Time Warp (song)
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"Time Warp" is a song featured in the 1973 rock musical ''
The Rocky Horror Show ''The Rocky Horror Show'' is a Musical theatre, musical with music, lyrics and book by Richard O'Brien. A humorous tribute to various B movies associated with the Science fiction film, science fiction and Horror film, horror genres from the 193 ...
'', its 1975 film adaptation ''
The Rocky Horror Picture Show ''The Rocky Horror Picture Show'' is a 1975 independent musical comedy horror film produced by Lou Adler and Michael White, directed by Jim Sharman, and distributed by 20th Century Fox. The screenplay was written by Sharman and Richard O ...
'', and the 2016 TV production '' The Rocky Horror Picture Show: Let's Do the Time Warp Again''. The song title comes from a
dance Dance is an The arts, art form, consisting of sequences of body movements with aesthetic and often Symbol, symbolic value, either improvised or purposefully selected. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...
performed during the chorus of the song.


The dance

The song is both an example and a
parody A parody is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satire, satirical or irony, ironic imitation. Often its subject is an Originality, original work or some aspect of it (theme/content, author, style, e ...
of the dance song genre, with much of its lyrics consisting of instructions for performing the dance. (Example: "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.") This dance became one of the major audience participation activities during screenings of the 1975 film ''
The Rocky Horror Picture Show ''The Rocky Horror Picture Show'' is a 1975 independent musical comedy horror film produced by Lou Adler and Michael White, directed by Jim Sharman, and distributed by 20th Century Fox. The screenplay was written by Sharman and Richard O ...
'' and live performances of the original 1973 stage production ''
The Rocky Horror Show ''The Rocky Horror Show'' is a Musical theatre, musical with music, lyrics and book by Richard O'Brien. A humorous tribute to various B movies associated with the Science fiction film, science fiction and Horror film, horror genres from the 193 ...
''. The song is in the key of
A major A major is a major scale based on A, with the pitches A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. Its key signature has three sharps. Its relative minor is F-sharp minor and its parallel minor is A minor. The A major scale is: Changes needed for the ...
.


Placement

"Time Warp" was the fifth song in the original stage show (after " Science Fiction/Double Feature", " Dammit Janet", " Over at the Frankenstein Place" and " Sweet Transvestite") where it was performed by Riff-Raff (
Richard O'Brien Richard O'Brien (born Richard Timothy Smith; 25 March 1942) is a British-New Zealand actor, writer, musician, and television presenter. He wrote the musical stage show ''The Rocky Horror Show'' in 1973, which has since remained in continuous p ...
), Magenta (
Patricia Quinn Patricia Quinn, Lady Stephens (born 28 May 1944) is a Northern Irish actress and singer. She is best known for her role as Magenta in the 1975 musical comedy horror film '' The Rocky Horror Picture Show,'' and the original stage play from wh ...
), Columbia ( Nell Campbell) and the Narrator ( Jonathan Adams), but fourth in the film (following "Over at the Frankenstein Place" and preceding "Sweet Transvestite"). O'Brien, Quinn and Campbell reprised their roles from the stage production in the film but the Narrator, now renamed the Criminologist, was instead played by Charles Gray. In the 2016 TV production, '' The Rocky Horror Picture Show: Let's Do the Time-Warp Again'', the number was performed by Reeve Carney (Riff-Raff),
Christina Milian Christina Milian ( , Flores; born September 26, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Following a number of minor television and film roles in the late nineties, Milian made her recording debut on American rapper Ja Rule's 20 ...
(Magenta), Annaleigh Ashford (Columbia) and
Tim Curry Timothy James Curry (born 19 April 1946) is an English actor and singer. He rose to prominence as Dr. Frank-N-Furter in the musical film '' The Rocky Horror Picture Show'' (1975), reprising the role he had originated in the 1973 London, 1974 L ...
(the Criminologist). Stage productions continued to use the original placement until Richard O'Brien revised the script for the 1990 West End revival in which he moved the song to the film's placement. For reasons of pacing, most productions now follow this order. The song is reprised briefly at the end of the film, in flashback, and in the stage show it serves as an encore led by Dr. Frank N. Furter (played by Tim Curry in the original stage production and film).


Charts


Weekly charts


Year-end charts


Certifications


Other appearances

''The Hillywood Show'' used the song in a 2014 ''
Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series, created by Sydney Newman, C. E. Webber and Donald Wilson (writer and producer), Donald Wilson, depicts the adventures of an extraterre ...
'' parody, which actor
David Tennant David John Tennant (; born 18 April 1971) is a Scottish actor. He is best known for portraying the Tenth Doctor, tenth and Fourteenth Doctor, fourteenth incarnations of The Doctor (Doctor Who), the Doctor in the science fiction series ''Docto ...
(who portrayed the
Fourteenth Doctor The Fourteenth Doctor is an incarnation of the Doctor and the protagonist of the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'' for the 2023 specials. He is portrayed by Scottish actor David Tennant, who previously portrayed the Ten ...
on the series) called "extraordinary". In the S1E9 of the English dub of The Iceblade Sorcerer Shall Rule the World, Carol makes the Grim Reapers dance the Time Warp.


References


External links


Patricia Quinn discusses the Time Warp on Studio 10Fandango Movieclips: The Rocky Horror Picture Show - The Time Warp Scene
{{DEFAULTSORT:Time Warp 1973 songs 2008 singles Novelty and fad dances Songs from Rocky Horror Songs with lyrics by Richard O'Brien Group dances Line dances RPM Top Singles number-one singles Halloween songs Songs about dancing Songs with music by Richard Hartley (composer)