This plays over the end credits of Back to the Future, the top-grossing film of 1985. Lewis wrote the song with his bandmates Johnny Colla, Chris Hayes and Sean Hopper specifically for the film, incorporating plot elements in the lyrics: Tell me, doctor Where are we going this time? Is this the '50s? Or 1999?
The lyrics are essentially a summary of the movie, with a fairly obvious title that scans better than "Back To The Future." The band also wrote and recorded "The Power of Love" for the film, but that one has nothing to do with the movie itself. Lewis found it much easier writing "Back In Time." "You don't have to invest yourself in it," Lewis told People about writing to the plot. "So that was a lot of fun, actually." "The Power of Love," which stands on its own, was released ahead of the film and went to #1. "Back In Time" was issued as a single after the movie came out, but failed to chart on the Hot 100.
When director Robert Zemeckis asked Lewis for a song that describes the film, Lewis suggested a tune he was working on with Ry Cooder called "In The Nick Of Time." That song ended up in the movie Brewster's Millions and sung by Patti LaBelle. Lewis came up with "Back In Time" as a replacement.
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