Time Marches On by Tracy Lawrence

Album: Time Marches On (1996)

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Written by Bobby Braddock, who also wrote Tracy Lawrence's 1995 hit "Texas Tornado," "Time Marches On" follows the lives of a young family and the hardships they face as they grow older. By the end of the song, the philandering father is dead, the long-suffering mother has Alzheimer's disease, the baby sister is a grandmother, and the dope-smoking brother battles high cholesterol. "The only thing that stays the same," Lawrence sings, "is everything changes, everything changes."
Braddock told The Tennessean the story behind the song: "It was just a culmination of a lot of different things that started to come together. I would go down to my little hometown in Florida and I noticed that the people who were middle-aged were gone. My younger teachers were then middle-aged or late middle-aged, and I've always been interested in time and physics and the 'what-ifs' of life. And I just got the idea of writing a song about this family that just spends their whole lifetime in about 2 minutes and 40 seconds, and put some things in there that we're not supposed to put in country songs, like dementia."
Braddock wanted the melody to resemble the ticking of a clock.
In the lyrics, we first meet the sister as a baby crying in her crib, then again as a teen applying her makeup, and finally as a grown woman calling herself a "Sexy Grandma." Braddock's former mother-in-law had a bumper sticker with the phrase that he found hilarious.
This mentions the Hank Williams songs "Kaw Liga" and "Dear John," and the Bob Dylan tune "Like a Rolling Stone."
This was nominated for Single of the Year at the 1996 Country Music Association Awards, but lost to George Strait's "Check Yes Or No." It was also nominated twice for the CMA Song of the Year in 1996 and 1997, with Vince Gill's "Go Rest High On That Mountain" and Deana Carter's "Strawberry Wine" taking the prize, respectively.
This was a #1 Country hit in both the US and Canada.
Michael Ray recorded a live version for his covers project, the Bootlegger Sessions. He released it as the album's lead single on August 26, 2022.

Comments: 3

Kryson from The Big NbI feel this song its exactly like my life
Willis Smith from Mobile AlabamaI am a truck driver That spoke with The man that wrote Time marches on. I was told he was on the way to Nashville then to record it. And he thanked me for the conversation and told me to listen for it on the radio. He said he often talks to drivers on the cb radio to get content. Now I wish I could just prove that because I tell my friends that story and they say it’s not true. Tracy will you prove my story?what I had said to him was South Moves north and north moves south A star is born A star burns out The only thing that stays the same is time keeps changing I was referring to singers in the world of Nashville. The only thing that remains the same is everything keeps changing referring to life as a whole. But I used the reference of the Brady bunch The older brother Greg. Wher he moved into his dad’s office and grew his hair out and had the beads for a door. I am the real guy that gave lines to that songs.
Patrick from Long IslandSpecifically the partners on where it says South moods North North South I would love to know what the writer was thinking with that specific lyric

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