The Story Behind "Time After Time"

"Lying in my bed, I hear the clock tick and think of you"
That was because I had been living with Dave Wolff
He, I lived in his studio apartment
I had some neighbors downstairs that I absolutely adored
Called Egosten, came up, and he looked at my apartment, he said
"You're not a white walls person and you have too much stuff in here"
So he got rid of everything and he built a loft bed
So it was really like sleeping in a bird's nest

And also when you figure that poor Dave Wolff
When he first met me, he must've been very determined because
Not only did he have to climb up five flights of stairs
But then to get to bed, he had to climb up another flight of stairs
You know what I mean?

And I had a clock that I really loved
I had got around the time of my birthday
And one night, he climbed up and he knocked the clock over
And it's rolled because, you know, I was a tenant, so, so on a tilt
So it rolled against the wall and smashed, right?
And so then I was a little upset, so he said, "Don't worry about it"

So he went back to his mother's and he gets an old clock
And it wasn't like a kind of clock like, you know
Car wash from the '70s, no, like the really cooler thing
It was a white windup clock that was so loud
I had to put it in the bathroom, 'cause it was only one room
I put it in the bathroom and closed the door
And you could still hear it

So you know that line
"Lying in my bed, I hear the clock tick and think of you"
No kidding, it's absolutely true, you know
So it was little things that we all were experiencing
I wanted to take bits of real life and put it in music
You have to be here now and take a piece of everything around you
And use it to make music that people
Real people can hear and relate to
Because they have the same stuff going on in their life

The drum beats out of time
If you're lost, you can look, and you will find me
Time after time