As the follow-up single to their global hit, "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me", "Time (Clock of the Heart)" peaked at #2 on the US Billboard Hot 100, kept from the #1 spot by Irene Cara's "Flashdance... What a Feeling".

The song appears on the North American version of Culture Club's album Kissing to Be Clever.

Cash Box said the song has "a gentle funk anchor on an otherwise airy romantic ballad.

"[4] In a retrospective review of the song, Allmusic journalist Stewart Mason wrote: "Of all of Culture Club's early hits, Time (Clock of the Heart) has probably aged the best.

Boy George drops the cryptic self-mythology long enough to deliver a tender, heartfelt lyric on lost love.