Haven't Got Time For the Pain by Carly Simon

Album: Hotcakes (1974)

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In "Haven't Got Time For The Pain," Carly Simon plays the part of a once sad, unfulfilled woman who has discovered happiness and turned her back on a past that once seemed hopeless, all thanks to the man who showed her the way. She wrote the music, but the lyric was written by Jacob Brackman, a journalist who sometimes co-wrote with Simon - he also penned the lyrics to her 1971 hit "That's The Way I've Always Heard It Should Be."

At the time, Simon was two years into her marriage with James Taylor and pregnant with their first child, daughter Sally. And while Taylor certainly filled her heart with love, the pain described in the song is likely exaggerated. Before meeting Taylor, Simon was the toast of the town with a rich social life and lineup of suitors to choose from; she sang about some of them in her hit "You're So Vain."
This was the follow-up to "Mockingbird," Simon's duet with James Taylor. Both songs were released on her fourth album, Hotcakes, which has a photo of a radiant Simon pregnant with her daughter Sally on the cover.
Like her hit "Anticipation," which was famously used to promote Heinz ketchup in the '70s, "Haven't Got Time For The Pain" was also appropriated for a TV commercial - for Medipren pain reliever.
This was used in the 2000 romantic comedy The Next Best Thing, starring Madonna.
James Taylor played acoustic guitar on this one along with Jimmy Ryan. The other musicians and singers are:

Bass: Klaus Voormann
Drums: Jim Keltner
Percussion: Ralph McDonald
Background Vocals: Lani Groves, Carl Hall, Tasha Thomas

Paul Buckmaster did the orchestral arrangements.

Comments: 6

Cale Guillory from Monroe, LaAs the final track on Hotcakes, “Haven’t Got Time for the Pain” featured a Carly Simon sound-alike who was hired to sing the highest notes of the song since Carly Simon was unable to do so due to her pregnancy with her and James Taylor’s daughter Sally Taylor. However, after giving birth, Simon returned to the recording studio to replace the sound-alike with her own vocal; reverb and phase effects were added to what was left of the original album version. Also, the single version includes a shorter coda that includes different lyrics, and the string outro fades out roughly ten seconds earlier than it does on Hotcakes.
Fred In So Cal from So CalThis Song Is an ode to her meditation teacher who taught her to Quiet down her mind and "drink in all the white light poring down from the heavens" She hasn't got time for the pain, not since she's known him : )
Barry from Sauquoit, NyOn May 5th 1974, "Haven't Got Time for the Pain" by Carly Simon entered Billboard's Hot Top 100 chart at position #80; six weeks later on June 16th, 1974 it would peak at #14 {for 1 week} and spent 12 weeks on the Top 100...
And on July 7th, 1974 it reached #2 {for 1 week} on Billboard's Adult Contemporary Tracks chart; the week it was at #2 the #1 record was "Annie's Song" by John Denver...
Between 1971 and 2001 she, as a solo artist, had twenty-two Top 100 records; four made the Top 10 with one reaching #1, "You're So Vain" for 3 weeks in 1971...
She just missed having a second #1 record when "Nobody Does It Better" peaked at #2 {for three weeks} in 1977; the three weeks it was at #2 the #1 record for those three weeks was "You Light Up My Life" by Debby Boone...
In duets with James Taylor she made the Top 100 two more times; "Mockingbird" {#5 in 1974} and "Devoted to You" {#36 in 1978}...
Carly Elisabeth Simon will celebrate her 70th birthday come next month on June 25th {2015}.
Jeff from Beverly Hills, MaI use this song like a mantra when I am feeling blue for too long.
Martin from Fresno, CaThat song says something about true happiness. When you are focused on others you have no time to feel sorry for yourself.
Camille from Toronto, OhOne of Carly Simon's best. It's easy to sing along to this tune, all the words are so easy to remember, even after all these years.

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