This song is written as the perspective of the boys in the street, as a whole, and what path they are going to choose as they get older and grow into men. (This is why the music video takes place in an orphanage.) The seen, and unseen collective suffering is imbedded in the boys’ mind, consciously or subconsciously, and is haunting them. Which path will the boys choose? Issac Hayes is the voice of reason, maybe God, the angel on his shoulder, or the voice of his forefathers from beyond the grave who can see the big picture and are pleading with the boys not to continue the violence and pattern of killing their brothers, but to rise above. The most beautiful song and has so many levels. Racism towards African Americans in America would not exist if everyone sat down and listened to this song and understood the history behind the words. The power, fear, pleading in RZA and Ghostface voices are genuine and powerful. Issac Hayes’ strong voice makes the perfect strong father figure, who is possibly from beyond the grave.
Time why you punish me
Like a wave bashing into the shore
You wash away my dreams
Time why you walk away
Like a friend with somewhere to go
You left me crying
Can you teach me 'bout tomorrow
And all the pain and sorrow running free
'Cause tomorrow's just another day
And I don't believe in time
Time I don't understand
Children killing in the street
Dying for the color of red
Time there red and blue
Wash them in the ocean, make them clean
Maybe their mother won't cry tonight
Can you teach me about tomorrow
And all the pain and sorrow running free
But tomorrow's just another day
And I don't believe in
Time is wasting time is walking
You ain't no friend of mine
I don't know where I'm goin'
I think I'm out of my mind
Thinking about time
And if I die tomorrow
Just lay me down in sleep
Time is wasting time is walking
You ain't no friend of mine
I don't know where I'm goin'
I think I'm out of my mind
Thinking about time
Time you left me standing there
Like a tree growing all alone
The wind just stripped me bare
Stripped me bare
Time the past has come and gone
The future's far away
And now only lasts for one second, one second
Can you teach me 'bout tomorrow
And all the pain and sorrow, running free
'Cause tomorrow's just another day
And I don't believe in time
You ain't no friend of mine
I don't know where I'm goin'
I think I'm out of my mind
Walking, wasting
You ain't no friend of mine
And I don't know where I'm goin'
No don't know
Time without courage
And time without fear
Is just wasted, wasted
Wasted time
Time why you punish me
Like a wave bashing into the shore
You wash away my dreams
Time why you walk away
Like a friend with somewhere to go
You left me crying
Can you teach me 'bout tomorrow
And all the pain and sorrow running free
'Cause tomorrow's just another day
And I don't believe in time
Time I don't understand
Children killing in the street
Dying for the color of red
Time there red and blue
Wash them in the ocean, make them clean
Maybe their mother won't cry tonight
Can you teach me about tomorrow
And all the pain and sorrow running free
But tomorrow's just another day
And I don't believe in
Time is wasting time is walking
You ain't no friend of mine
I don't know where I'm goin'
I think I'm out of my mind
Thinking about time
And if I die tomorrow
Just lay me down in sleep
Time is wasting time is walking
You ain't no friend of mine
I don't know where I'm goin'
I think I'm out of my mind
Thinking about time
Time you left me standing there
Like a tree growing all alone
The wind just stripped me bare
Stripped me bare
Time the past has come and gone
The future's far away
And now only lasts for one second, one second
Can you teach me 'bout tomorrow
And all the pain and sorrow, running free
'Cause tomorrow's just another day
And I don't believe in time
You ain't no friend of mine
I don't know where I'm goin'
I think I'm out of my mind
Walking, wasting
You ain't no friend of mine
And I don't know where I'm goin'
No don't know
Time without courage
And time without fear
Is just wasted, wasted
Wasted time
Time why you punish me
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"Children killing in the street, dying for the color of red... hey there, Red and Blue..."
This could be about gang-war amongst youths. Red and blue are the colors for the Bloods and Crips, respectively; something of an anthem against senseless street violence, perhaps.
I've seen it somewhere else, "dying for the color of a rag"
"Time" is a very deep and thoughtful song. You hear it on the radio all the time and it kind of cheapens it but here's a shocker.
Change most references to "time" to "God" and you will see what Darius Rucker really means to say in this song. It doesn't make a lot of sense to say you don't believe in time when making such a laundry list of things that are going wrong every day in the world and in one's personal life ... but a lot more sense to say you don't believe in God after all that.
time is burning away all the secondsof our lives and hes saying that hes just gonna live his life cuz time doesnt matter to him
This is about how time always keeps going on and on. It waits for know one, and always leaves you behind. It also mentions how everyone is killing and how there's so much 'pain and sorrow' in the world. Basically, itf you look deeper into it, all that's for nothing, because time's going to move on no matter who wins. I think he's given up on trying to figure it all out and worrying about it. He's just going to go with it, and let time drag him along like it would do anyways. He wants to learn about it, but if it's all over tomorrow, he wouldn't care.
as time goes on, things are getting worse
This song makes me a little teary eyed, because like most people i am afraid of how time passes, each second alother one closer to our deaths and a second we cant ever get back. THe song is saying to me, why bother fighting and killing when you only have so much time granted to you. Why not use that time to really enjoy life?
fully agree with chesire cat, amazing song
fully agree with chesire cat, amazing song
Sometimes, songs could really be pieces of dialogue...
I think the singer is having a conversation with time personified. Maybe that's too abstract a concept, but I agree with the other interpretations on here.
time is something that stays the same thoughout and it is somethng that cannot change under any circamstances therefore why think about it. basically time doesn't work out and people blame there shortcommings on time even through it never changes. so basically hes saying why worry about. its not changing, shifting or fixing anything by thinking about it,all it does is wastes time. therefore you need to live life and not pay attention to the deeper meaning. time can screw up manything including relationships. almost every relationship doesn't work out becaus of time in one way or another. and its not changing so its time to stop worrying about it. this i belive is what hes talking about in the song.