B-side "I'll Kiss You" Format 12"
7" Label Epic | Released January 27, 1984 Length 4:01 | |
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Recorded June 1983 at The Record Plant (New York City, New York) | ||
"Time After Time" is a song by American singer-songwriter Cyndi Lauper. It was recorded by Lauper for her debut studio album, She's So Unusual (1983), with Rob Hyman (co-writer and founding member of the rock band The Hooters) contributing backing vocals. The track was produced by Rick Chertoff and released as a single on January 27, 1984. It was the second single to be released from the album and became Lauper's first #1 hit in the U.S. The song was written in the album's final stages, after "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun", "She Bop" and "All Through the Night" had been written. The writing began with the title, which Lauper had seen in TV Guide magazine, referring to the 1979 science fiction film Time After Time.
Contents
- Background and recording
- Composition and lyrics
- Critical reception
- Accolades
- Awards and nominations
- Chart performance
- Music video
- Usage in media
- Personnel
- Cover versions
- INOJ version
- References
"Time After Time" is composed of simple keyboard-synth chords, bright, jangly guitars, clock-ticking percussion, and elastic bassline, and lyrically is a love song of devotion. Most music critics gave the song positive reviews, with most commending the song for being a solid and memorable love song, as well as considering the track Lauper's best song. The song has been selected as one of the Best Love Songs of All Time by many media outlets, including Rolling Stone, Nerve, MTV and many others. "Time After Time" was also nominated for a Grammy Award for Song of the Year at the 1985 edition. The song was a success on the charts, becoming her first number-one single on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart on June 9, 1984, and remaining there for two weeks. Worldwide, the song is her most commercially successful single, after "Girls Just Want to Have Fun", and reached number three on the UK Singles Chart and number six on the ARIA Singles Chart.
The song is also known for its numerous covers by a wide range of artists, including Miles Davis, who recorded an instrumental version for his 1985 album You're Under Arrest, and Eva Cassidy, whose cover of the song appears on her posthumous album of the same name. R&B singer Lil Mo also covered the song for her 2001 debut album Based on a True Story. An acoustic version was sung by Lauper with Sarah McLachlan on her 2005 album The Body Acoustic. Lauper has performed the song live with Patti LaBelle twice in 1985 and 2004 and with Sarah McLachlan at the American Music Awards of 2005, as well as with rapper Lil' Kim in 2009.
Background and recording
While writing for her debut studio album, in the spring of 1983, Cyndi Lauper was introduced to American musician Rob Hyman, who was recommended by Rick Chertoff, the album's producer. Lauper had already recorded the majority of the album, including the songs "Girls Just Want to Have Fun", "She Bop" and "All Through the Night", but Chertoff insisted that she and Hyman needed to record just "one more song". Therefore, she and Hyman sat at a piano and started working on "Time After Time". The inspiration for the song came after both songwriters were going through similar things with their relationships; he was coming out of a long and hard relationship, while she was having difficulties with her boyfriend, David Wolff. One of the first lines Rob wrote was "suitcase of memories", which according to Lauper, "struck her", claiming it was a "wonderful line", while other lines came from Lauper's life. The song's title was inspired after Lauper started writing for the song and needed a fake title as a placeholder for the time being. Thus, Lauper was looking in the TV Guide and saw a lot of movie titles, with the 1979 science fiction movie Time After Time being chosen. Although trying to remove the title later, Lauper claimed she couldn't take it out without the song falling apart.
Initially, Epic Records wanted "Time After Time" as the album's lead-single. However, Lauper claimed that releasing a ballad first defines an artist in a certain way, noting that she could have been known as a balladeer and that it could have killed her career. Therefore, her manager Dave Wolf convinced that "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" could be an anthem, and ultimately her label agreed and released it as the lead-single. "Time After Time" eventually became the album's second single, being released on January 27, 1984.
Composition and lyrics
Written by Cyndi Lauper and Rob Hyman and produced by Rick Chertoff, "Time After Time" is built over simple keyboard-synth chords, bright, jangly guitars, effects loop, pitch shift, clock ticking percussion, and elastic bassline. Lyrically, the track is a love song of devotion. Pam Avoledo of Blogcritics speculates that, "In 'Time After Time,' Lauper believes she is a difficult person, unworthy of love. She runs away and shuts people out. However, her devoted boyfriend who loves her unconditionally is willing to help her through anything. The relationship is given depth. The couple’s intimacy and history is apparent. They've been together for a long time. They love and have seen each other through every tough part of their life."
