The story of the rock classic, Time Is On My Side, was long shrouded in mystery. Jimmy Norman, who died in 2011, claimed co-authorship with Jerry Ragovoy of the lyrics to the version of the song that is well known by music fans today. A confusing history of recording credits only added to the mysterious twists and turns of a complex story. We researched the story, and did interviews with many of the main characters, including a very contentious Jerry Ragovoy. Ragovoy denied any involvement with Jimmy Norman, but his own attorney, Don Biederman, acknowledged in legal documents that Norman had contributed to the song’s lyrics. Biederman argued that Jimmy Norman was not entitled to royalties because his additional work on the lyrics amounted to “a derivative work.” He argued that Norman’s credit on the original record was “a clerical error.” So Ragovoy and his own attorney disagreed on Norman’s involvement. When I interviewed Irma Thomas about her work with Jimmy Norman, she claimed not to remember. Today, “Time Is On My Side” is in the public domain. Another “clerical error” in Ragovoy’s office resulted in it losing its copyright protection. In October, 1963, trombonist Kai Winding recorded Jerry Ragovoy’s instrumental for the first time. The Verve single was produced by Creed Taylor and engineered by Phil Ramone. An uncredited background vocal group, made up of Cissy Houston, Dionne Warwick and Dee Dee Warwick, sang the following lyrics: Time is on my side, yes yes Time is on my side, yes yes Youll come running back Youll come running back You’ll come running back to me. In early, 1964, the song was chosen for recording by Irma Thomas, then a young 23-year-old singer from New Orleans. Thomas’s arranger, H.B. Barnum, hired Jimmy Norman to write extensive additional lyrics to the original Ragovoy version, since they were so spare. It was a rush job, finished at the Los Angeles recording studio only minutes before Thomas began recording. Imperial’s single release of Time Is On My Side was not a hit for Irma Thomas. But, a short time later, in June, 1964, the Rolling Stones recorded the song, using the same expanded lyrics used by Irma Thomas. Released as both an album and single in October, the song became a signature for the Rolling Stones and is now an American rock & roll classic. Jimmy Norman was credited for his additional lyrics only on the original Irma Thomas single release. A Jerry Ragovoy pseudonym, Norman Meade, was used on the Kai Winding release as N. Meade. The credit N. Meade and J. Norman appeared on the Irma Thomas single. On the Rolling Stones release the credit was printed in two versions, Meade-Norman, and Meade; Norman. Jimmy Norman never collected royalties for his work on the song. Despite Ragovoys denial of Normans involvement, all the evidence points to Jimmy Norman writing a substantial portion of the lyrics to the song we know today. In acknowledgment of that, Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones met with Jimmy Norman in the final years of his life. They smoked a joint together — sort of a peace pipe that symbolically settled a long dispute. Today, Jimmy Norman is credited with co-authorship with the song, though he never got more than the $200 in cash for writing the lyrics at Irma Thomas’s recording session.
Posted on: Thu, 04 Sep 2014 04:12:24 +0000
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