by Fairport Convention · 2024
The song “Who Knows Where The Time Goes?” by Fairport Convention is about accepting the passage of time with grace and finding comfort and timelessness in love and companionship, even as life and seasons inevitably change.
This song has been Shazamed over 433,890 times. As of this writing, Who Knows Where The Time Goes? is ranked 161
Who Knows Where The Time Goes?’ by Fairport Convention is a gentle, beautiful song from the 1960s that explores feelings of change, longing, and the mystery of time passing. We’re going to look at how this song makes people feel and what its lyrics are really saying. ⬇️
️ There’s a soft hush in the music, like dusk settling over a quiet field, where even birds sense it’s time to leave. The song’s mood is peaceful yet tinged with a bittersweet awareness that everything, eventually, must move on.
⏳ The chorus drifts in, haunting and eternal: “For who knows where the time goes?” It feels almost like a sigh—wistful, wondering, and achingly honest. We all watch moments slip away, don’t we, and sometimes, in those in-between spaces, we realize that no one can truly grasp or hold onto time; it slips through our fingers no matter how hard we try.
️ The verses paint scenes of lonely shores and winter fires, but the singer remains unmoved by the passing of seasons or the departure of friends. Lines like “I have no thought of time” and “I do not count the time” reveal a soul who is present, quietly resisting the rush and chaos of the world. Here, the song hints at the beauty of living in the now, while everything else ebbs and flows around us, like tides pulling away from sand.
Ultimately, love becomes the anchor—a steadfast presence when “storms of winter” come and go, and the “birds in spring” return. With love nearby, fear of time fades, replaced by a tender acceptance that life, with all its changes, is not meant to be measured, but to be felt.
The real magic of this song is in its gentle reminder that while we may never know where the time goes, we can choose to cherish what—and who—we hold close, right here, right now.
Writer(s) of Who Knows Where The Time Goes?:
