It's Just About Time

"It's Just About Time"
Single by Johnny Cash and the Tennessee Two
A-side"It's Just About Time"
"I Just Thought You'd Like to Know"
ReleasedNovember 1958 (1958-11)
GenreCountry
LabelSun 309
SongwriterJack Clement
Johnny Cash and the Tennessee Two singles chronology
"All Over Again"
(1958)		 "It's Just About Time"
(1958)		 "Don't Take Your Guns to Town"
(1958)
Music video
"It's Just About Time" (audio only) on YouTube

"It's Just About Time" is a song originally recorded by Johnny Cash. It was written for him by Jack Clement.

The song was recorded by Cash in July 1958 during his final sessions for Sun Records, and released as a single (Sun 309, with "I Just Thought You'd Like to Know", another song from the same sessions, on the opposite side) in November.

Musical and lyrical content

"It's Just About Time" is a solid Jack Clement ballad with a honky-tonk flavor. Just about the time the singer thinks it's over for him and his careless love, he starts missing her.

— John M. Alexander. The Man in Song: A Discographic Biography of Johnny Cash

Release and reception

John M. Alexander notes in his Cash biography that Sun "rush-released" "It's Just About Time" as a single to cash on the success of Cash's second single for Columbia, "Don't Take Your Guns to Town". The trick didn't quite work. While the Columbia single was surrounded by a lot of attention, "It's Just About Time" reached only No. 30 on Billboard's country chart and no. 47 on the pop one.

Peter Lowry, as well, notes (in his book I've Been Everywhere: A Johnny Cash Chronicle) that "compared to recent singles this could be seen as a flop chartwise, with a stay of just one week in the [country] charts at the start of 1959."

The flip side, "I Just Thought You'd Like to Know," reached #85 on the Billboard Hot 100 and didn't enter the country chart at all.

Charts

Chart (1958–1959) Peak
position
US Billboard Hot 10047
US Hot Country Songs (Billboard)30

References

  1. ↑ "It's Just About Time / I Just Thought You'd Like To Know". Discogs. Retrieved 2019-01-18.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 John M. Alexander (16 April 2018). The Man in Song: A Discographic Biography of Johnny Cash. University of Arkansas Press. pp. 41–. ISBN 978-1-61075-628-0.
  3. 1 2 John L. Smith (1 January 1999). Another Song to Sing: The Recorded Repertoire of Johnny Cash. Scarecrow Press. ISBN 978-0-8108-3629-7.
  4. ↑ John L. Smith (1 January 1999). Another Song to Sing: The Recorded Repertoire of Johnny Cash. Scarecrow Press. ISBN 978-0-8108-3629-7.
  5. ↑ Joel Whitburn (2002). Top Country Singles, 1944 to 2001: Chart Data Compiled from Billboard's Country Singles Charts, 1944-2001. Record Research. ISBN 978-0-89820-151-2.
    Joel Whitburn (2005). Joel Whitburn's Top Country Songs: 1944-2005, Billboard. Record Research. ISBN 978-0-89820-165-9.
  6. ↑ Tim Neely (2004-05-01). Goldmine Records & Prices. Krause Publications. ISBN 978-0-87349-781-7. It's Just About Time Just Thought You'd Like to Know Sun 309.
  7. ↑ Colin Escott; Martin Hawkins (1980). Sun Records: The Brief History of the Legendary Recording Label. Quick Fox. ISBN 978-0-8256-3161-0. It's Just About Time I Just Thought You'd Like to Know.
  8. ↑ George Albert (1984-01-01). The Cash Box Country Singles Charts, 1958-1982. Scarecrow Press. ISBN 978-0-8108-1685-5.
  9. 1 2 Peter Lewry (2001). I've Been Everywhere: A Johnny Cash Chronicle. Helter Skelter. ISBN 978-1-900924-22-1.
  10. ↑ "Johnny Cash I Just Thought You'd Like To Know Chart History". Billboard. Retrieved 2019-01-19.
  11. ↑ "Johnny Cash Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved 2019-01-17.
  12. ↑ "Johnny Cash Chart History (Hot Country Songs)". Billboard. Retrieved 2019-01-17.