A new stripped-down vocal and piano version of "Time," a song Freddie Mercury recorded for a companion album to the 1986 theatrical musical of the same name, is being released today.
Renamed "Time Waits for No One," it's produced by Mercury's close friend Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Dave Clark of The Dave Clark Five. Clark produced the original recording, as well as the show. On the phone from London, he told us that despite being released in 2019 this version has no connection to Bohemian Rhapsody. In fact, he began thinking about doing it all the way back in the 1990s.
Dave Clark on how long ago he conceived the idea of releasing the stripped down “Time Waits for No One”, Clark says, “Nothing to do with the movie, let’s get that straight. When we first recorded ‘Time’ in rehearsal at Abbey Road with just Freddie and piano it gave me goosebumps, it was magical. Then we got on to putting down 48 tracks of vocal backing, great musical bits, and it ended up 96 tracks. And it turned out really well, the record sold over five million copies. And then a decade or so later I thought, ‘I love the original rehearsal.’”
Clark tells us that both "Time Waits for No One" and "In My Defense" a second song he did for the album Dave Clark's Time, will both appear on a box set that is currently in the works.
Here's the 1986 version