Time for a
Witness
Million: I think by the time we got to Time for a
Witness, we realized that the very base of the song
has to have a groove. I think that you can hear. It also
reflected a lot of what was going on. At that time it
was more of an overdriven type of sound like we first
heard with Neil [Young]. So we set up on a stage and
that’s how we recorded it—much more similar to what
we would do as a live band. And I think that kind of
Million: Glenn and I had said this right from the very
loaned itself to that album.
beginning: if it ever came down to someone not having
fun doing it then [they] probably should stop. And that’s
Mercer: A&M got bought out by PolyGram and a lot
exactly what happened to me. I’d be looking down at
of people we knew at the label left—or had been fired,
my set list during a show, thinking, “I just have three
I dunno. New people came in, they weren’t familiar
more songs left to do.” So one thing led to another and I
with the band, they didn’t really seem to care much.
decided that I needed to take a break. The break just lasted
There was personal stuff going on as well.
seventeen years. [Laughs.]
(1991)