For the rhythmically challenged among us, it’s always a blessing when the lyrics double as dance instructions, like it does in The Time Warp: “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.” I first encountered this electrifyingly raunchy number on a school camp during my prepubescent years, where it blared repeatedly and we bopped along with joyous abandon. And when we all collapsed in unison at the end, like unplugged marionettes? Pure riot. Of all songs, The Time Warp demands to be danced in company.
What’s interesting is that the choreography we did as kids during the refrain “Let’s do the Time Warp again” differs from what’s shown in the movie version below. The moves we followed are actually from the Australian version, which appears at the end of this post.
The Time Warp first appeared in the 1973 rock musical The Rocky Horror Show, and later in its now cult-classic film adaptation, The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975). It was written by Richard O’Brien who also performed the song as the character Riff Raff (see image inset) in the original 1975 film. Now that’s a talented individual! I just love his darkly amusing and slightly nasal voice as he opens the number. The dance became one of the major audience participation activities during screenings of the 1975 film and is both an example and a parody of the dance song genre.
Despite the song receiving significant commercial success in 1980-81 (No. 3 in Australia, No. 13 UK and No. 29. US Billboard) and becoming wildly popular in my next of the woods (Australia) throughout the 1980’s and into the early 90’s, its zest and allure seems to have faded in recent decades. I haven’t heard it played commercially, nor has it cropped up in contemporary music fandom circles. I’m not sure why that is, because I still consider The Time Warp iconic for its music, its choreography, and its ability to ignite audience participation.
[Verse 1: Riff Raff, Magenta, Both]
It’s astounding
Time is fleeting
Madness takes its toll
But listen closely
Not for very much longer
I’ve got to keep control
I remember doing the Time Warp
Drinking those moments when
The blackness would hit me
And the void would be calling
[Refrain: All]
Let’s do the Time Warp again
Let’s do the Time Warp again
[Chorus: All, The Criminologist]
It’s just a jump to the left
And then a step to the right
With your hands on your hips
You bring your knees in tight
But it’s the pelvic thrust
That really drives you insane
[Verse 2: Magenta, Riff Raff]
It’s so dreamy
Oh, fantasy free me
So you can’t see me
No, not at all
In another dimension
With voyeuristic intention
Well secluded, I see all
With a bit of a mind flip
You’re into the time slip
And nothing can ever be the same
You’re spaced out on sensation
Like you’re under sedation
[Verse 3: Columbia]
Well I was walking down the street
Just-a having a think
When a snake of a guy gave me an evil wink
He shook-a me up, he took me by surprise
He had a pick up truck and the devil’s eyes
He stared at me and I felt a change
Time meant nothing, never would again
References:
1. Time Warp (Song) – Wikipedia
“The more I live, the more I learn. The more I learn, the more I realize, the less I know.”- Michel Legrand
Observation Blogger 
very nice, wonderful memories….tossing hot dogs at the screen. 1975 will always be a year I’ll never forget….
hot dogs at the screen? wtf haha
it was like a interactive movie a craze mob mentality thing..maybe the first..I’m laughing now remembering…times where kinda wild…
Yeh, that’s trippy man
I’ve always loved the Rocky Horror Picture Show and its soundtrack, and have seen the a couple of times on TV and once on the big screen in an independent movie theater. «The Time Warp» is a fun rocker! 🙂
I don’t think I ever saw the movie although I’ve heard other songs from the soundtrack. ‘The Time Warp’ had somehow and inexcusably slipped from my memory until I was reunited with it fairly recently.
/well, during the mid-70s, All of us hip folk in South-ern California, especially in San Diego, every Friday and Saturday night we’re at the local underground theater to watch Rocky one more time, throw hot dogs at the screen, and shout the given audience participation lines at the proper times, hooting at Riff Raff, and wildly screaming our approval when Meatloaf goes riding across the stage on a full dress Harley-Davidson. Oh, those were the days!
Thanks for recalling your vivid memories of the ‘Rocky Horror’ event and enlightening me a bit more about the ‘throwing of hotdogs’ given the audience participation lines. That would have been a hoot to participate in.