Time Won’t Let Me – The Outsiders | Top 40 Chart Performance, Story and Song Meaning
Chart Performance: Pop (#5); 1966
Story Behind The Song By Ed Osborne
For singer Sonny Geraci, Top 40 lightning struck twice: in different decades and with different groups. Like many teens in the 60’s, Sonny belonged to a band. Called the Spitfires and based in Cleveland, Ohio, the group had an original tune Sonny thought was terrific.
The Spitfires finally committed Time Won’t Let Me to tape and – with a new name taken from an “Outsiders Keep Out” sign – soon found themselves in the Top 10 along with the Young Rascals (Good Lovin’), Paul Revere and The Raiders (Kicks), and the Rolling Stones (19th Nervous Breakdown).
Three more chart singles followed, including Girl In Love (#21) and Respectable (#15), before the usual music biz machinations left them broke and discouraged. Several years later Sonny was living in L.A. and fronting Climax, which landed at #3 in 1972 with Precious And Few.
In 1973 Sonny and Climax also released Rock And Roll Heaven, a non-charting song that the Righteous Brothers took to #3 in 1974.
This content and all Song Meaning articles were created and written by Top 40 Contributing Editor Ed Osborne. © 2024 Ed Osborne. All Rights Reserved. In addition to these song meaning articles, Ed has written our “Year in Music 1960s-1990s” articles.
Produced by:
- Tom King
Lyrics Written by:
- Tom King
- Chet Kelley
Ed Osborne
Hi. I got my first record at age two and never looked back, spending a decades-long career in radio and the music business. Even after years of reading about and listening to all types of music, I am still fascinated by it. Apart from that, I’m endlessly intrigued by art, nature, and the inner lives of people (and dogs).