It’s Just a Matter of Time (song)
Origin and original success
“It’s Just a Matter of Time”
Single by Brook Benton
Released February 1959
Format single
Recorded 1958
Genre pop, rhythm and blues
Length 2:28
Label Mercury 71394
Writer(s) Brook Benton, Belford Hendricks, Clyde Otis
Producer(s) Belford Hendricks
Brook Benton singles chronology
“Crazy In Love With You”
(1958) “It’s Just a Matter of Time”
(1959) “Endlessly”
(1959)
“It’s Just a Matter of Time” is a popular song written by Brook Benton, Clyde Otis and Belford Hendricks. The original recording by Benton topped the Billboard rhythm & blues chart in 1959 and peaked at No. 3 on the Hot 100 pop chart, the first in a string of hits for Benton that ran through 1970.
The song later found a second life as a country song, with major hit recordings by three different country music performers during the 1970s and 1980s, two of which hit number one
Writing
Brook Benton, Belford Hendricks and Clyde Otis established themselves as a songwriting team in the late 1950s, penning hits for Nat King Cole (“Looking Back”) and Clyde McPhatter (“A Lover’s Question”). During one songwriting session, Benton expressed frustration that they were not hitting on any good ideas, to which Otis replied, “It’s just a matter of time, Brook”. Those words inspired them to write a love song from the point of view of a man who misses his love, but believes she will come back to him.
Benton’s recording
Benton and Otis placed the song on a demo tape for Cole, and he agreed to record it. However, Otis became an A&R manager at Mercury Records, and signed Benton to the label. Otis felt that “It’s Just A Matter Of Time” would be an ideal single for Benton, and he asked Cole not to record the song so it could be Benton’s first release on the label. Belford Hendricks, a classically trained composer, co-wrote and arranged the recording. Benton’s version, in a style clearly influenced by Cole, was a quick success, rising to number three on the Billboard pop charts while topping the R&B chart for 9 weeks in the spring of 1959, the longest run atop the chart of any song that year. On April 12, during the song’s chart run, Benton made his national television debut, singing the song on The Ed Sullivan Show. While Benton had had one previous minor hit (“A Million Miles From Nowhere”), this success established him to the public, leading to a continuous string of hits through 1962, and occasional success thereafter.
The song featured in the film Boogie Nights (1997).