A Stunning Previously Unreleased Stripped Down Version of Freddie Mercury’s ‘Time Waits for No One’

Musician Dave Clark (formerly of the Dave Clark Five) dug through the vaults of Abbey Road Studios and released “Time Waits For No One”, an absolutely gorgeous, fully titled, stripped down version of the 1986 Freddie Mercury “Time”. The original version was recorded for a solo concept album of the same name. This stripped down version encompasses the amazing voice that we all miss so much.

Clarke, who worked very closely on this project with Mercury in 1986 and even produced a musical based on the upon the album, felt that this version of the song epitomized his dear friend’s incredible talent.

He was always so enthusiastic about music. He used to show me videos of the operatic soprano Montserrat Caballé. It was great. What I loved about Freddie was that he was so forward-thinking. He did ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, then was so adventurous again with Barcelona in 1988, which was introducing opera to rock’n’roll. Pavarotti and ‘Nessun Dorma’ came after that. Freddie was an innovator.

Here’s an interview of Mercury and Clarke chatting about the album in 1986

Lori Dorn
Lori Dorn

Lori is a Laughing Squid Contributing Editor based in New York City who has been writing blog posts for over a decade. She also enjoys making jewelry, playing guitar, taking photos and mixing craft cocktails.