Until It's Time for You to Go

"Until It's Time for You to Go" is a song from the 1965 album Many a Mile by Canadian First Nations singer-songwriter Buffy Sainte-Marie. Sainte-Marie included a French language reworking of the song, "T'es pas un autre", on her 1967 album Fire & Fleet & Candlelight. French translation was made by Quebecer songwriter Claude Gauthier.

"Until It's Time for You to Go"
Single by Buffy Sainte-Marie
from the album Many a Mile
B-side	"The Flower and the Apple Tree"
Released	1965
Label	Vanguard
Songwriter(s)	Buffy Sainte-Marie
Producer(s)	Maynard Solomon

Background

The lyrics concern an ordinary man and woman who love each other, but cannot stay together because they come from different worlds. The singer asks her (or, when sung by a man, his) lover: "Don't ask why / Don't ask how / Don't ask forever / Love me now." According to Sainte-Marie, the song "popped into my head while I was falling in love with someone I knew couldn't stay with me."[1]

"The Flower and the Apple Tree"

Featured as a B-side to the Sainte-Marie's single release of "Until It's Time for You to Go" is the rarity "The Flower and the Apple Tree", an original song that was exclusive to the single.[2]

Notable cover versions

• It was a UK Top 20 hit for British group The Four Pennies in 1965.[3]
• In 1970, Neil Diamond went to #11 on the US Easy Listening chart and #53 on the US Hot 100.[4]
• In 1972, Elvis Presley recorded the song which peaked at #40 on the US Hot 100, and #9 on the US Easy Listening chart.[5]
• In 1973, New Birth featuring future Supremes member Susaye Greene recorded a version of the song, which peaked at #21 on the US Hot Soul Singles chart.[6]

References

1. Until It's Time for You to Go, Buffy Sainte-Marie website.
2. "Buffy Sainte-Marie With Gershon Kingsley And His Chorus & Orchestra* - Until It's Time For You To Go". Discogs. Retrieved 2021-01-11.
3. Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
4. Whitburn, Joel (2002). Top Adult Contemporary: 1961-2001. Record Research. p. 78.
5. Whitburn, Joel (2002). Top Adult Contemporary: 1961-2001. Record Research. p. 196.
6. Whitburn, Joel (2004). Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942-2004. Record Research. p. 427.