Song for Day 26 of a 4 Year Funeral - "Time After Time" - by Cindi Lauper and Rob Hyman, sung by Eva Cassidy

Singer Eva Cassidy (1963-1996)

Day - "Time After Time" - by Cindi Lauper and Rob Hyman, sung by Eva Cassidy


      Valentines Day is set aside to honor the two things more powerful than power itself.

       Of course, the first of those is love, described in poems--don't get me started on the poems!--and songs such as "The Rose", sung by Bette Midler, "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face", as sung by Robert Flack (and others), "I Will Always Love You" done by Whitney Houston, John Stewart's "Looking Back Johanna", Bob Dylan's "Sara", Kris Kristofferson--yes, Kris Kristofferson--with "Stallion", Lennie Gallant's [literally] haunting "Pieces of You", "Annie's Song" by John Denver, "Love Lifts You Up", by Buffy Sainte Marie and performed by Joe Cocker, and "Angie", by the Rolling Stones, sung by Mick Jagger:

      ...and "How Can I Tell You?", by Cat Stevens:

      Cindi Lauper's hit song, "Time After Time", co-written with Rob Hyman and released on January 27th of 1984, got its name from reading a television guide description of a 1979 sci-fi movie by that name.  (The film starred Malcolm McDowell, fresh from "Caligula", David Warner and Mary Steenburgen.  It was about time-tracking a "Jack the Ripper" character.) 

       The melody has a somewhat demanding 13 note range.  It was the last one written for her debut album because of the inspiration for the line "the second hand unwinds":   discovering while recording the song that the producer's wristwatch was broken.  In essence, the song reinvented itself on the fly.

       Eva Cassidy's memorable cover is from the Blues Alley jazz supper club in Georgetown, DC, on the 3rd January 1996, ten months before her death.

Lyrics:

Songwriter Cindi Lauper.

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
Suitcases of memories,
Time after
Sometimes you picture me
I'm walking too far ahead
You're calling 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 will 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 will 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

Co-author Rob Hyman.

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


       The Percy Shelley poem "Ozymandias" makes it obvious how much stronger time is than power.  See also "Sic transit gloria mundi."

       What is time, though?  Libraries are filled with philosophical (e.g. Heraclitus:  "You could not step twice into the same river.") and scientific ("Brief History of Time" by Stephen Hawking) theories but I like my answers simpler: 

       Time is motion.  If frozen at the molecular level, like Han Solo in carbonite, we will reanimate the same age as when we entered stasis.  If all activity were ceased everywhere, no time will have passed.  As for Trump's "hold-my-beer" "presidency", let us take today to remind ourselves that this, too, shall pass (though not soon enough!).

       Today being Valentines Day, this is dedicated to the one I love.