[ ]   [ ]   [ ]                        [ ]      [ ]   [ ]
Cyndi Lauper — Time After Time
Album: She's So Unusual
Avg rating:
7.7

Your rating:
Total ratings: 2807









Released: 1983
Length: 3:52
Plays (last 30 days): 1
Lying in my bed I hear the clock tick and think of you
Caught up in circles, confusion is nothing new
Flashback, warm nights
Almost left behind
Suitcase of memories

Time after sometimes you picture me, I'm walkin' too far ahead
You're callin' to me, I can't hear what you've said
Then you say, "Go slow."
I fall behind
The second hand unwinds

If you're lost, you can look and you will find me
Time after time
If you fall, I will catch you, I'll be waiting
Time after time

If you're lost, you can look and you will find me
Time after time
If you fall, I will catch you, I'll be waiting
Time after time

After my picture fades and darkness has turned to gray
Watching through windows, you're wondering if I'm okay
Secrets stolen
From deep inside
The drum beats out of time

If you're lost, you can look and you will find me
Time after time
If you fall, I will catch you, I'll be waiting
Time after time

You said, "Go slow."
I fall behind
The second hand unwinds

If you're lost, you can look and you will find me
Time after time
If you fall, I will catch you, I'll be waiting
Time after time

If you're lost, you can look and you will find me
Time after time
If you fall, I will catch you, I'll be waiting
Time after time

Time after time
Time after time
Time after time
Time after time

Time after time
Time after time
Time after time
Time after time
Comments (126)add comment
Timeless
Gorgeous.
 nomnol wrote:

Who wrote this tune?



She wrote it with Rob Hyman (other vocalist on this song) from the Hooters.
Just an amazing song, and has stood the test of time. The video for the song was such a tearjerker.
Great cover by Tuck & Patti
 nomnol wrote:

Who wrote this tune?



i thought she wrote a lot if not most of her music. the band she was in (blue something?) before she went solo was pretty cool, too.
Who wrote this tune?
 LizK wrote:

Great  song.  Always better than Madonna


Absolutely!  Never got the credit she deserved - the Hogan diversion didn't help her career.  What was that all about anyway?
She is a little sweetheart..
Cyndi's range is incredible. 
She's very underrated!

Great  song.  Always better than Madonna
"I want my MTV!" :-)  You had to be there.
that's just a great song!
there's not a lot one would have to comment about...
This is one terrific pop song.
 acferrad wrote:

"If you fall, I will catch you, I'll be wait-ing"

One thing that irritates me no end in songs is when the emphasis is placed on the incorrect syllables, in this case "waiting".  The emphasis should be on the "wait" part, not the "ing" part.  Say it to yourself  "I am waiting for you"... the emphasis is on "wait".  She has it on the "ing" because that's what the melody requires.

Lyrics <> melody fail.

Artistic license which raises the song and singer above the nor-huh-mal mis-breathing of lesser singers which destroys the rhythm and meaning. Cyndi does  her thing deliberately with originality and style.


 cosmiclint wrote:
**Techie alert**
 
This song fades out early then we get 30 seconds or so of silence before the next song starts.


Bill and Rebecca - you need a different version of this song. It fades out before the song is really over! (8/1/22)
What a beauty of a song. I heard/saw it on TV for the first time at the Montreux Jazz Festival and was immediately captured. 10.
Ooops, it has just faded out...
It's so cool to listen back to this so many years later.

In 1983, I was a snotty nosed British OIK, wedded to The Jam, The Who, Madness.
I was 15 and sneered at this kind of music, me and my mate destroyed many tapes our parents bought us by mistake - "This is shit mate!" - "What a load of bollocks!"

Now, listening to this again, I realised that ultimately, they were guilty pleasures - and that my teenage tribalism was just that. Very silly, but yeah, teens eh! 

I secretly liked it, way back then, but was too scared to admit it.
"If you fall, I will catch you, I'll be wait-ing"

One thing that irritates me no end in songs is when the emphasis is placed on the incorrect syllables, in this case "waiting".  The emphasis should be on the "wait" part, not the "ing" part.  Say it to yourself  "I am waiting for you"... the emphasis is on "wait".  She has it on the "ing" because that's what the melody requires.

Lyrics <> melody fail.
**Techie alert**
 
This song fades out early then we get 30 seconds or so of silence before the next song starts.
 TerryS wrote:


Thinking you may be any field but conflict resolution..............man.

To be fair, BCarn was responding to a really very dumb comment indeed.
Love song.
 BCarn wrote:

And if she does, what the fuck does that have to do with anything? Twat comment man.


