Spencer Davis Group, The - Time Seller Lyrics






I know there's a man who can sell time
I can take it away and say that it's mine
He smiles from a distance and lives in a tree
Holding out a welcome hand, a fist for you and me
Money is chocolate, locked in a silver cloud
Everybody knows but no-one is around
There's no tomorrow, only today
When it rains, it rains lemonade

So come with me and meet the man who's job it is selling all this time
Before he spreads his wings and starts to flying 'round the sky

People are shadows, trapped in a golden well
And only children's lives can break this spell
We live in a land where the clouds go on trees
Birds sound just like a clean summer breeze
I know that this man who does sell time
Is someone who's life lives in my mind
It's all said to think there is such a man
When you're lonely you can join me in his land

So come with me and meet the man who's job it is selling all this time
Before he spreads his wings and starts to flying 'round the sky





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Spencer Davis Group, The Time Seller Comments
  1. G.... S....

    I felt like a traitor for a while because I was so big on Stevie Winwood, but I thought Phil's vocals were good, too and continued to enjoy the SDG. Not that big a deal anymore. n

  2. g.... p....

    a great record ,with the amazing cello playing ,who played it in the group ???

  3. m.... ....

    one of the best singles of the 1960s.jusy listen to the lyrics.

  4. A.... T....

    By the way, the B Side 'Don't Want You No More' wound up as the opening track on the first Allman Brothers album! Jess thought I'd mention it.

  5. H.... ....

    This song is like "I am The Warlus" by The Beatles or "Whatever" by Oasis. It has a sense of British pop.

    H.... ....

    Oasis were a generation thing. The Beatles went from She Loves You to Strawberry Fields Forever in 3 years! Oasis went nowhere in ten! You'd probably think Elgar's Cello Concerto sounds like Jeff Lynn too!

  6. C.... v....

    Can Not Better!!
    Top Song!

  7. C.... v....

    Top Group, Top Song.

  8. b.... ....

    Not bad but not the original version, at least not the one that was in the Dutch charts in 1967, which had some different vocals, less percussion and more emphasis on cellos, thus sounding more like classical music. You can find that one in some other YouTube posts.

    b.... ....

    Yeah....another example of the dreaded "rérecording" syndrome...although this ain't too bad.....this 1994 version doesn't cut it compared to the original '67 version..... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0HN0WpHj_c

    b.... ....

    this is the original version..................mr bolletje422010.

  9. A.... T....

    "Time Seller" Spencer Davis Group. Got it for my 12th birthday , October 15, 1967

  10. K.... N....

    I love the voice of Steve Winwood. My wife calls Steve the most underestimated musician of all time. But I think this is the best number/song the Spencer Davis Group ever made.

    K.... N....

    Ko Nienhuis it was my first single. Got it for my 12th birthday in '67. Love it still after Almost file decades...

    K.... N....

    *Ko* ___Winwood was already one year out of Spencer Davis....and was in the charts with Traffic's "Paper Sun" The combined voices on the '67 version and this '94 rerecording are by Eddie Harding, Phil Sawyer and Spencer Davis.......

  11. A.... T....

    Cellos were the big thing Post Revolver! The Hollies 'King Midas' is another example!

  12. A.... T....

    Actually Eddie Hardin!

  13. m.... ....

    cannot be better,a masterpiece.........................................................

  14. D.... T....

    It was released before I Am The Walrus was recorded so it couldn't have been an attempt to copy it .

  15. j.... r....

    Ik ben beginnen luisteren naar Radio Veronica in de zomer van 1967. Ik hoorde dit liedje er geregeld. Het is me bij gebleven niettegenstaande ik het lang niet heb gehoord. Gevonden dank zij 'You Tube'. Wat een geluk!

  16. J.... ....

    Eddie Hardin (born 19 February 1949, London- 22 July 2015)

  17. M.... D....

    Lovely stuff from a great decade for pop music...thanks

  18. T.... T....

    We are named after this song, check us out x

    T.... T....

    @The Time Sellers nice choice :) good luck!

    T.... T....

    'Time Seller' would have been better! The Time Sellers is completely Naff!

  19. j.... l....

    hermosa canción, con cellos..y creatividad al mango.

  20. C.... H....

    It certainly has an early Traffic - Mr. Fantasy era vibe to it... Great psychedelia!!!

  21. R.... S....

    where is the video clip

  22. c.... ....

    Phil Sawyer is no Steve Winwood.  Very dated cheesy attempt to sound like I am the Walrus.

    c.... ....

    +channel I disagree. I have always liked this record since it first came out. On the other hand I have never liked I am the Walrus. I don't think they sound similar in any way and cannot even see any influence of one in the other. Perhaps you can enlighten me as to what you hear in this song that sounds like the Beatles' track.

    c.... ....

    Its a great single! Whats your beef? Dated and Cheesy is a pathetic thing to say!

    c.... ....

    @Andy Thomas I agree totally.

    c.... ....

    I am the walrus was recorded six months after this July 1967 single.

  23. N.... A....

    This song reminds me of " I am the walrus" a little.

  24. S.... ....

    I think that 1967 was the greatest year for pop, even the Top 20 misses were hits!

    S.... ....

