to Louisiana and opened the Lion’s Den Club. In the ensuing years she took a break from recording, but eventually she signed with Rounder Records. In 1991 she earned a Grammy Award nomination for “Live! Simply the Best”. Later several traditional gospel albums and secular recordings were released. The 1998 album “Sing It!” was also nominated for a Grammy in 1999.

Irma Thomas’s discography runs from 1959 to 2013 and includes 36 singles and 21
album releases. Irma often appeared as a headliner at her own club, however it was closed when Hurricane Katrina hit, causing her to relocate to Gonzales, Louisiana. Then in April 2008, she returned to New Orleans. In 2007 she was inducted into the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame and also won the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Blues Album titled “After the Rain”. In August 2009, Rounder Records released a compilation album titled “The Soul Queen of New
Orleans: 50th Anniversary Celebration”, which commemorated Irma’s 50 years as a recording artist. In 2011, Irma appeared twice at the Byron Bay Bluesfest held in Australia. Later in April she also performed twice at the Crossroads stage following Stax Record artist Mavis Staples and on the next day was the headliner performing before Jethro Tull. In 2013 Irma was nominated and won the Blues Music Award in the Soul Blues Female category. The following year, she won the same award. In 2018 she received the Lifetime Achievement Award for her performance at the Americana Music Honors Awards. As of 2021 Irma remained active, making annual appearances at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. However, subsequent performances at the festival were cancelled due to the Covid pandemic.

Here is Irma Thomas’ cover version of "Time Is On My Side".

The most successful cover of "Time Is On My Side" belongs to The Rolling Stones.
Since they often purchased imported records from London’s SOHO shops, the  Stones were influenced by US R&B artists and their recordings. Within a few days after hearing Irma’s recording, the Rolling Stones recorded the song at Regent Sound Studios in June. Interestingly, there were actually two versions recorded by the Stones. In the first release, an organ intro was used. The single was released in the US on September 25th, 1964. The next month, the US album “12 x 5” which contained the single, was released. "Time Is On My Side” became the Rolling Stones’ first US release to reach the top ten. In the second version, the organ intro was omitted; instead it featured a guitar intro. Interestingly, the second version of the song was recorded at the Chess Studio in Chicago, Illinois on November 8th, 1964. The single was released in the UK on January 15, 1965. The second version is one that received the most radio airplay, and peaked on the US Billboard Pop Singles Chart at number 6. Since the Rolling Stones were big fans of Chess studio’s recording artists, they decided to record there during their first US tour in June 1964. While at Chess, the Stones had the opportunity to meet some of the artists that had influenced them, including Muddy Waters. Just a few days earlier, The Rolling Stones appeared at the Swing Auditorium in San Bernardino, California in their first US concert. I was one of the 5,000 fans who attended the concert on June 6th, 1964. After the Stones concert, the Swing Auditorium became a popular venue for rock groups up until the early 1980s. Be sure to check out the Swing Auditorium podcast for the history of the venue.

For many years, Irma Thomas refused to sing “Time Is On My Side” apparently because she felt the Rolling Stones hadn’t offered her fitting respect for her version of the song. But on May second, 2024, Thomas performed with the Rolling Stones at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. Irma and Mick Jagger sang a duet of "Time Is On My Side". The performance was historic in that it was the first time that Thomas and the Stones performed together.

We’ll conclude this episode with The Rolling Stones’ original version that featured the organ opening.

This has been a look at the history behind the song “Time Is on My Side” on Songs That Were Covers.