"Out of Time" is a song by
the Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the gritty, rhythmically d ...
, first released on their 1966 album ''
Aftermath
Aftermath may refer to:
Companies
* Aftermath (comics), an imprint of Devil's Due Publishing
* Aftermath Entertainment, an American record label founded by Dr. Dre
* Aftermath Media, an American multimedia company
* Aftermath Services, an Americ ...
'' (UK version). The most commercially successful version of the song was by
Chris Farlowe
Chris Farlowe (born John Henry Deighton, 13 October 1940) is an English rock, blues and soul singer. He is best known for his hit single " Out of Time" written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, which rose to No. 1 in the UK Singles Chart in 196 ...
, an English solo artist. Farlowe's single, produced by
Mick Jagger
Sir Michael Philip Jagger (born 26 July 1943) is an English singer and songwriter who has achieved international fame as the lead vocalist and one of the founder members of the rock band the Rolling Stones. His ongoing songwriting partnershi ...
, peaked at number one in the
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...
on 28 July 1966 and stayed at the top for one week. A shorter alternative mix of the Rolling Stones' recording was released in the US in 1967 on the album ''
Flowers
A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechani ...
''. A third version featuring Jagger's lead vocal and the orchestration and backing vocals from Farlowe's cover version (plus a new female backing vocal) was released on the 1975 rarities album ''
Metamorphosis
Metamorphosis is a biological process by which an animal physically develops including birth or hatching, involving a conspicuous and relatively abrupt change in the animal's body structure through cell growth and differentiation. Some inse ...
'' and as a single.
The song was never performed live by the Stones until June 2022, during the opening concert of their
Sixty tour.
Composition and recording
The song was written by
Mick Jagger
Sir Michael Philip Jagger (born 26 July 1943) is an English singer and songwriter who has achieved international fame as the lead vocalist and one of the founder members of the rock band the Rolling Stones. His ongoing songwriting partnershi ...
and
Keith Richards
Keith Richards (born 18 December 1943), often referred to during the 1960s and 1970s as "Keith Richard", is an English musician and songwriter who has achieved international fame as the co-founder, guitarist, secondary vocalist, and co-princi ...
. Jagger produced the hit single version by
Chris Farlowe
Chris Farlowe (born John Henry Deighton, 13 October 1940) is an English rock, blues and soul singer. He is best known for his hit single " Out of Time" written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, which rose to No. 1 in the UK Singles Chart in 196 ...
.
The Rolling Stones released three versions of "Out of Time". The first, recorded by the band in Los Angeles in March 1966, appeared on the UK version of 1966's ''
Aftermath
Aftermath may refer to:
Companies
* Aftermath (comics), an imprint of Devil's Due Publishing
* Aftermath Entertainment, an American record label founded by Dr. Dre
* Aftermath Media, an American multimedia company
* Aftermath Services, an Americ ...
'' and featured a
marimba
The marimba () is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars that are struck by mallets. Below each bar is a resonator pipe that amplifies particular harmonics of its sound. Compared to the xylophone, the timbre ...
part played by
Brian Jones
Lewis Brian Hopkin Jones (28 February 1942 – 3 July 1969) was an English multi-instrumentalist and singer best known as the founder, rhythm/lead guitarist, and original leader of the Rolling Stones. Initially a guitarist, he went on to prov ...
. In this format the song was 5:37 long. A shorter version of this recording appeared in the US on 1967's ''
Flowers
A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechani ...
'', and later on 1972's ''
More Hot Rocks (Big Hits & Fazed Cookies)
''More Hot Rocks (Big Hits & Fazed Cookies)'' is a compilation album by the Rolling Stones released in December 1972 on London Records. The album was a follow-up to the hugely successful ''Hot Rocks 1964–1971''.
When ''Hot Rocks 1964–1971 ' ...
'' and 2012's ''
GRRR!
''GRRR!'' is a greatest hits album by the Rolling Stones. Released on 12 November 2012, it commemorates the band's 50th anniversary. The album features two new songs titled " Doom and Gloom" and "One More Shot", which were recorded in August ...
'' super deluxe edition.
The song also appeared on the Stones' 1975 album ''
Metamorphosis
Metamorphosis is a biological process by which an animal physically develops including birth or hatching, involving a conspicuous and relatively abrupt change in the animal's body structure through cell growth and differentiation. Some inse ...
'', which was created under the direction of former Stones manager
Allen Klein
Allen Klein (December 18, 1931 July 4, 2009) was an American businessman whose aggressive negotiation tactics affected industry standards for compensating recording artists. He founded ABKCO Music & Records Incorporated. Klein increased profits ...
and released on his
ABKCO Records
ABKCO Music & Records, Inc. (Allen & Betty Klein Company) is a major American independent record label, music publisher, and film and video production company. It owns and/or administers the rights to music by Sam Cooke, the Rolling Stones, the A ...
label. (Klein owned the rights to the pre-1971 Rolling Stones catalogue)
''
Cash Box
''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', was an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...
'' said it was the strongest track on ''Metamorphosis'' and said "What yesterday was a classic Stones R&B rocker has gained additional credence over the years."
