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TL;DR:

  • Patti Smith watched The Rolling Stones perform “Time Is on My Side” on The Ed Sullivan Show.
  • She loved the performance but it made her father incredibly angry.
  • Smith had never seen her father get so angry before.

Patti Smith saw The Rolling Stones playing “Time Is on My Side” on television. The performance made Smith a fan of The Rolling Stones. On the other hand, the band’s risque antics made her father start shouting.

Patti Smith listening to The Rolling Stones’ ‘Time Is on My Side’ was a sexual awakening

Early in their career, The Rolling Stones covered “Time Is on My Side” by Kai Winding. According to the 2013 book 50 Licks: Myths and Stories from Half a Century of The Rolling Stones, Smith had a strong reaction when she saw the band perform the track on The Ed Sullivan Show.

“My brain froze,” she recalled. “I was doing all my thinking between my legs. I got shook. Light broke.”

Smith said watching The Rolling Stones made her happy to be a woman. “I can tie the Stones in with every sexual release of my late blooming adolescence,” she recalled.

Patti Smith’s father couldn’t stop shouting when he saw The Rolling Stones on TV

The Rolling Stones’ style was not warmly received by everyone in the Smith household. “It was 1965,” Smith said. “Pa was shouting from the TV room. ‘Jesus Christ! Jesus Christ!’ 

“I ran in panting,” She added. “I was scared silly. There was Pa glued to the TV screen cussing his brains out. A rock ‘n’ roll band was doing it right on The Ed Sullivan Show. Pa was frothing like a dog. I never seen him so mad.”

Smith was unmoved by her father’s response to The Rolling Stones performing “Time Is on My Side.” “I lost contact with him [Pa] quick,” she said. “That band was as relentless as murder. I was trapped in a field of hot dots. The guitar player had pimples. The blonde kneeling down had circles ringing his eyes. One had greasy hair. The other didn’t care.”

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How ‘Time Is on My Side’ performed in the United States and the United Kingdom

“Time Is on My Side” became a modest hit for The Rolling Stones in the United States. It reached No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100. It stayed on the chart for a total of 13 weeks. The Rolling Stones included the tune on the American album 12 x 5. That record reached No. 3 on the Billboard 200 and remained on the chart for 38 weeks.

According to The Official Charts Company, “Time Is on My Side” hit No. 45 in the United Kingdom, lasting on the chart for a mere two weeks. In the U.K., the cover appeared on the album The Rolling Stones No. 2. The album peaked at No. 1 for 10 of its 37 weeks on the chart.

“Time Is on My Side” is a great song and it changed Smith forever.

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