"Out of Time" is a song by the Rolling Stones, first released on their 1966 album Aftermath. The most commercially successful version of the song was by Chris Farlowe, an English solo artist. Farlowe's single, produced by Mick Jagger, peaked at number one in the UK Singles Chart 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 third version featuring Jagger's lead vocal and the orchestration and backing vocals from Farlowe's cover version was released on the 1975rarities albumMetamorphosis and as a single.
Composition and recording
The song was written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. Jagger produced the hit single version by Chris Farlowe. 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 and featured a marimba part played by Brian Jones. In this format "Out of Time" was 5:37 long. A shorter version of this recording appeared in the US on 1967's Flowers, and later on 1972's More Hot Rocks and 2012's GRRR! super deluxe edition. The song also appeared on the Stones' 1975 ABKCO album Metamorphosis, which was created under the direction of former Stones manager Allen Klein and released on his ABKCO Records label.. 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 . Like all the songs on the second side of the UK version of Aftermath, the Rolling Stones have never performed "Out of Time" live. The "Aftermath" version of the song was featured in the opening credits of the 1978 film about Vietnam - "Coming Home". The Metamorphosis version of the Rolling Stones song, complete with the orchestration backing track from Chris Farlowe's rendition, was featured in its entirety in Quentin Tarantino's 2019 film Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
Personnel
Mick Jagger – lead vocals, backing vocals, finger snaps
Keith Richards – electric guitar, acoustic guitar, backing vocals
British vocalist Chris Farlowe 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 and Columbia Records between that year and 1964. In early 1965, Farlowe was one of the earliest artists to sign with the newly founded independent record labelImmediate Records. His first release on that label was "The Fool", a song which was written by Naomi Ford and Lee Hazlewood. This release failed to chart. Following this disappointment, Farlowe started his collaboration with Jagger, who gave him a follow-up single to record: "Think", which had previously been recorded by the Rolling Stones, also for Aftermath. It reached number 37 on the UK Singles Chart. Following the minor success of "Think", Andrew Loog Oldham 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 a young Jimmy Page on guitar along with drummer Andy White and arranger Arthur Greenslade. 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. Immediate Records released "Out of Time" on 17 June 1966. It entered the UK Singles Chart on the 29th of June 1966, at a position of number 36. "Out Of Time" became Farlowe's only top-10 hit, reaching number 1 on the 3rd of August that year, where it stayed for a week. It stayed on the chart for 13 weeks, leaving on 21st September at a position of number 48. It reached number 7 on New Zealand'sListener chart and number 9 on Australia'sGo-Set. The single was later featured on Farlowe's third studio albumThe Art of Chris Farlowe which was released on 25 November of that year. Nonetheless, "Out Of Time" became Farlowe's biggest hit and is considered his signature song.
Dan McCafferty of Nazareth recorded a version on his first, self-titled solo album. It was released as a single in 1975 shortly before the album and reached No. 41, despite competition from a reissue of the Chris Farlowe version and a first-time single release of the Metamorphosis version, inaccurately credited to the Rolling Stones, as Mick Jagger was the only group member featured. These two later versions reached No. 44 and No. 45 respectively.
Serbian rock band Električni Orgazam did a cover of the song in Serbian in 1987, titled "Bejbe Ti Nisi Tu", and it became a big hit in Yugoslavia.
