{{Infobox song | name = It's Just About Time | cover = | alt = | type = single | artist = Johnny Cash and the Tennessee Two | album = | A-side = "It's Just About Time"<br>"I Just Thought You'd Like to Know" | B-side = | released = {{start date|1958|11|}} | recorded = | studio = | venue = | genre = Country | length = | label = Sun <small>309</small> | writer = Jack Clement<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.discogs.com/master/view/518881|title=It's Just About Time / I Just Thought You'd Like To Know|website=Discogs|accessdate=2019-01-18}}</ref> | producer = | prev_title = All Over Again | prev_title2 = | prev_year = 1958 | next_title = Don't Take Your Guns to Town | next_title2 = | next_year = 1958 | misc = {{External music video|{{YouTube|oj0af45_tBg|"It's Just About Time" (audio only)|link=no}}}}<!-- Provided to YouTube by Sony Music Entertainment --> }}
"'''It's Just About Time'''" is a song originally recorded by Johnny Cash. It was written for him by Jack Clement.<ref name="Alexander2018">{{cite book|author=John M. Alexander|title=The Man in Song: A Discographic Biography of Johnny Cash|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CJlHDwAAQBAJ&q=%22It's+Just+About+Time%22+%22I+Just+Thought+You'd+Like+to+Know%22&pg=PA41|date=16 April 2018|publisher=University of Arkansas Press|isbn=978-1-61075-628-0|pages=41–}}</ref><ref name="Smith1999 (2)">{{cite book|author=John L. Smith|title=Another Song to Sing: The Recorded Repertoire of Johnny Cash|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vysKAQAAMAAJ&q=%22It's+Just+About+Time%22|date=1 January 1999|publisher=Scarecrow Press|isbn=978-0-8108-3629-7}}</ref>
The song was recorded by Cash in July 1958 during his final sessions for Sun Records,<ref name="Alexander2018" /><ref name="Smith1999 (2)" /> and released as a single (Sun 309, with "I Just Thought You'd Like to Know", another song from the same sessions,<ref name="Smith1999 (I Just Thought You'd Like to Know)">{{cite book|author=John L. Smith|title=Another Song to Sing: The Recorded Repertoire of Johnny Cash|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vysKAQAAMAAJ&q=%22I+Just+Thought+You'd+Like+to+Know%22|date=1 January 1999|publisher=Scarecrow Press|isbn=978-0-8108-3629-7}}</ref> on the opposite side)<ref name="Whitburn2005 and 2005">{{cite book|author=Joel Whitburn|title=Top Country Singles, 1944 to 2001: Chart Data Compiled from Billboard's Country Singles Charts, 1944-2001|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AZszAQAAIAAJ&q=%22It's+Just+About+Time%22+%22Sun+309%22|year=2002|publisher=Record Research|isbn=978-0-89820-151-2}}<br>{{cite book|author=Joel Whitburn|title=Joel Whitburn's Top Country Songs: 1944-2005, Billboard|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OC4KAQAAMAAJ&q=%22It's+Just+About+Time%22+%22Sun+309%22|year=2005|publisher=Record Research|isbn=978-0-89820-165-9}}</ref><ref name="Neely2004">{{cite book|author=Tim Neely|title=Goldmine Records & Prices|url=https://archive.org/details/goldminerecordsp00neel|url-access=registration|quote=It's Just About Time Just Thought You'd Like to Know Sun 309.|date=2004-05-01|publisher=Krause Publications|isbn=978-0-87349-781-7}}</ref><ref name="EscottHawkins1980">{{cite book|author1=Colin Escott|author2=Martin Hawkins|title=Sun Records: The Brief History of the Legendary Recording Label|url=https://archive.org/details/sunrecordsbriefh00esco|url-access=registration|quote=It's Just About Time I Just Thought You'd Like to Know.|year=1980|publisher=Quick Fox|isbn=978-0-8256-3161-0}}</ref><ref name="Albert1984">{{cite book|author=George Albert|title=The Cash Box Country Singles Charts, 1958-1982|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t5BHAAAAMAAJ&q=%22It's+Just+About+Time%22+%22Sun+309%22|date=1984-01-01|publisher=Scarecrow Press|isbn=978-0-8108-1685-5}}</ref> in November.<ref name="Lewry2001">{{cite book|author=Peter Lewry|title=I've Been Everywhere: A Johnny Cash Chronicle|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ocQK9YBdRhkC&q=%22It's+Just+About+Time%22+%22I+Just+Thought+You'd+Like+to+Know%22+%22Sun+309%22|year=2001|publisher=Helter Skelter|isbn=978-1-900924-22-1}}</ref>
== Musical and lyrical content == {{quote| "It's Just About Time" is a solid Jack Clement ballad with a honky-tonk flavor. Just about the time the singer thinks it's over for him and his careless love, he starts missing her.|source=John M. Alexander. ''The Man in Song: A Discographic Biography of Johnny Cash''<ref name="Alexander2018" />}}
== Release and reception == John M. Alexander notes in his Cash biography that Sun "rush-released" "It's Just About Time" as a single to cash on the success of Cash's second single for Columbia, "Don't Take Your Guns to Town".<ref name="Alexander2018" /> The trick didn't quite work. While the Columbia single was surrounded by a lot of attention, "It's Just About Time" reached only No. 30 on ''Billboard'''s country chart and no. 47 on the pop one.<ref name="Alexander2018" />
Peter Lowry, as well, notes (in his book ''I've Been Everywhere: A Johnny Cash Chronicle'') that "compared to recent singles this could be seen as a flop chartwise, with a stay of just one week in the [country] charts at the start of 1959."<ref name="Lewry2001" />
The flip side, "I Just Thought You'd Like to Know," reached #85 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.billboard.com/artist/johnny-cash/chart-history/hsi/|title=Johnny Cash I Just Thought You'd Like To Know Chart History|magazine=Billboard|accessdate=2019-01-19}}</ref> and didn't enter the country chart at all.
== Charts == {|class="wikitable sortable" !align="center"|Chart (1958–1959) !align="center"|Peak<br>position |- {{single chart|Billboardhot100|47|artist=Johnny Cash|accessdate=2019-01-17|refname=}} |- {{single chart|Billboardcountrysongs|30|artist=Johnny Cash|accessdate=2019-01-17|refname=}} |}
== References == {{reflist}}
{{Johnny Cash}}
{{authority control}}
Category:Johnny Cash songs Category:1958 singles Category:Songs written by Jack Clement Category:Sun Records singles Category:1958 songs