\u201cTime After Time\u201d is about loyalty when a relationship feels uncertain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Someone is drifting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Someone is waiting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And despite the confusion, the central promise is simple:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
when you need me, I’ll still be here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That vulnerability made the song a fascinating follow-up to the explosion of personality in \u201cGirls Just Want to Have Fun\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Same singer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Completely different emotional world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cyndi Lauper and Rob Hyman of The Hooters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lauper was working on her debut album She’s So Unusual.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The pair began developing the song together, with Hyman helping shape the music and Lauper bringing deeply personal lyrical ideas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Their voices also appear together on the recording.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A movie listing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lauper reportedly saw the title Time After Time in a TV guide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 1979 film starred Malcolm McDowell and involved H.G. Wells pursuing Jack the Ripper through time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That plot has virtually nothing to do with Lauper’s song.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She simply liked the phrase.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Songwriting can be surprisingly unromantic at the beginning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Great title.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Write song.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Parts of it came from Lauper’s personal life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She was navigating relationship tensions and the pressures of suddenly building a career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hyman was also dealing with his own relationship experiences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That helped the song avoid sounding like one person’s diary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Both writers could put something real into it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The relationship is unstable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The people involved don’t seem completely synchronised.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But underneath that uncertainty is a promise of dependability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you fall behind:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I’m there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you’re lost:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I’m there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It isn’t really a song about perfect romance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It’s about remaining emotionally available when things aren’t perfect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That’s more interesting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because Lauper was determined not to be one thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cGirls Just Want to Have Fun\u201d is loud, bright and mischievous.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cTime After Time\u201d is restrained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The synthesizers are gentle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The rhythm is understated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lauper’s vocal avoids the exaggerated character many listeners associated with her first hit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Suddenly audiences realised:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Oh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She can really sing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It became Lauper’s first US No. 1 in 1984.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Interestingly, \u201cGirls Just Want to Have Fun\u201d had stopped at No. 2.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The quieter song went one place higher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because underneath the 1980s production is a very simple composition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That makes it adaptable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Miles Davis famously recorded an instrumental interpretation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Eva Cassidy covered it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Numerous pop, jazz and acoustic artists have reworked it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A song surviving without the production that made it famous is usually evidence of strong writing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The video expands the song into a story about leaving home and moving forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lauper’s real mother appears in it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Her then-boyfriend\/manager David Wolff also appears.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That blurs the boundary between fictional video and Lauper’s actual life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Again, the theme is transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
People moving away from each other without necessarily stopping loving each other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
New wave ballad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soft rock.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Synth-pop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It belongs unmistakably to the 1980s but has proved unusually easy to strip down into other genres.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Try:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cyndi Lauper \u2013 All Through the Night<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Cars \u2013 Drive<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Berlin \u2013 Take My Breath Away<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Foreigner \u2013 I Want to Know What Love Is<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tears for Fears \u2013 Head Over Heels<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Bangles \u2013 Eternal Flame<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Phil Collins \u2013 Against All Odds<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A-ha \u2013 Hunting High and Low<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Roxette \u2013 It Must Have Been Love<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Crowded House \u2013 Don\u2019t Dream It\u2019s Over<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Love isn’t always about holding somebody tightly enough that they never leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sometimes it is saying:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Figure things out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you need me later, I’m still here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That’s a quieter form of love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And perhaps a more difficult one.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cTime After Time\u201d is about loyalty when a relationship feels uncertain. Someone is drifting. Someone is waiting. And despite the confusion, the central promise is simple: when you need me, I’ll still be here. That vulnerability made the song a fascinating follow-up to the explosion of personality in \u201cGirls Just Want to Have Fun\u201d. Same singer. Completely different emotional world. Who wrote \u201cTime After Time\u201d? Cyndi Lauper and Rob Hyman of The Hooters. Lauper was working on her debut album She’s So Unusual. The pair began developing the song together, with Hyman helping shape the music and Lauper bringing deeply…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4585,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2296,2756,2293,43],"coauthors":[2],"class_list":["post-4584","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-about","tag-cyndi-lauper","tag-meaning","tag-music"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n