Song of the Day 12/30: Kai Winding, “Time Is On My Side”

This one’s for Nancy Pelosi.

Everybody recognizes this as a Rolling Stones song or, among soul music buffs, a track by Irma Thomas. But the first to record this tune by Jerry Ragovoy, the same guy who wrote “Piece of My Heart,” was jazz trombonist Kai Winding, in 1963. The title phrase and “you’ll come running back to me” were the only lyrics, sung by the backup trio of Cissy Houston (Whitney’s mom) and her nieces, Dionne and Dee Dee Warwick. The melody is carried by Winding, who by then had abandoned be-bop for more pop-oriented material — he landed a top 10 hit that year with the movie theme “More.”

The song was soon picked up by Irma Thomas, the Soul Queen of New Orleans, as the B-side to “Anyone Who Knows What Love Is (Will Understand),” a ballad co-written by the young Randy Newman.

But as with so many songs back in the day, the tune wasn’t a hit until it was released by a white group, in this case the Rolling Stones in their last days covering American blues and R&B. They sound pretty rough in this October 1964 Ed Sullivan appearance — the first of five times they played on the show — and to modern ears Mick’s accent falls somewhere between mimicry and cultural appropriation.