Only Time Will Tell (song)

"Only Time Will Tell" is the second single released by the rock band Asia from their successful first album, Asia (1982).

This article is about the Asia song. For other songs with the same title, see Only Time Will Tell (disambiguation).
"Only Time Will Tell"
Single by Asia
from the album Asia
B-side
  • "Ride Easy" (UK)
  • "Time Again" (outside UK)
ReleasedJuly 1982 [1]
Recorded1981
GenreProgressive rock
Length
  • 4:48 album version)
  • 4:05 (7" single edit)
LabelGeffen
Songwriter(s)Geoff Downes
John Wetton
Producer(s)Mike Stone
Asia singles chronology
"Here Comes the Feeling"
(1982)		 "Only Time Will Tell"
(1982)		 "Sole Survivor"
(1982)

The song was the band's third top 10 success on the US Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, also reaching number 17 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. It peaked at #54 in the UK.

Background

Singer John Wetton said, "It’s fairly self explanatory. It’s my lyrics again; a very personal one about the end of a relationship, and it’s my verse, Geoff’s chorus (“Heat of the Moment” is the other way around). I had been stockpiling songs during the leadup to Asia, and a lot of my lyrics were about personal experience–Joni Mitchell is one of my all-time heroes, and she is undisputed queen of the confessional."[2]

Reception

Cash Box said that "it’s a multi-layered progressive rock production with a simple, easily flowing melody at its core, thus providing a little something for both the rock and pop fan."[3] Billboard praised the "thundering drums, widescreen keyboard" and the "affectingly direct vocal."[4]

Track listing
US 7" Single
No.TitleLength
1."Only Time Will Tell"4:05
2."Time Again"4:45
UK 7" single
No.TitleLength
1."Only Time Will Tell" 
2."Ride Easy" 

Chart performance

The song was used in the television series Cold Case third-season episode "The River", the series Family Guy eighth-season episode, "The Splendid Source", some of the foreign versions of the 1982 Japanese anime Future War 198X, and in the 2015 video game Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain.

References
  1. "Asia singles".
  2. "Interview with John Wetton of the rock band Asia". Kickin' it Old School. May 1, 2011. Retrieved August 14, 2021.
  3. "Reviews" (PDF). Cash Box. July 24, 1982. p. 10. Retrieved 2022-07-07.
  4. "Top Single Picks". Billboard. July 24, 1982. p. 63. Retrieved 2023-01-27.
  5. "Top RPM Singles: Issue 6518." RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved 8 November 2020.
  6. "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 20 September 2018.
  7. "Asia Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved 16 February 2021.
  8. "Asia Chart History (Mainstream Rock)". Billboard. Retrieved 16 February 2021.
  9. "Offiziellecharts.de – Asia – Only Time Will Tell" (in German). GfK Entertainment charts. Retrieved 5 October 2023.
  10. "Top 100 singles of 82" Archived 2013-07-23 at the Wayback Machine, RPM, Volume 37, No. 19, 25 December 1982. Retrieved 6 March 2016
  11. Whitburn, Joel (1999). Pop Annual. Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin: Record Research Inc. ISBN 0-89820-142-X.
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