"Time After Time" is a romantic jazz standard with lyrics written by Sammy Cahn and music by Jule Styne in 1946.

First recordings

The first recording was on November 19, 1946 for Musicraft^[1] by Sarah Vaughan with the Teddy Wilson Quartet: Wilson on piano, Charlie Ventura on tenor saxophone, Remo Palmieri on guitar, and Billy Taylor on double bass.

The song was written for Frank Sinatra to introduce in the 1947 MGM film It Happened in Brooklyn. The pianist providing the offscreen accompaniment was André Previn to an arrangement of Axel Stordahl. Later in the film, the song was reprised in full by Kathryn Grayson. The only contemporary recording by a British artist was the one by Steve Conway.^[2]

Sinatra recorded it again in 1957 with the Nelson Riddle Orchestra.^[3] After it emerged as a jazz standard thanks to saxophonists like Getz and Coltrane, 1959 was a banner year for its popularity, being covered by many pop and jazz vocalists.^[4]

Other versions

• Chet Baker, Chet Baker Sings, 1954^[3]
• Stan Getz, Award Winner, 1957^[3]
• Frank Sinatra, This Is Sinatra Volume 2, 1957^[3]
• John Coltrane, Stardust, 1958^[3]
• Connie Francis, The Exciting Connie Francis, 1959
• Ricky Nelson, More Songs By Ricky, 1959
• Paul Desmond with Jim Hall, First Place Again, 1959^[3]
• Dinah Washington, What a Diff'rence a Day Makes!, 1959
• Joe Morello with Phil Woods and Gary Burton, It's About Time, 1961^[3]
• The Isley Brothers, Twist & Shout, 1962
• Nancy Wilson, Gentle Is My Love, 1965^[5]
• Ella Fitzgerald, Whisper Not (Ella Fitzgerald album), 1966^[6]
• Margaret Whiting, The Wheel of Hurt, 1966.^[7] A performance of this song was also heard on the soundtrack to Nora Ephron’s 2009 film Julie & Julia.
• Chris Montez, Time After Time, 1966
• Dusty Springfield, Where Am I Going?, 1967^[8](she also sang it live on her BBC-TV show the same year)
• Matt Monro, The Late, Late Show, 1968
• Freddie Hubbard with Ricky Ford and Kenny Barron, The Rose Tattoo, 1983^[3]
• Johnny Mathis, The Hollywood Musicals, 1986
• Carly Simon, My Romance, 1990
• Brent Spiner, Ol' Yellow Eyes Is Back, 1991
• Jacky Terrasson, self-titled album, 1994.^[9]
• Etta James, Time After Time (Etta James album), 1995.
• Ian Shaw, The Echo of a Song, 1996^[3]
• Harry Connick Jr., Come by Me, 1999
• Rod Stewart, The Great American Songbook, 2003
• Debby Boone, Reflections of Rosemary, 2005
• Rachel York, Let's Fall in Love, 2005
• She & Him, Classics, 2014^[10]
• Fujii Kaze, Help Ever Hurt Cover, 2020^[11][12]