No Time

Album: American Woman (1970)
Charted: 5
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This song about moving on and finding your true calling was written by Guess Who guitarist Randy Bachman and lead singer Burton Cummings.

    In our interview with Bachman, he explained that musically, the song was inspired by two tracks on the Buffalo Springfield Again album: "Rock & Roll Woman" and "Hung Upside Down." Neil Young of Buffalo Springfield (a fellow Canadian) played an acetate of the album for Cummings and Bachman when his travels took him to Winnipeg. The they heard it, they loved the country-rock sound and set out to write something like it. "That was our country-rock song," Bachman said. "Me and Burton trying to be like Neil and Stephen Stills."
  • According to Randy Bachman, the guitar lick on this song is an inversion of what Stephen Stills played on the Buffalo Springfield track "Hung Upside Down." When Bachman heard the theme song to the TV show Law & Order (composed by Mike Post), it sounded familiar. "It's the same riff," Bachman told us. "It's just recycling the riff in a different context."

    Note that Bachman doesn't fault Post for lifting the riff: Randy believes that just about any modern music music is based on something that came before.

Comments: 3

  • Damamae from IdahoThe 'killing floor' is an old blues metaphor. It can mean anything from a slaughterhouse to a bad breakup to the war in Vietnam - any kind a hell on earth. Check out Howlin' Wolf's 'Killin' Floor'...
  • Joe Granger from Oly, WaAll these years I thought the line was “No time for the killing wars”, not “floors” because it made sense during the Vietnam protests.
  • Dave Cinelli from Somewhere In The Great State Of NyThe big give away is the line "No time for the 'Killing Floor'", meaning he's being taken advantage of by quite possibly a gold-digger.
see more comments

Editor's Picks

When Rock Belonged To Michelob

When Rock Belonged To MichelobSong Writing

Michelob commercials generated hits for Eric Clapton, Genesis and Steve Winwood in the '80s, even as some of these rockers were fighting alcoholism.

Mike Campbell

Mike CampbellSongwriter Interviews

Mike is lead guitarist with Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, and co-writer of classic songs like "Boys Of Summer," "Refugee" and "The Heart Of The Matter."

Protest Songs

Protest SongsMusic Quiz

How well do you know your protest songs (including the one that went to #1)?

Best Band Logos

Best Band LogosSong Writing

Queen, Phish and The Stones are among our picks for the best band logos. Here are their histories and a design analysis from an expert.

Michael Schenker

Michael SchenkerSongwriter Interviews

The Scorpions and UFO guitarist is also a very prolific songwriter - he explains how he writes with his various groups, and why he was so keen to get out of Germany and into England.

American Hits With Foreign Titles

American Hits With Foreign TitlesSong Writing

What are the biggest US hits with French, Spanish (not "Rico Suave"), Italian, Scottish, Greek, and Japanese titles?