Time (Clock of the Heart)


"Time " is a song by the British new wave band Culture Club, released as a stand-alone single in most of the world and as the second single from their debut album Kissing to Be Clever in North America. Following on the heels of the band's global #1 hit, "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me", "Time " peaked at #3 on the UK Singles Chart, selling over 500,000 copies in the UK. In the United States, the song matched the #2 peak of its predecessor on the Billboard Hot 100, kept from the #1 spot by "Flashdance... What a Feeling" by Irene Cara for two weeks.
In Europe and United Kingdom, it was a stand-alone single, released in November 1982. For this market, its first inclusion on a Culture Club album was on their 1987 compilation, called This Time: The First Four Years.
In a retrospective review of the song, Allmusic journalist Stewart Mason wrote: "Of all of Culture Club's early hits, Time has probably aged the best. Boy George drops the cryptic self-mythology long enough to deliver a tender, heartfelt lyric on lost love."
The music video has been released in two versions. The only difference was a scene where the group is watching television, along with vocalist Helen Terry. In one version, a Christmas tree is shown. In the other, the tree is removed. This was because of the date of release for certain markets. The "Christmas" version was for European countries and the "regular version" was for the other markets, where the song was released in Spring 1983.
The US single was released with the B-side being an instrumental version of the song called "Romance Beyond the Alphabet", which not only removed the vocals but at least one layer of melody as well.

Formats and track listing

  1. "Time " – 3:42
  2. "White Boys Can't Control It" – 3:42
  1. "Time " – 3:41
  2. "Romance Beyond the Alphabet" – 3:34
  1. A1."Time " – 3:42
  2. B1."White Boys Can't Control It" – 3:42
  3. B2."Romance Beyond the Alphabet" – 3:44
  1. A1."Time " – 3:42
  2. B1."Romance Beyond The Alphabet" – 3:42
  3. B2."I'm Afraid Of Me " –
  1. A1."Time " – 3:42
  2. A2."White Boy "
  3. B1."I'm Afraid Of Me " –
  4. B2."Do You Really Want To Hurt Me " –

    Personnel

; Culture Club
; Additional members:

Weekly charts

Chart Peak
position
Belgian VRT Top 309
Dutch Top 407
Irish Singles Chart4
UK Singles Chart3
Chart Peak
position
Australian Kent Music Report12
Austrian Singles Chart9
Canadian RPM Singles Chart4
Finland 7
German Singles Chart16
New Zealand RIANZ Singles Chart4
Swedish Singles Chart11
Swiss Singles Chart9
US Billboard Hot 1002
US Billboard Adult Contemporary6

Certifications