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"I Ain't Got Time (For Loving You)" copyright September 1, 2025 by Gary E. Andrews All Rights Reserved (Short Title: "Instead"

C/G 332O1O
Dm Xxo231
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(Verse I)
I should have been lov-ing you,
instead of fighting you.
I should still be next door.
Instead I'm wri-ting to you.
I must have been out of my mind!
I wasted a-ll that time.
(Chorus Refrain)
Now I, Ain't Got Time, For Loving You.

(Verse II)
I should have wal-ked away.
Instead I talked, and stayed.
We should be there in bed.
Instead we're mil-es away.
I should have seen, the signs!
They were there a-ll that time.
Now I, Ain't Got Time, For Loving You.

(Vocal Bridge)
Maybe tomorrow,
we, can take, a break.
Maybe tomorrow,
we can love, for loving's sake.

(Repeat Verse I)
I should have been lov-ing you,
instead of fighting you.
I should still be next door.
Instead I'm wri-ting to you.
I must have been out of my mind!
I wasted a-ll that time.
Now I, Ain't Got Time, For Loving You.

(Coda)
Now I, Ain't Got Time, For Loving You.
Oh! I, Ain't Got Time, For Loving You.
Now I, Ain't Got Time, --- For You.

Can you tell me what you were trying to write here?

LOL!
A Song!
I was driving up the street and thought of this joke I could do on stage, saying,
"Here's my new single!
It's climbing up the country charts!
It's called 'I Ain't Got Time To 'EFF' With You!"

I realized you can't, shouldn't use that kind of language in any setting, at work, with customers, with co-workers, anywhere.
Certainly not on stage presenting music.
I only tell you about it now to 'teach' that lesson.
If one person in an audience of one hundred would object to hearing that kind of language, I would defer to that person.
And I would not do it if all one-hundred answered a poll and said it would be okay, except as that chance to teach.
I still have the final say.

But dag-gone if I didn't go home and write a Song with the idea, and enjoyed playing and singing it so much I rewrote it without the obscenities.
It's the boy next door, the obscure relationship, the missed opportunities, and no second chance conflict.

Hey Gary,
I like this a lot. The message is very clear and emotionally honest—there’s a real sense of regret without it feeling overdone. The structure works well, especially how the hook lands at the end of each verse and then opens up in the bridge for contrast. The repetition of “Ain’t Got Time, For Loving You” really drives the theme home, and the bridge adds just enough hope before dropping back into reality. It feels very singable and grounded. There isn’t a lot of lyrical “furniture,” but I don’t think it needs much — the emotion and repetition carry it well and keep it relatable.

It 'hooked' me.
As the first listener I got attached to the Melody and emotion and felt I had to rescue it from the obscenity that made it only suitable for singing in the privacy of my own home.
We can be 'hooked' by the pleasure of emoting a Song's execution and fool ourselves that others will be hooked too. But I think this hooked me for the right reasons, Structure, Lyrical Storyline, Melody.
It's not a 'destined to be classic', maybe, but it's entertaining to me for right now.

The creation of the Singer Character and Love Interest Character in Verse 1, Line 1, sets up a 'reality'. As the listener we're eavesdropping on their conversation, or his side of it anyway. A first Line generally hooks my interest, makes me wonder what the Singer Character is starting to tell me, and wanting to know where the Story might go.
The 'next door' Line is scene-setting 'furniture', and 'Hard Rhyme' 'fighting you/writing to you' reinforce it for the listener.
The very conversational prose communicates well. He's simply talking to her.
The commas in the Title Line, THE Hook, indicate the 'rests' that I think make the delivery effective.
'Now I, Ain't Got Time, For Loving You'.
He laments that time has moved on, the ever-elapsing moment of now, the only time there is, and life's circumstances now mean it's out of his control. Even the 'Maybe' in the Bridge is a lament, a longing for what he knows won't happen.

Verse II is explanatory, explaining how this change in what the Singer Character thinks he 'should have' done, 'walked away' and the repeat of the 'instead' idea, the Hard Rhyme 'talked and stayed', and 'we should be there in bed', are 'furniture' of a sort to reinforce the idea of their previous relationship, separation, and his regret.

The Bridge, brief, expresses a hope that they could stop fighting, and get together.

I decided to repeat Verse I after the Bridge, and I think it expresses the unresolved situation.
I timed it but I forget the exact time. Under 3 minutes I think. Simplicity works.

I enjoyed the classic double nature of the hook title. Nice one Gary!
Bill