Thinking you may be any field but conflict resolution..............man.
So nice - can't fault it
 Clyde_Bedow wrote:

Though an amateur, I produce music. This means among other things that I STUDY songs. Very carefully listening to what makes a great production. 
This is an example I have listened to time after time (yeah, that just happened.) And I must remind: Pre fancy pitch correction.
While there were tricks and improvements in the period, this is a pretty good example of as real a great performance as it gets. Dig the style or genre or not, I have to give huge props.
You notice how even many good vocalists tend to "wander" into tune on notes ever so slightly to hit the pitch. Really great singers can more often than not just hit the note. Cyndi is/was one who could just kill it. From all feedback I have seen or heard, a really great human being to boot.
And the composition/arrangement, build up, tension/release isn't too shabby either.

Yeah, love this song. Way out of the range of what I was into then or now, but still one of a handful of examples that cause me to take pause, turn it up and close my eyes. 

Play it again Bill. Soon.



Excellent analysis! Of note, her former Blue Angel drummer Johnny Morelli was my neighbor for many years and still performs with his band Cheap Voova in the Boston area.
Cyndi has shingles!
This brings me back to elementary school, rollerskating around a circle in the gym on friday nights holding hands with my latest crush with the lights low, I wouldn't remember this precious memory without this song - man do I LOVE music! 
 Clyde_Bedow wrote:

Though an amateur, I produce music. This means among other things that I STUDY songs. Very carefully listening to what makes a great production. 
This is an example I have listened to time after time (yeah, that just happened.) And I must remind: Pre fancy pitch correction.
While there were tricks and improvements in the period, this is a pretty good example of as real a great performance as it gets. Dig the style or genre or not, I have to give huge props.
You notice how even many good vocalists tend to "wander" into tune on notes ever so slightly to hit the pitch. Really great singers can more often than not just hit the note. Cyndi is/was one who could just kill it. From all feedback I have seen or heard, a really great human being to boot.
And the composition/arrangement, build up, tension/release isn't too shabby either.

Yeah, love this song. Way out of the range of what I was into then or now, but still one of a handful of examples that cause me to take pause, turn it up and close my eyes. 

Play it again Bill. Soon.




"You notice how even many good vocalists tend to "wander" into tune on notes ever so slightly to hit the pitch. Really great singers can more often than not just hit the note."

Much like Alison Krauss... thanks for giving me the works to describe the style.
Always loved this song. The fact that Miles Davis chose to interpret it as one of his last recordings makes it a 'standard' in my book. As a jazz fan, this is the ultimate recognition of a song. 

In 1984 I was with an adorable girlfriend, we led a bohemian life, sleeping here and there, we loved each other but our relationship was complicated. The video played very very regularly, and when my father saw it he used to laugh and said: "it's a song about ptijoc and his girlfriend" It was a long time ago, this girlfriend left or I, i don't know anymore, and my father is no more there. So I think of him and her. Time after time flies.

Did Cyndi drop off for anyone else?
I had the good fortune to work with her in 2001 on a workshop of a new musical that Bill sometimes plays:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...(Americana_album)

She was everything you expect her to be.  Quirky, sweet and 100% Lauper.  It's a memory I will always cherish.
Seven years ago I had the good fortune to see Cyndi in concert at Massey Hall in Toronto, with her band from this album. It was the 30th anniversary of the release of "She's So Unusual". Rarely has a performance been so perfectly like the album, never mind thirty years later! Amazing, amazing, amazing. This song is as brilliant as it gets; Enduring, like so many great artists; Cyndi' stands the test of time...
Miles Davis did a version, Nuff sed
 LizK wrote:
 Larrygrrl wrote:
There were 5 camps in 80s when I was a teenager.  1)Madonna, 2)Whitney Houston, 3)Joan Jett, 4) The Go-Gos, and 5)Cyndi Lauper.  I was proud to align with Miss Lauper.
 I'll take all of them, aside from Madonna. Just could not groove with her.  
 
I would add Chrissie Hynde to the Pretenders camp. And...She is still Doing It as of today!
Oh the sweet sweet memories. Loved it then, still love it.
 Larrygrrl wrote:
There were 5 camps in 80s when I was a teenager.  1)Madonna, 2)Whitney Houston, 3)Joan Jett, 4) The Go-Gos, and 5)Cyndi Lauper.  I was proud to align with Miss Lauper.
 I'll take all of them, aside from Madonna. Just could not groove with her.  
Power-Pop at it's finest
a very nice cover by ... Cyndi :)
When people ask 'what is your favorite song?', that can be a tough one to answer, but 'Time After Time' is usually the response.
a very different take on this song that i happen to like a lot
 AliGator wrote:
Yeahhhh, there's so much nostalgia wrapped up in this song that I can't be objective. But I think it's a great tune. Cyndi's voice is nice and solid. I like the harmonies too.
 
