Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?

The song questions why people are so concerned with knowing and controlling time. The speaker meets people who ask about a watch or mention a stopped one, then sees a crowd rushing and pushing to “beat the clock.” The mood moves from casual amusement toward unease: the rush seems to keep people from noticing where they are or what is around them. The repeated question sounds partly playful, but it also challenges a life spent hurrying.

The watches are everyday signs of how people measure time; the “diamond watch” suggests that even an expensive one can stop working. “Beat the clock” means trying to finish something before a deadline, but here it also evokes a general race through life. The image of people unable to see past the next step suggests that constant haste narrows their attention. The lyric’s reference to having time enough to cry—or to die—contrasts the pressure to hurry with the unavoidable limits of life.

The speaker’s “I don’t care” may express freedom from clock-watching, or it may sound like resignation. The song does not explain whether time itself is unimportant; rather, it questions why people let the clock govern them so completely. The final emphasis on death makes the message more serious, while the lively, repeated refrain keeps it from becoming a simple lecture.