This was Danish-American Kai Winding, during his association with Verve Records, when the rather different prototype was produced by studio notable Creed Taylor and engineered by Phil Ramone. Perhaps improbably, the first ‘Time Is On My Side’ was cut a short time earlier by a jazz trombonist.
The song was written (under the pseudonym Norman Meade) by the great Philadelphia-born writer-producer Jerry Ragovoy, whose stellar career you can read about in this dedicated uDiscover Music story. Not every listener who knows the song will realise that neither Irma’s interpretation, nor the Stones’, was the original - although Thomas’ was the first with all the words we’ve come to know. The third part of Watchmen has everything from Devo’s ‘Mongoloid’ to Desmond Dekker and the Aces’ ‘Israelites,’ as well as Gene Autry’s ‘The Last Round Up.’ In a similarly mixed bag, part four highlights, among others, Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers’ ‘Islands In The Stream,’ Billie Holiday’s ‘You’re My Thrill’ and Leroy Sibbles’ Studio One reggae gem ‘Do Your Thing.’ Thomas’ mighty recording of ‘Time Is On My Side’ stands tall among them.