    Try 1966 on for size!

    S.... ....

    @Andy Thomas 1965 my goodness. Found this site, lists top 100 by year. We were so lucky to be around thru the '60's.
    https://www.musicoutfitters.com/topsongs/1965.htm

  25. 1.... ....

    Pure Class should have done better in the charts

    1.... ....

    You can't dance to it! Unless you're a Dad at a wedding!

  26. G.... ....

    @caran26 'We will be there after tea' was 'borrowed' from After Tea because Ray Fenwick played in that band at the time. He also wrote the song, as far as I remember (can't find the single to check this).

  27. m.... a....

    ..... our generation made fantastic music! i was 19 then.

    m.... a....

    and i was still 16................................

  28. W.... C....

    @progmeck1 in Netherland this song reached nr 3 and stays 9 weeks in the charts , but sorry when Steve Winwood and his brother left Spencer Davis Group their high days were over , but these song deserved more than no 28 in the UK

  29. L.... M....

    Good morning, do you like sixties? Listen and pod cast my  program  " great sound of  60' s "  on the  site plumfm. Greeting and made blooper in  rock and roll.

    Salut, vous aimez les sixties ? Ecoutez et podcatez mon émission "le super son des sixties" sur plum fm. Salut et faites gaffe au rock'n roll.


  30. X.... S....

    lovely !!

  31. J.... R....

    great psyche

  32. P.... H....

    Thing I remember about the original was that Stevie Winwood did vocals on it.

    P.... H....

    Peter Harris. No he didn't!!!! This is the original.

    P.... H....

    stevie winwood had left the band at this time................................

  33. s.... ....

    Thank you sunsetlp for confirming my ageing memory!! I swear the Time Seller I grooved on when I was a teen (that's how OLD I am) was much more upbeat and it rocked. It was my fave 4 years, yet I cd never find another copy of the original 45 I had. The B side was Don't Want You No More but the A side was the best version of Time Seller they ever did. Now I know I wasn't imagining it. TY sunset you have made an old Aussie geezer very happy...

  34. l.... ....

    Thank you for the info!

  35. s.... ....

    I don't know how it came about, but the version of 'Time Seller' by SDG popular In Australia in the 70s was a completely different mix (to this one). Definitely the same song but with a different production that sounded heaps better to me, than this version. Maybe it was a cover by someone else and I'm confusing the two. Maybe it was a reworked version released some time after this one.

  36. M.... ....

    To be fair, Stevie may have been a ripe old 18 when he left to form Traffic. At that time, his brother, Muff, original bassist, left to be chief exec or even founder of Island Records. Also, B side to Time Seller was a great medium tempo blues-swing cut called "Don't Want You No More." Phil Sawyer did a fine job of lead vocal and lead guitar on that. Anyone got that to post? Allman Bros. fans will recognize the opening/main riff and 'perhaps where the Allmans got it .

  37. M.... ....

    In this version of SDG, Stevie was "replaced" by two players: Phil Sawyer on guitar and lead vocal and Eddie Hardin on Hammond organ and the organ bass pedals. They had no bass player. Spencer Davis on guitar and Peter York on drums. Unfortunately, Sawyer left after about a year and was then replaced by Ray Fenwick. Fact is, you don't really "replace" Steve Winwood.

  38. d.... ....

    song reminds me of the village green preservation society

  39. b.... ....

    big beatles influence on this dont you think.could almost be a track on seargent pepper.

  40. M.... �....

    I love it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  41. s.... ....

    Can't you just hear the basic elements of what The Move and later ELO were to take up on...

    s.... ....

    Cello's were all the rage after Revolver.

  42. S.... F....

    It hit #100 on the Billboard charts.

  43. C.... C....

    Great , thanks a lot !

  44. l.... ....

    Look for After Tea in my uploaded videos!

  45. C.... C....

    This is indeed a great song , quite different and more musically complex then songs from their earlier period. They did one more song in this style, borrowed from a Dutch group if I remember well, named After Tea; the song was named "We will be there after tea"

  46. J.... M....

    Banned? For what reason?

  47. A.... G....

    Spencer Davis was one of the famous groups n the 60s,like "The Byrds" and others.

    How cud anyone say,"under rated band" ?
    on 1966 Spencer was at the peak of fame.

    Roundhead hair cut,due to Beatlemania...

    Everone was trying to be a Beatle.

    (not a rolling for sure)

    I was 16,in 1966.

  48. J.... M....

    I have this original single (I hope). I liked this song, although I don't think it was a big hit!

  49. b.... ....

    GEEEZUS - I havent heard this in a lifetime I love the Cellos - I wonder if this inspired Jeff Lynne ???

  50. K.... ....

    i remember this song, have not heard in probably 30 years. I did not know it was Spencer Davis. I did briefly meet the gent who is lead singer in this band now, this in the lobby of a record company when I worked in Hollywood area there in late 70s-early 80s

  51. s.... ....

    This is one of the greatest song of the 60's...thanks for posting it,lorjim58.

  52. R.... B....

    In my younger years I dreamed of a man whose job was selling time!! Now I'm older, and yes there is something whose selling time, day after day...

  53. E.... ....

    time seller,great single 1967!