This version was, in fact, the backing track from Farlowe's version, but with a Jagger lead vocal, recorded in London in April 1966 as a demo for Farlowe. The demo version was also released as a single in 1975, reaching #45 in the UK, and was later included on 1989's ''
Singles Collection: The London Years''.
56 years after its release, the Rolling Stones performed "Out of Time" live for the first time during the opening show of their
60th anniversary tour on 1 June 2022 in
Madrid
Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...
.
The ''Aftermath'' version of the song was featured in the opening credits of Hal Ashby's 1978 film ''
Coming Home''. The ''Metamorphosis'' version was featured, in its entirety, in
Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Jerome Tarantino (; born March 27, 1963) is an American film director, writer, producer, and actor. His films are characterized by stylized violence, extended dialogue, profanity, Black comedy, dark humor, Nonlinear narrative, non-lin ...
's 2019 film ''
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
''Once Upon a Time in Hollywood'' is a 2019 comedy-drama film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. Produced by Columbia Pictures, Bona Film Group, Heyday Films, and Visiona Romantica and distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing, it is a ...
''.
Chris Farlowe version
British vocalist
Chris Farlowe
Chris Farlowe (born John Henry Deighton, 13 October 1940) is an English rock, blues and soul singer. He is best known for his hit single " Out of Time" written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, which rose to No. 1 in the UK Singles Chart in 196 ...
had been active as a musician since 1957, and had been a member of a band named the Thunderbirds, where he was the frontman.
However, he started going solo in 1962, releasing several singles on both
Decca Decca may refer to:
Music
* Decca Records or Decca Music Group, a record label
* Decca Gold, a classical music record label owned by Universal Music Group
* Decca Broadway, a musical theater record label
* Decca Studios, a recording facility in W ...
and
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...
between that year and 1964.
In early 1965, Farlowe was one of the earliest artists to sign with the newly founded independent record label
Immediate Records
Immediate Records was a British record label, started in 1965 by The Rolling Stones' manager Andrew Loog Oldham and Tony Calder, and concentrating on the London-based blues and R&B scene.
History
Immediate Records was started in 1965. Signed ...
. His first release on that label was "
The Fool", a song which was written by Naomi Ford and
Lee Hazlewood
Barton Lee Hazlewood (July 9, 1929 – August 4, 2007) was an American country and pop singer, songwriter, and record producer, most widely known for his work with guitarist Duane Eddy during the late 1950s and singer Nancy Sinatra in the 1960s ...
. This release failed to chart. Following this disappointment, Farlowe started his collaboration with Jagger, who gave him a follow-up single to record: "
Think
In their most common sense, the terms thought and thinking refer to conscious cognitive processes that can happen independently of sensory stimulation. Their most paradigmatic forms are judging, reasoning, concept formation, problem solving, an ...
", which had previously been recorded by the Rolling Stones, also for ''Aftermath.'' It reached number 37 on the
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...
.
Following the minor success of "Think",
Andrew Loog Oldham
Andrew Loog Oldham (born 29 January 1944) is an English record producer, talent manager, impresario and author. He was manager and producer of the Rolling Stones from 1963 to 1967, and was noted for his flamboyant style.
Early life
Loog Oldha ...
was certain that the follow-up would be a hit, and once again recruited Jagger to offer him a song, with him suggesting "Out of Time" as a suitable song which Jagger and Richards had written with Farlowe in mind, believing that the song would fit his voice perfectly.
The session featured several session musicians, including
Jimmy Page
James Patrick Page (born 9 January 1944) is an English musician who achieved international success as the guitarist and founder of the rock band Led Zeppelin. Page is prolific in creating guitar riffs. His style involves various alternative ...
on guitar along with drummer
Andy White and arranger
Arthur Greenslade
Arthur Greenslade (4 May 1923 – 27 November 2003) was a British conductor and arranger for films and television, as well as for a number of performers. He was most musically active in the 1960s and 1970s.
Greenslade was born in Northfle ...
. It appeared that the session was troublesome, as Jagger was not satisfied with Greenslade's arrangement. Eventually, Jagger was satisfied with the final product, and "Out of Time" had been recorded. Farlowe's version is drastically different from the Rolling Stones ''Aftermath'' version, heavily features a string arrangement which was not utilized on the original Rolling Stones recording. In fact, the version used the same backing which Jagger previously had dubbed with his own lead vocals in a version which would be released on ''
Metamorphosis
Metamorphosis is a biological process by which an animal physically develops including birth or hatching, involving a conspicuous and relatively abrupt change in the animal's body structure through cell growth and differentiation. Some inse ...
.
''
Immediate Records released "Out of Time" on 17 June 1966.
It entered
the UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...
on 23 June 1966, at a position of number 36.
"Out of Time" became Farlowe's only top-10 hit, reaching number 1 on 28 July that year, where it stayed for a week.
It stayed on the chart for 13 weeks, leaving on 21 September at a position of number 48.
It reached number 7 on
New Zealand's
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island country b ...
''Listener'' chart and number 9 on
Australia's
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by a ...