"Time After Time" is written in the key of C major with a tempo of 130 beats per minute in common time. Lauper's vocals span from G3 to C5 in the song.
Critical reception
The song received critical acclaim from most music critics. Sal Cinquemani of Slant Magazine praised the track, calling it "the album's finest moment, if not Lauper's greatest moment period." Susan Glen of PopMatters also called it a standout track, naming it "gorgeous", while Bryan Lee Madden of Sputnikmusic simply called it "a masterpiece" and "the best and most significant song she ever wrote or recorded." Brenon Veevers of Renowned for Sound labeled it "sentimental" and "gorgeous". Pam Avoledo of Blogcritics described the song as "a sure-fire classic," while Scott Floman, music critic for Goldmine magazine, described the song as "gorgeously heartfelt" and "one of the decade’s finest ballads". Chris Gerard of Metro Weekly summarized the song as a "beautiful and bittersweet ballad."
Accolades
"Time After Time" has entered many lists of "Best Love Songs of All Time", "Best Ballads from the 80's" and others. Steve Peake of About.com listed the song at number 6 on her "Top Songs of the '80s", writing that the song "stands tall among the music of the entire rock era as one of its all-time great timeless ballads," noting that "it probably still functions impeccably as a properly emotionally wrenching slow-dance favorite." Bill Lamb, also from About.com, placed the song at number 21 on his "Top 100 Best Love Songs Of All Time" list. On Nerve's list of "The 50 Greatest Love Songs of All Time", "Time After Time" was placed at number 5, being called "Lauper's most enduring masterpiece hits at the very essence of commitment," with the article pointing out that "she captures real romance in the most simple and straightforward of lines: 'If you're lost, you can look and you will find me, time after time'." The song also entered the Rolling Stone & MTV's "100 Greatest Pop Songs" at number 66. The song also entered VH1's "100 Best Songs of the Past 25 Years and "100 Greatest Songs of the 80s" lists, at numbers 22 and 19 respectively. The song was also present on NME's 100 Best Songs of the 1980s, being ranked at number 79. The website declared that "‘Time After Time’ was a change in tack for Lauper, whose musical persona had previously been unstoppably light and frothy. ‘Time After Time’ was demoed quickly in time for inclusion on her debut ‘She’s So Unusual’, and ended up being a key song for both Lauper’s career and the decade itself."
Awards and nominations
Chart performance
"Time After Time" became Lauper's first number-one single on the Billboard charts, reaching the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart in June 1984. It also reached the top of the Adult Contemporary and Canadian Singles Chart. In the United Kingdom, "Time After Time" first peaked at number 54 on March 24, 1984, while peaking later at number 3, on June 16, 1984. In New Zealand, the song reached number 3, in Austria it reached number 5, in Switzerland it reached number 7, in France it peaked at number 9 and in Sweden it reached a peak of number 10.
Music video
The video for "Time After Time" was directed by Edd Griles, and its storyline is about a young woman leaving her lover behind when she becomes homesick and worried about her mother. Lauper's mother, brother, and then-boyfriend, David Wolff, appear in the video, and Lou Albano, who played her father in the "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" video, can be seen as a cook. Portions of the video were filmed at the now-closed Tom's Diner in Roxbury Township, New Jersey, the intersection of Route 46 and Route 10 and at the Morristown train station. Portions of the video were also shot in front of Betty's Department Store in Wharton, NJ, which was a staple of the community in the 1970s. According to Lauper, "It was important to me that we were natural and human in the video. I wanted to convey somebody who walked her own path and did not always get along with everyone and did not always marry the guy." The video opens with Lauper watching the 1936 film The Garden of Allah and the final scene, where she gets on the train and waves goodbye to David, has Lauper crying for real.
Usage in media
The song has been featured numerous times in popular culture including the films Napoleon Dynamite, View from the Top, Strictly Ballroom, Up In the Air, John Tucker Must Die, Prom Night, Clockstoppers, Ghosts of Girlfriends Past, Sunny, Paranoia, Good Deeds, Nebraska, Irresistible, This Is Where I Leave You, Brown Sugar, and Romy and Michele's High School Reunion as well as the television shows Cold Case, Stars in Their Eyes, Smallville, Veronica Mars, The Simpsons, The New Adventures of Old Christine, Ugly Betty, EastEnders, Accused, Parks and Recreation, Atop The Fourth Wall, Psych, Defiance, Grey's Anatomy, Glee and My Name Is Earl.