Who Knows Where the Time Goes?

Sandy Denny wrote "Who Knows Where the Time Goes?" as the second song she ever wrote, and made a first demo in 1966 aged nineteen; a second demo, with voice and guitar, followed in 1967, and in 1968 she re-recorded it with the Strawbs for All Our Own Work. Judy Collins recorded it in New York on August 26, 1968 at A and R Recording, and it was released as the B-side of her American top ten "Both Sides, Now" and as the title track of her November 1968 album, the first commercial release. Collins called why it is a great song a mystical question, in Mick Houghton's biography. The Fairport version is on Unhalfbricking, July 1969, 5:08, with Richard Thompson's guitar licks in the right channel.

Wikipedia reads it as a reflection on observed events, the narrator not counting time, of love and loss; Linda Thompson said it pinpoints her feelings and that she does not find it sad. We found no comment from Denny on its meaning. Listeners voted it favorite folk track of all time at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards in 2007, and it was the last song Denny sang at her final performance.

Covers include Nina Simone (live, on Black Gold, 1970, who called it a lovely, lovely thing), Kate Wolf (1983), Nanci Griffith, Eva Cassidy, Nana Mouskouri, Susanna Hoffs and Matthew Sweet, Eddi Reader, Kate Rusby, Barbara Dickson and Heather Masse. Rufus Wainwright called it one of the saddest songs ever written. We found no chart entry for the song itself, no setlist.fm play count (the Denny setlists are mostly tribute acts), and could not tell which version our upload is; it is likely the Fairport 1969 studio recording, but that is unverified.