Time After Time (Cyndi Lauper song)

"Time After Time" is a song written by American singer-songwriters Cyndi Lauper and Rob Hyman, and recorded by Lauper for her debut album,She's So Unusual (1983), with Hyman 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.[1]

"Time After Time" is composed of simple keyboard-synth chords, bright, jangly guitars, clock-ticking percussion, and elastic bassline, and lyrically it's 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.[2]  "Time After Time" was also nominated for a Grammy Award for Song of the Year at the 1985 edition.[3]

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[4]  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, who covered the song for heralbum of the same name. An acoustic version was sung by Lauper on her 2005 album, The Body Acoustic. Lauper has performed the song live withPatti 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.



Contents
[hide]  *1 Background and recording  ==Background and recording[ edit] == Rob Hyman (pictured) co-wrote and sings background vocals on the track.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, Hyman and she sat at a piano and started working on "Time After Time".[5]  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 a lot of bumps with boyfriend, David Wolff. One of the first lines Rob wrote was "suitcase of memories", which according to Lauper, "strucked 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.[5]
 * 2 Composition and lyrics
 * 3 Critical reception
 * 3.1 Accolades
 * 3.2 Awards and nominations
 * 3.2.1 Lists of best songs
 * 4 Chart performance
 * 5 Music video
 * 6 Track listing
 * 7 Personnel
 * 8 Charts
 * 8.1 Year-end charts
 * 8.2 Certifications
 * 9 Cover versions
 * 9.1 Ronan Keating cover
 * 9.1.1 Track listing
 * 9.1.2 Charts
 * 10 Other versions and samples
 * 11 See also
 * 12 References
 * 13 Further reading
 * 14 External links

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.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-cindy_5-2" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:10.9090909957886px;">[5]  "Time After Time" eventually became the album's second single,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-discogs_6-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:10.9090909957886px;">[6]  being released on January 27, 1984.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-france_7-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:10.9090909957886px;">[7] ==Composition and lyrics<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-family:sans-serif;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] == <p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:20.3636360168457px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:13.63636302948px;">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 tickingpercussion, and elastic bassline.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Cinquemani_8-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:10.9090909957886px;">[8]  Lyrically, the track is a love song of devotion.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-about.com_9-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:10.9090909957886px;">[9] ==Critical reception<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-family:sans-serif;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] == <p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:20.3636360168457px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:13.63636302948px;">The song received rave reviews 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."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Cinquemani_8-1" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:10.9090909957886px;">[8] Susan Glen of PopMatters also called it a standout track, naming it "gorgeous",<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-popmatters_10-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:10.9090909957886px;">[10]  while Bryan Lee Madden of Sputnikmusic simply called it "a masterpiece" and "the best and most significant song she ever wrote or recorded."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-sput_11-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:10.9090909957886px;">[11]  Brenon Veevers of Renowned for Sound labeled it "sentimental" and "gorgeous".<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-12" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:10.9090909957886px;">[12]  Pam Avoledo of Blogcritics described the song as "a sure-fire classic."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-blogcritics_13-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:10.9090909957886px;">[13]  while Scott Floman, music critic for Goldmine magazine, described the song as "gorgeously heartfelt" and "one of the decade’s finest ballads".<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-14" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:10.9090909957886px;">[14]  Chris Gerard of Metro Weekly summarized the song as a "beautiful and bittersweet ballad."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-metroweekly_15-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:10.9090909957886px;">[15] ===Accolades<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] === <p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:20.3636360168457px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:13.63636302948px;">"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."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-about.com_9-1" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:10.9090909957886px;">[9]  Bill Lamb, also from About.com, placed the song at number 21 on his "Top 100 Best Love Songs Of All Time" list.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-16" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:10.9090909957886px;">[16]  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'."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-nerve_17-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:10.9090909957886px;">[17]  The song also entered the Rolling Stone &MTV's "100 Greatest Pop Songs" at number 66.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-rockonthenet2000_2-1" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:10.9090909957886px;">[2]  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.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-vh12003_18-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:10.9090909957886px;">[18] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-vh12006_19-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:10.9090909957886px;">[19]  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."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-nme_20-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:10.9090909957886px;">[20] ===Awards and nominations<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] === ====Lists of best songs<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] ==== ==Chart performance<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-family:sans-serif;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] == <p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:20.3636360168457px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:13.63636302948px;">"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 of 1984.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-21" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:10.9090909957886px;">[21]  It also reached the top of the Adult Contemporary<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-billboardchart_22-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:10.9090909957886px;">[22]  and Canadian Singles Chart.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-rpm_23-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:10.9090909957886px;">[23]  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.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-uk_24-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:10.9090909957886px;">[24]  InNew Zealand, the song reached number 3,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-nz_25-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:10.9090909957886px;">[25]  in Austria it reached number 5,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-aut_26-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:10.9090909957886px;">[26]  in Switzerland it reached number 7,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-swiss_27-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:10.9090909957886px;">[27]  in France it peaked at number 9<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-france_7-1" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:10.9090909957886px;">[7]  and in Sweden it reached a peak of number 10.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-swedish_28-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:10.9090909957886px;">[28] ==Music video<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-family:sans-serif;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] == Morristown, NJ, train station, seen at the end of the video.<p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:20.3636360168457px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:13.63636302948px;">The video for "Time After Time" was directed by Edd Griles, and its storyline is about a young woman leaving her lover behind. 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 Central Avenue and Main Street inWharton, New Jersey, and at the Morristown train station. 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.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-29" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:10.9090909957886px;">[29] ==Track listing<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-family:sans-serif;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] == ==Personnel<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-family:sans-serif;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] == ==Charts<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-family:sans-serif;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] == ===Year-end charts<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] === ===Certifications<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] === ==Cover versions<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-family:sans-serif;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] == ===Ronan Keating cover<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] === <p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:20.3636360168457px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:13.63636302948px;">"Time After Time" is the first single released from Irish singer/songwriter Ronan Keating's fifth solo album, Songs for My Mother. The single was released on February 8, 2009, and became Keating's first single to be released in three years. The song was produced by Keating himself. The song peaked at #88 on the UK Singles Chart. ====Track listing<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] ==== ====Charts<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] ==== ==Other versions and samples<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-family:sans-serif;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] ==
 * Won
 * 1984 – American Video Awards for Best Female Performance
 * 1984 – American Video Awards for Best Pop Video
 * 1984 – BMI Awards for Pop Award
 * 1984 – Billboard Awards for Best Female Performance
 * 1985 – Pro Canada Awards for Most Performed Foreign Song
 * 2008 – BMI Millionaire Award for 5 Million Spins on US Radio
 * 2009 – BMI Awards for Pop Award
 * Nominations
 * 1984 – MTV Video Music Award for Best New Artist
 * 1984 – MTV Video Music Award for Best Female Video
 * 1984 – MTV Video Music Award for Best Direction
 * 1985 – Grammy Award for Song of the Year
 * Written by Cyndi Lauper, Rob Hyman
 * Produced by Rick Chertoff
 * Executive producer: Lennie Petze
 * Associate producer: William Wittman
 * Engineered by William Wittman
 * Arranged by Cyndi Lauper, Rick Chertoff, Rob Hyman, Eric Bazilian
 * 1) "Time After Time" (stop-end version) – 3:50
 * Novaspace - Novaspace (2002)<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-44" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:10.9090909957886px;">[44]  It reached #6 in Germany, #7 in Austria and #15 in Australia.<sup class="noprint Inline-Template Template-Fact" style="line-height:1;font-size:10.9090909957886px;white-space:nowrap;">[citation needed]