WCSX Classic Cuts : Time for Me to Fly
WCSX Classic Cuts
REO Speedwagon: “Time for Me to Fly”
The Hook: Kevin Cronin wrote the verses for it years before he wrote the chorus.
Year: 1978
Album: You Can Tune a Piano, but You Can’t Tuna Fish
Writer: Kevin Cronin
Stats: While it peaked at number-56 on the Billboard Hot 100, it actually became their first song to go to number-one in a few markets.
Background: REO Speedwagon frontman Kevin Cronin tells us that the way “Time for Me to Fly” was written is typical of the way a lot of his songs come about. He explains his somewhat unusual songwriting process.
REO Speedwagon frontman Kevin Cronin on writing “Time for Me to Fly.” OC:…that happen. :23
“I’m realizing how many songs I wrote this way. I wrote the verses, and then wrote the chorus years later. And I guess that’s how a song is supposed to be. You write the verses about what’s happening, and then the chorus is supposed to be an overview of what the verses did. It takes me about five years to get that overview, normally. So ‘Time for Me to Fly’ was one like that. That was our first number-one single, even though it wasn’t number-one nationally, it was number-one in a few cities around the Midwest. It definitely was a good feeling to see that happen.”
