Summary
Time Let Me Know is one of the release's most important mechanism-songs. Its power lies not in explicit declaration, but in progressive approach: preparation, movement, nearness, threshold, and the sense that something longed-for is almost about to happen. The listener experiences growing anticipation, but the song withholds the conventional release. That makes it a key model for the album's interest in listener-completed meaning.
Lyrics
I fed the meter downtown
Dropped two coins into the cold
I fed the meter downtown
Dropped two coins into the cold
The needle moved a little
But the afternoon stayed old
I bought myself half an hour
By the jeweller’s faded sign
I bought myself half an hour
By the jeweller’s faded sign
But it didn’t make you younger
And it didn’t make you mine
I paid for time
Time let me know
You can feed the little meter
But the big hand still won’t slow
I paid for time
Time took my pay
Stood there with my collar up
Watching people walk away
There was rain along the pavement
There was brass beneath my thumb
There was rain along the pavement
There was brass beneath my thumb
I kept listening for your footstep
Like I had ordered one to come
The ticket man walked past me
With his book against his chest
The ticket man walked past me
With his book against his chest
He looked down at my paid-up sorrow
And he let me keep the rest
I paid for time
Time let me know
You can feed the little meter
But the big hand still won’t slow
I paid for time
Time took my pay
Stood there with my collar up
Watching people walk away
Now I know what coins are good for
I know what machines can do
They can hold a place on Market Street
They can’t hold a place for you
Still I checked the window twice
Still I waited by the kerb
Like the world might read the number
And return what I deserved
I fed the meter downtown
Till the red flag disappeared
I fed the meter downtown
Till the red flag disappeared
But the thing I came there hoping for
Never saw that I was cleared
I paid for time
Time took my pay
Stood there with my collar up
Watching people walk away
I paid for time
Time let me know
You can feed the little meter
But the big hand still won’t slow
I fed the meter downtown
Dropped two coins into the cold
The needle moved a little
But the afternoon stayed old
History
This track became an important reference point for the broader comprehension/twist song discussion because it successfully created anticipation through motion and successive approach rather than by simply repeating a phrase of delay. It also stands behind later thinking around Not Yet.
Meaning
The song is about desire intensified through approach and withholding. It shows how a song can generate strong expectation without ever delivering the obvious payoff the listener has been taught to await.
