“Nick of Time” by Bonnie Raitt

"Nick of Time" is the title song of Bonnie Raitt's 10th solo album, from 1989, and she wrote every word and note of it, most of them during a week-long retreat at a cabin in Mendocino, California, where she also made a homemade demo on her own. It's a heartland rock song about time running short: its opening verse grew out of a talk with a heartbroken friend edging toward middle age and aching for a baby, and elsewhere Raitt turns to her own parents getting older.

Raitt sings and plays piano, Don Was produced, and Ed Cherney recorded and mixed. Michael Landau plays guitar, Hutch Hutchinson bass and Ricky Fataar drums, with Paulinho da Costa on congas and Harry Bowens and Arnold McCuller singing backup. Released as the third single in May 1990, it barely dented the Hot 100 but went top 10 on the Adult Contemporary chart.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.