This is another old song that Knees wrote back in the 70s when he was flying high with the Mighty Calhoon Brothers at the Las Cruces Inn on West Picacho Street in Las Cruces NM. I have live recordings from the bar and a version done at home but they weren't good enough for me to include them in chronological order.
The first version I made with the harmonizer didn't turn out so well and I blamed it on the fact that the chords in this song don't exactly make harmonic sense. The melody fits against the chords okay but good luck finding a reasonable harmony. The fact that it eventually came up with decent harmony lines is a tribute to the technical expertise of chip designers and manufacturers.
The name of this song was inspired by Thomas Berger’s book of the same name. In the early 80s Knees sent this song into the American Song Festival, a national songwriting contest, and the next year there were two songs out called Killing Time. It was a song title whose time had come. Neither song resembled Knees’ song.
You’re a killer, time’s your victim
He was on our side, still you tricked him
Not so long ago
We had the world on the run
I knew you had friends on all sides of town
We both laughed about the rumors goin round
But you made me feel I was the one.
Even though you touched me like nobody else
I’d still have to call it a crime
Cause all the while I was makin love to you
You were only killing time
You were only killing time.
You’re a killer, time’s your victim
He was all we had, still you tricked him
If I hadn’t been so high
I wouldn’t have had so far to fall
I don’t blame you for takin what I had
But it’s all comin back and I feel so bad
You called us lovers
But now you never call at all.
Okay, here's the Calhoon Brothers version from January 13, 1979.
