Prime Time by The Alan Parsons Project

Album: Ammonia Avenue (1984)

Charted: 34

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Songfacts®:

This was one of the most popular songs to come from Alan Parsons Project, in part because it was radio friendly. It's also one of their more upbeat songs, in which a man sees better days ahead. The album contains several songs which were meant to comment on the lack of understanding between the public and the technology that made its life easier, but if you look at the lyrics of this song in particular, they appear to be influenced by astrology. >>
Suggestion credit:
Mike - Santa Barbara, CA
Eric Woolfson, who wrote this song with Alan Parsons, sang lead. His vocal doesn't come in until 1:05.
The Alan Parsons project was a studio band that didn't perform live until the '90s, which technology made it possible to re-create their music on stage. This posed a problem for music videos, which they solved for their first video, for "Don't Answer Me," but using animation. "Prime Time" was their second video, and the band didn't appear in it. Directed by D.J. Webster, it follows two mannequins who come to life - this was three years before that concept was used in the film Mannequin, starring Kim Cattrall and Andrew McCarthy.

Comments: 2

Redstickham from Baton Rouge, LaI've always liked this song. I've always thought it was about how things may look bad but then will start to work out but even so, there will be bad times too. That's what I think the lines "Even the longest night won't last forever" and "Even the brightest star won't shine forever" mean. There will be ups and downs in life, and you must be ready to handle both.

The video to this song always reminded me of "The After Hours," an episode of Rod Serling's The Twilight Zone anthology series. If you haven't seen it, find the original B/W version which starred Anne Francis, it's better than the 80's remake with Terry Farrell and Ann Wedgeworth.
Tom Duncan from Memphis, TnOne of my favorites by Parsons. The theme evokes the "high" you get on those extremely rare occasions when you're "on a roll." All is right with the world and life is GOOD. Also probably his most rock 'n roll radio-friendly tunes with its beat.

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