Five years later...yeah. This is such a great song, and I'd forgotten that it was in the rotation here. Thanks, Bill.
 dwhayslett wrote:

I had no idea Cyndi was so violent.
 

Well played!!! She is so pretty and sounds pretty as well. The requisite 2 plays in 20 days. Love it! 
 Larrygrrl wrote:
There were 5 camps in 80s when I was a teenager.  1)Madonna, 2)Whitney Houston, 3)Joan Jett, 4) The Go-Gos, and 5)Cyndi Lauper.  I was proud to align with Miss Lauper.
 
Excellent choice, Larrygrrl

What Mrs. Tom said.
Who would have thought back then that this song was such a keeper
apart liking the song, I love the guitar sound on this.
There were 5 camps in 80s when I was a teenager.  1)Madonna, 2)Whitney Houston, 3)Joan Jett, 4) The Go-Gos, and 5)Cyndi Lauper.  I was proud to align with Miss Lauper.
Still a good song.  Damn near timeless. 

Who'da thunk THAT possible out of such as this technicolor flower that was Cyndi during that period.  She seemed almost ephemeral back then.

Highlow
American Net'Zen
Formative years. Nuff said.
Touching song. Haunting still. She was a lighthouse beacon out there in those crashing early 80s waves of youth-y angst. What a love. 
 LizK wrote:

Fine song, fine singer.  Beats Madonna.  
 
I had no idea Cyndi was so violent.
nope
Solid 8. 7 for the song, 1 for nostalgia. 
I *still* adore this song.
That was my song when I returned home to Germany after one year of studying in the US, leaving a boyfriend behind...
 Geecheeboy wrote:
She has psoriasis. 

 
And if she does, what the fuck does that have to do with anything? Twat comment man.
50 yo man, I'll be stone-cold sober and this song will reduce me to a bluthering idiot.  George Jones is the only other who can do that.  Great, great song.
I remember her barefooted performance on the open stage in Liverpool, in 1990 I think. Working Class Hero he sang. Black gown she wore . 
A timeless beauty, time and time again. 10
And Kinky Boots in NYC is amazing!  Good for talented Cyndi!
 westslope wrote:
Terrific song.

Reminds me of a time when we still had a cable TV subscription and watched the English Canadian equivalent of MTV:  MuchMusic.

Seems like a technological generation ago....
 

Totally agree. First we had Friday Night Videos, then a bit later MTV. Two late nights of videos...

I've since come to appreciate artists that write their own music such as Cyndi and Madonna.
 LizK wrote:

Fine song, fine singer.  Beats Madonna.  

I agree about Cyndi... But I was going to comment about how people were bashing Madonna in the comments of one of her songs (and almost bashing BillG)... Don't get me wrong... I don't thing you are either!!! You have to love it when artists from the 80's and 90's wrote their own music.

Fine song, fine singer.  Beats Madonna.  
This song just reaches out and grabs me by my guts. I can't even explain it. 10.
 Relayer wrote:
Surprised that she actually co wrote this song, good for her.  And her co-writer, Rob Hyman, was of The Hooters.  Cool.
 

Pretty sure that's him singing backup vocals, too.
A favourite that never sounds dated.  Cyndi was and is a real talent, fantastic vocal range, quirky & memorable persona, great in front of a camera.  She really had it all.
Still gives me chills. 9.
If you're lost you can look and you will find... the boy in the box! Wearing sunglasses at night! Who never surrenders!
This holds up amazingly well. Makes me wonder what else she could have done if not constrained by marketing and the general machinery of music.
Though an amateur, I produce music. This means among other things that I STUDY songs. Very carefully listening to what makes a great production. 
This is an example I have listened to time after time (yeah, that just happened.) And I must remind: Pre fancy pitch correction.
While there were tricks and improvements in the period, this is a pretty good example of as real a great performance as it gets. Dig the style or genre or not, I have to give huge props.
You notice how even many good vocalists tend to "wander" into tune on notes ever so slightly to hit the pitch. Really great singers can more often than not just hit the note. Cyndi is/was one who could just kill it. From all feedback I have seen or heard, a really great human being to boot.
And the composition/arrangement, build up, tension/release isn't too shabby either.

Yeah, love this song. Way out of the range of what I was into then or now, but still one of a handful of examples that cause me to take pause, turn it up and close my eyes. 

Play it again Bill. Soon.
She has psoriasis. 

Terrific song.

