Album: Paradise Theater (1981)

Charted: 9

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• Yeah, here I am sitting on this bar stool,
  Talking like a damn fool
  Got the twelve o'clock news blues
  And I've given up hope for the afternoon soaps
  And a bottle of cold brew
  Is it any wonder I'm not crazy
  Is it any wonder I'm sane at all
  
  Well I'm so tired of losing
  I've got nothing to do and all day to do it
  Well I'd go out cruising, but I've no place
  To go and all night to get there
  Is it any wonder I'm not a criminal
  Is it any wonder I'm not in jail
  
  Is it any wonder I've got too much time on my hands
  It's ticking away with my sanity
  I've got too much time on my hands
  It's hard to believe such a calamity
  I've got too much time on my hands
  And it's ticking away, ticking away from me
  
  Too much time on my hands
  It's tick tick tick tick ticking away (Too much time on my hands)
  Now I don't know what to do with myself (Too much time on my hands)
  
  Too much time on my hands
  Too much time on my hands
  Too much time on my hands
  
  Now I'm a jet fuel genius
  I can solve the world's problems
  Without even trying
  I've got dozens of friends, and the fun never ends
  That is as long as I'm buying
  Is it any wonder I'm not the President
  Is it any wonder I'm null and void
  
  Is it any wonder I've got too much
  Time on my hands
  It's ticking away with my sanity
  I've got too much time on my hands
  It's hard to believe such a calamity
  I've got too much time on my hands
  And it's ticking away, ticking away from me
  
  Too much time on my hands
  Tick tick tick tick tick ticking away (Too much time on my hands)
  Now I don't know what to do with myself (Too much time on my hands)
  Umm mmm (Too much time on my hands)
  Tick tick tick ticking away (Too much time on my hands)
  Umm mmm (Too much time on my hands)
  Too much time on my hands
  Too much time on my Writer/s: TOMMY SHAW
  Publisher: Wixen Music Publishing
  Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 11

• Doormanswift from Grant, MiDryattz, now give us the definition of pedantic.
• Av from Fort Wayne, InFor those who might like really obscure references, this bass riff was borrowed by Sierra for their DOS adventure game Space Quest. When the player enters a bar midway through the game, there's sometimes an alien group playing a tune that very plainly takes the riff and just makes it a 12-bar blues.
• Citizen from Arlington VaIt's pretty obvious that the song is from the viewpoint of a bar regular who wastes his days at the bar. That's kind of the point of the song. A look at a guy who is wasting his life doing nothing except watching TV and drinking beer at a bar, day after day. It's almost as if the Cliff Claven or Norm characters from the "Cheers" TV show were singing this, except that the character in this song is a little more aggressive (and rock 'n' roll than Cliff or Norm). We know the character in the song is an unremarkable person. Every single line in the song points this out.
• David from NycThank you Dryattz. I was wondering when someone would point this out.
• James from Fort WorthJimmy Fallon & Paul Rudd recreated the video for Jimmy's Late Show on April 29, 2016. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFP3uD_gXsQ
  
• Barry from Sauquoit, NyOn March 15th 1981, "Too Much Time On My Hands" by Styx entered Billboard's Hot Top 100 chart at position #60; nine weeks later on May 17th, 1981 it peaked at #9 {for 2 weeks} and spent 19 weeks on the Top 100...
  It reached #2 on Billboard's Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart and #4 in Canada...
  Between 1972 and 1991 the Chicago-based quintet had twenty-three Top 100 records; eight made the Top 10 with one reaching #1, "Babe" for 2 weeks on December 2nd, 1979...
  They had three records peak at #3; "The Best of Times" in 1981, "Mr. Roboto" in 1983, and "Show Me the Way" in 1991.
• Camille from Toronto, OhIs it any wonder I'm not the president? Sang at many a bar by many a drunk person. Fun song.
• Jg from Joppa, MdTipper Gore is a complete moron.
• Dryattz from Atlanta, GaShaw's guitar-playing clearly surpassed his lyrics-writing. He obviously didn't know what is meant by the phrase "is it any wonder?" Usually found in rhetorical questions, it essentially means "it isn't surprising. . ." So, "is it any wonder the bear poops in the woods" says the same as "it isn't surprising the bear poops in the woods."
  
  So, in this song, he's really saying:
  
  It isn't surprising that I'm not crazy.
  It isn't surprising that I'm sane at all.
  It isn't surprising that I'm not a criminal.
  It isn't surprising that I'm not in jail.
  It isn't surprising that I'm not the President.
  It isn't surprising that I'm null and void.
  
  Which really means that his life is pretty unremarkable. Silly lyrics. . . this is what happens when one makes up a song because he must "write one more," instead of creating the song out of real feeling.
• Terry from Colchester, VtPaul, your backward politics aside, I too have loved Styx from their early days. But your remark about GWB is ridiculous. The nation may never recover from the damage he and his henchmen have done to it.
• Paul from Kennewick, WaNothing would surprise me about Tipper Gore-she and her ilk very nearly wrecked music as we know it. I've always loved Styx, and this song in particular. Thank God Brother Al lost to Dubya, or God knows what kind of damage would've been wrought. Great job,Tommy!

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