''
Go-Set
''Go-Set'' was the first Australian pop music newspaper, published weekly from 2 February 1966 to 24 August 1974, and was founded in Melbourne by Phillip Frazer, Peter Raphael and Tony Schauble. NOTE: This PDF is 282 pages. Widely described as ...
''.
The single was later featured on Farlowe's third studio album ''
The Art of Chris Farlowe
''The Art of Chris Farlowe'' is the third 1966 album by British singer Chris Farlowe, featuring his band the Thunderbirds, but only credited to him.
Andrew Loog Oldham produced the recording sessions with Mick Jagger. The album includes four s ...
'' which was released on 25 November of that year. Nonetheless, "Out of Time" became Farlowe's biggest hit and is considered his signature song.
Personnel
Rolling Stones version
According to authors Philippe Margotin and Jean-Michel Guesdon:
The Rolling Stones
*
Mick Jagger
Sir Michael Philip Jagger (born 26 July 1943) is an English singer and songwriter who has achieved international fame as the lead vocalist and one of the founder members of the rock band the Rolling Stones. His ongoing songwriting partnershi ...
vocals,
finger snaps
*
Keith Richards
Keith Richards (born 18 December 1943), often referred to during the 1960s and 1970s as "Keith Richard", is an English musician and songwriter who has achieved international fame as the co-founder, guitarist, secondary vocalist, and co-princi ...
backing vocals, rhythm guitar, acoustic guitar
*
Brian Jones
Lewis Brian Hopkin Jones (28 February 1942 – 3 July 1969) was an English multi-instrumentalist and singer best known as the founder, rhythm/lead guitarist, and original leader of the Rolling Stones. Initially a guitarist, he went on to prov ...
marimba
The marimba () is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars that are struck by mallets. Below each bar is a resonator pipe that amplifies particular harmonics of its sound. Compared to the xylophone, the timbre ...
,
vibraphone
The vibraphone is a percussion instrument in the metallophone family. It consists of tuned metal bars and is typically played by using mallets to strike the bars. A person who plays the vibraphone is called a ''vibraphonist,'' ''vibraharpist,' ...
*
Bill Wyman
William George Wyman (né Perks; born 24 October 1936) is an English musician who achieved international fame as the bassist for the Rolling Stones from 1962 until 1993. In 1989, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member ...
bass
*
Charlie Watts
Charles Robert Watts (2 June 1941 – 24 August 2021) was an English musician who achieved international fame as the drummer of the Rolling Stones from 1963 until his death in 2021.
Originally trained as a graphic artist, Watts developed an i ...
drums
Additional musicians
*
Ian Stewart organ
Organ may refer to:
Biology
* Organ (biology), a part of an organism
Musical instruments
* Organ (music), a family of keyboard musical instruments characterized by sustained tone
** Electronic organ, an electronic keyboard instrument
** Hammond ...
*
Jack Nitzsche
Bernard Alfred "Jack" Nitzsche ( '; April 22, 1937 – August 25, 2000) was an American musician, arranger, songwriter, composer, and record producer. He first came to prominence in the early 1960s as the right-hand-man of producer Phil Spec ...
piano
Chris Farlowe version
According to authors
Andy Babiuk
Andy Babiuk ( ; born November 27, 1963) is an American musician, author, consultant, and owner of Andy Babiuk's Fab Gear in Fairport, New York. He is a founding member and bassist of the supergroup The Empty Hearts and was also a member of The C ...
and Greg Prevost, except where noted:
*
Chris Farlowe
Chris Farlowe (born John Henry Deighton, 13 October 1940) is an English rock, blues and soul singer. He is best known for his hit single " Out of Time" written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, which rose to No. 1 in the UK Singles Chart in 196 ...
vocals
* Eric Ford bass
* Reg Guest piano
*
Joe Moretti
Joseph Edward Moretti (10 May 1938 – 9 February 2012) was a Scottish guitarist renowned for his work on seminal UK rock and roll records such as Vince Taylor's "Brand New Cadillac" and Johnny Kidd & the Pirates' "Shakin' All Over". He lived ...
guitar
*
Jimmy Page
James Patrick Page (born 9 January 1944) is an English musician who achieved international success as the guitarist and founder of the rock band Led Zeppelin. Page is prolific in creating guitar riffs. His style involves various alternative ...
guitar
*
Andy White drums
*
Sidney Sax
Sidney Sax (1913–2005) was a British violinist. He was a noted orchestral leader and also a contractor, arranging personnel for many recording sessions. In 1964, he jointly founded the National Philharmonic Orchestra, London together with Cha ...
string arrangements
Charts
Chris Farlowe version
Notes
References
Sources
*
*
*
External links
Chris Farlowe Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Out Of Time (The Rolling Stones Song)
Immediate Records singles
1966 singles
1975 singles
1981 singles
UK Singles Chart number-one singles
The Rolling Stones songs
Ramones songs
Bee Gees songs
Songs written by Jagger–Richards
Song recordings produced by Andrew Loog Oldham
Song recordings produced by Mick Jagger
1966 songs
Chris Farlowe songs