Time Warp (song)
Template:Short description Script error: No such module "about". Template:Use mdy dates Template:Advert Script error: No such module "Infobox".Template:Template otherScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". "Time Warp" is a song featured in the 1973 rock musical The Rocky Horror Show, its 1975 film adaptation The Rocky Horror Picture Show, and the 2016 TV production The Rocky Horror Picture Show: Let's Do the Time Warp Again. The song title comes from a dance performed during the pre-chorus of the song.
Composition and lyrics
The song is both an example and a parody of the dance song genre, with much of its lyrics consisting of instructions for performing the dance. (Example: "It's just a jump to the left / And then a step to the right / Put your hands on your hips / Bring your knees in tight.")[1]
This dance became one of the major audience participation activities during screenings of the 1975 film The Rocky Horror Picture Show and live performances of the original 1973 stage production The Rocky Horror Show.[2]
The song is a glam rock and rock and roll song. It is written by Richard O'Brien and Richard Hartley. The song is in the key of A major with a tempo of 174 beats per minute.[3]
Placement
"Time Warp" was the fifth song in the original stage show (after "Science Fiction/Double Feature", "Dammit Janet", "Over at the Frankenstein Place" and "Sweet Transvestite") where it was performed by Riff-Raff (Richard O'Brien), Magenta (Patricia Quinn), Columbia (Nell Campbell) and the Narrator (Jonathan Adams), but fourth in the film (following "Over at the Frankenstein Place" and preceding "Sweet Transvestite"). O'Brien, Quinn and Campbell reprised their roles from the stage production in the film but the Narrator, now renamed the Criminologist, was instead played by Charles Gray. In the 2016 TV production, The Rocky Horror Picture Show: Let's Do the Time-Warp Again, the number was performed by Reeve Carney (Riff-Raff), Christina Milian (Magenta), Annaleigh Ashford (Columbia) and Tim Curry (the Criminologist).[4]
Stage productions continued to use the original placement until Richard O'Brien revised the script for the 1990 West End revival in which he moved the song to the film's placement. For reasons of pacing, most productions now follow this order.[5]
The song is reprised briefly at the end of the film, in flashback, and in the stage show it serves as an encore led by Dr. Frank N. Furter (played by Tim Curry in the original stage production and film).[5]
Charts
Weekly charts
| Original Australian cast recording | ||
|---|---|---|
| Chart (1977) | Peak position | |
| Australia (Kent Music Report)[6] | 85 | |
| The Rocky Horror Picture Show | |
|---|---|
| Chart (1980–81) | Peak position |
| Australia (Kent Music Report)[6] | 3 |
| Canada (RPM Top Singles) | 12 |
| Europe (Euro Digital Songs) (Billboard) | 16 |
| France | 20 |
| UK (UK Singles Chart) | 13 |
| U.S. (Billboard) (Hot 100)[7] | 29 |
Year-end charts
| Chart (1980) | Position |
|---|---|
| Australia (Kent Music Report)[8] | 66 |
| Chart (1981) | Position |
| Australia (Kent Music Report)[9] | 27 |
Certifications
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Other appearances
The Hillywood Show used the song in a 2014 Doctor Who parody, which actor David Tennant (who portrayed the Tenth and Fourteenth Doctors on the series) called "extraordinary".[10][11][12]
In the S1E9 of the English dub of The Iceblade Sorcerer Shall Rule the World, Carol makes the Grim Reapers dance the Time Warp.
References
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External links
- Patricia Quinn discusses the Time Warp on Studio 10
- Fandango Movieclips: The Rocky Horror Picture Show - The Time Warp Scene
Template:Subject bar Template:The Rocky Horror Picture Show Template:Authority control
- Pages with script errors
- Articles with hAudio microformats
- Music infoboxes with malformed table placement
- Pages with broken file links
- American novelty songs
- 1973 songs
- 2008 singles
- 1970s fads and trends
- Dance crazes
- Songs from Rocky Horror
- Songs with lyrics by Richard O'Brien
- Group dances
- Line dances
- RPM Top Singles number-one singles
- Songs about dancing
- Songs with music by Richard Hartley (composer)