Reminds me of a time when we still had a cable TV subscription and watched the English Canadian equivalent of MTV:  MuchMusic.

Seems like a technological generation ago....
many years ago..she's great —-for ever !
I suddenly feel 17 again!
YOU be YOU, girl!
Surprised that she actually co wrote this song, good for her.  And her co-writer, Rob Hyman, was of The Hooters.  Cool.
She's really great in concert and has a wide range and always uplifting
 

So beautiful...Groundbreaking album.
If you were in puberty when this came out ... you know what I mean ;-)
 hempmandan wrote:
Another absolutely parfait song....
 
you waiting for the Devo version perhaps?   : P
Always liked this, with Rob Hyman of The Hooters.
 Ropes wrote:
It was great many years back, but seems to get even better with time.

 
Spot on Ropes, a feel good song which is important these days.  Well done Bill for playing.


some kind of perfection
I really do like this song.  Tuck and Patti's version is different and quite good too.
Surprised me when I heard it, had to make sure I was still listening to RP :-). But I'm not complaining. Way to keep it surprising Bill. It IS a lovely song by a great artist, big huge 80's pop song or no.
It was great many years back, but seems to get even better with time.
I was a bit to young to appreciate her at the time, but the more I find out about her, the more I love Cyndi Lauper.

But TBH, she had me at The Goonies 'R' Good Enough.
 {#Wink}Yesmedoras wrote:
Simply put - a great song performed beautifully by Cyndi Lauper.

 


i used to think that Prince wrote this 

Time After Time by Cyndi Lauper US vinyl A-side.jpg
Another guilty pleasure.
has to be top 250 of the 20th century.
Simply put - a great song performed beautifully by Cyndi Lauper.
 planet_lizard wrote:
This song always reminds me of French supermarkets.

We were on holiday in France when it was big and the French were mad for it.

I can almost taste the baguette and nutella...

 
Nice memory!
 scarletdancer wrote:
I admit I was never a huge Cyndi Lauper fan, but I have always loved this song!  {#Music}

 
There's a lot of us out there that feel the same way.  Quite simply, this is a great song.  Miles Davis must've thought so too, because he cut a version for one of his last LP's.
{#Music}
And adding to the list of covers of this song, the Tuck and Patti version is also really nice.
   The Weltanschau sneaks out from inside, and in some very absurd places. Edify and illuminate. me I am bit of baby sitcom.
     Keith don't go, you're watching faces in movies, on tv, in mugazines and in books, just sneak out right before soap opera.
I admit I was never a huge Cyndi Lauper fan, but I have always loved this song!  {#Music}
One of those songs that brings back memories of courting my wife. Back then, I never thought things would turn out so bad.
 jhorton wrote:
When we're all dead and they update the Great American Songbook, Cyndi will have two songs in it, this, and, " True Colors.'"

 
Spot On
 
When we're all dead and they update the Great American Songbook, Cyndi will have two songs in it, this, and, " True Colors.'"
she was good as a psychic on "Bones" too, her goofy Queens accent to the max  : )

sweet tune 
i'm surprised to see this rated above 5
but not by me, 7 easy 
 dkliger wrote:
Miles Davis did a really nice cover of this.

 
it's track #7 off of his 'you're under arrest' album from 1985.
She Bop hasn't been played here in almost 14 years...keep up the good work.
Miles Davis did a really nice cover of this.
Sublime!
 AliGator wrote:
Yeahhhh, there's so much nostalgia wrapped up in this song that I can't be objective. But I think it's a great tune. Cyndi's voice is nice and solid. I like the harmonies too. 

 
echo that, well stated AliG    sweet tune by a real star (in her individual style!)
This song always reminds me of French supermarkets.

We were on holiday in France when it was big and the French were mad for it.

I can almost taste the baguette and nutella...
Remember when her boyfriend dumped her because he didn't like her haircut?
I'm pretty shocked to hear this song on Radio Paradise, but I love it. I was maybe 10 when it came out, so there's that. But it is also a dang good song. 
 iggam wrote:
I'd love to hear Crispin Glover cover this tune. 

 

A guy named Crispin looks like that?  Somehow I'm not surprised.


Also covered well by Everything But The Girl: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrKq4JcS58Q
Whaaat? In Radio Paradise? No, no, no, sir! {#Stop}
J/K! {#Wink} Peace! {#Sunny}
9........I also really like "Money changes everything"
 thatslongformud wrote:
Gilian Welch and Dave Rawlings do a really nice version of this.  It really is a great song underneath all the '80s production/nostalgia

 
Have not heard that cover but I have always liked this.  Lauper has a very legitimate set of pipes.
yeah... no.