Songfacts®:

• This song was originally written and recorded for The Kinks' 1973 Preservation Act 1 album, but it didn't make the final cut. It was made available to the public for the first time in 2018 when it featured on the 50th Anniversary Edition of the band's sixth album, The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society.
• "Time Song" was performed live once by the band, when The Kinks played a concert at London's Drury Lane in 1973 to commemorate the UK joining what was then called The Common Market. Ray Davies explained that he "decided to use the song as a warning that time was running out for the old British Empire."
  
  Davies added that the song's subject matter remains relevant in 2018 in an era when the UK is in the midst of negotiating its withdrawal from the European Union. "It seems quite poignant and appropriate to release at this time in British history, and like Europe itself the track is a rough mix which still has to be finessed," he said.