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The Chambers Brothers — Time Has Come Today
Album: The Time Has Come
Avg rating:
7.1

Your rating:
Total ratings: 2207









Released: 1967
Length: 4:53
Plays (last 30 days): 2
Time has come today
Young hearts can go their way
Can't put it off another day
I don't care what others say
They say we don't listen anyway
Time has come today
(Hey)

Oh
The rules have changed today (Hey)
I have no place to stay (Hey)
I'm thinking about the subway (Hey)
My love has flown away (Hey)
My tears have come and gone (Hey)
Oh my Lord, I have to roam (Hey)
I have no home (Hey)
I have no home (Hey)

Now the time has come (Time)
There's no place to run (Time)
I might get burned up by the sun (Time)
But I had my fun (Time)
I've been loved and put aside (Time)
I've been crushed by the tumbling tide (Time)
And my soul has been psychedelicized (Time)

Now the time has come (Time)
There are things to realize (Time)
Time has come today (Time)
Time has come today (Time)
Comments (399)add comment
1967 and these guys were at the forefront of these production techniques - fantastic
Looooong version PLEASE!








Hearing that unmistakable cowbell tick-tock in the intro brings a rush knowing I'm about to be psychedelicized.  Lester's vocals are fabulous.  This song jams.
Bill & Alana - This afternoon you just played 32 minutes worth of the new Paul Simon opus "Seven Psalms". (to less than universal acclaim) Surely you can spare 13 minutes of server time to play the long version here. Just once? And let us know ahead of time?
 Roguewarer wrote:
 
 
'm unclear..... what, exactly, is this song about?

Annoying aF.  I logged in just to post how much I hate this song. Yeah... I'm one-a those h8ers of this song. whatevs.

K. bye!
 
It's about Time.   Sort of an anti-war song, sort of a coming of age song...

 And is awesome.
Love this song but it has been on *high* rotation lately.
I'm unclear..... what, exactly, is this song about??

Annoying aF.  I logged in just to post how much I hate this song. Yeah... I'm one-a those h8ers of this song. whatevs.

K. bye!
I picked up hitch-hiker  drummer Lee Symborski on I-10 in between Tucson and El Paso Texas back in the 90's on a rainy December afternoon . . . .  
 Roguewarer wrote:

gack! This song just annoys the hell out of me.
If I could PSD I would. 
Every.
Single.
“Time!” 


Gee who peed in your wheaties today:)
gack! This song just annoys the hell out of me.
If I could PSD I would. 
Every.
Single.
“Time!” 
Man oh man take me back in time, there I am on a hot 1969 or '70 teenage  summer day mowing my lawn there in Linden, NJ while the song plays in my head, singing out loud to no one in particular since no one could hear me anyway what with the roar of the lawn mower engine and there I am having the time of my life rocking out and singing and  mowing away. Those were the days. Yeah-uh-uh!
 senjin wrote:

1968 Lang Co, RVN
I Co. 3/26 USMC
Thanks !

Long version


Thanks for your service. 
superior cowbell usage
1968 Lang Co, RVN
I Co. 3/26 USMC
Thanks !

Long version
 sunybuny wrote:

At 11 mins a DJ could hit the head, get a soda and still smoke a joint before the next record change.




Apparently not doing the  long version any more. Info says 4:something.
This is one of those Time Capsule songs
I saw the Chambers Brothers several times back in the late '60's early '70's but the most memorable was at Fillmore East . Joshua Light Show was off the hook that night with giant Dali-esque clocks floating behind the band.
At 11 mins a DJ could hit the head, get a soda and still smoke a joint before the next record change.
Ummmmm... holy shit -- you guys are on fire tonight.
 kingart wrote:

This is a classic r & b rock funk musical artifact.  Infused by '67 - '68 race relations, Vietnam, Harlem and Haight Ashbury and you name it.  Don't heed the h8ers here. Play it again. 



Nice alliteration kingart. I have no need to  heed the haters here or elsewhere.
As old as I am and fresh like a rose in the morning dew. 
I was fortunate enough to see The Chambers Brothers open for none other than The Jimi Hendrix Experience at an outdoor theater in the round just outside of Boston, summer of '67.  Time Has Come Today was being played in heavy rotation on the more progressive FM stations (WBCN) along with many tracks from Hendrix Are You Experienced.  My girlfriend and I were way underage but my mom made us a thermos of wine laced with grape juice to enhance our experience.  Killer show, sweet memories, trippy times.  Thanks Mom!   
 William wrote:

Every once in a while I revisit the long version. Sadly, it still screams "NO" to me. Loudly. 

I wish I found it as good now as I did then, but...

However, the short version seems very appropriate for the present moment, so it'll probably pop up fairly often (by RP standards...) for a while.

now the time has come to show RP Graditude
 BillG wrote:

Every once in a while I revisit the long version. Sadly, it still screams "NO" to me. Loudly. 

I wish I found it as good now as I did then, but...

However, the short version seems very appropriate for the present moment, so it'll probably pop up fairly often (by RP standards...) for a while.


I really like the long version.
 BillG wrote:

Every once in a while I revisit the long version. Sadly, it still screams "NO" to me. Loudly. 

I wish I found it as good now as I did then, but...

However, the short version seems very appropriate for the present moment, so it'll probably pop up fairly often (by RP standards...) for a while.


But, but ... Bill ...

Posted 6 years ago by kcar:

dragon1952 wrote:Seriously RP.....the short Top 40 version? I'm shocked. That is too pathetic for words.

kingart wrote:
NOT.
Surprised it was aired at all? Surely you jest.
This a bona fide 24 karat '60s classic. However...
Bill,
PLEASE play the long version. This surgically neutered Top 40
blasphemy needs to go. Play the long cut less often, just replace this
one with that.

Djoy wrote:Alright! Time has come today…to pull out the album & hear it whole. Thanks!

tovarisch wrote:-
I am always left wanting to hear the extended version of this though I
realize that the haters and they with the 3 minute 45 second attention
spans will moan and disagree
- I always hear this song in context of its time, its revolutionary nature and now more than ever in the context of how these guys got worked over by the industry.
- That "Yeah..uh" at the end is epic
All of that takes me to *8* for this one

Emwolb wrote:longer version, tho dated, is SO much better
Emwolb wrote:The edited version?!?!? Why bother!!!

DaveInVA wrote: I prefer the long version...

kingart wrote:A bona fide classic — when we hear the original, longer version. I have it in my CD pile. Should I submit it?

oldfart48 wrote:yo,
bill.... you continually refuse the long version of this great jam, but
continue ti inflict sugar mountain and cowpie in the sand. both
screeched by squeel at his most bubblegum best. what up wid dat?

pk53 wrote:
Don't know if there's an 18 minute version (maybe on some bootleg tape or
underground radio station in the 60s)...but the 11 minute version is
certainly desirable over this sanitized version...

d-don wrote:Give us the full version, Bill. We need to be psycho-deli-cized!!

1wolfy wrote:
I need the Long version ... there are things to realize

Glaring old woman—looks like my Swiss grandmother! Don't mess with her! "William, you whippersnapper slacker: I want the long version!"
Frankly, Grandmama is appalled at this radio-butchered version.

It was the 60s. It's psychedelia. Play the 11:06 version so you can revel
in its sprawling, overwhelming munificence...and have a catnap if needs
must.
I've heard this a hundred times or more but never had the chance to read the lyrics. That changed today. 
Interesting, "crushed by the tumbling tide".
 DelightedIdiot wrote:

Just came in the house and heard the end of it faintly playing in the kitchen. Hope it goes into rotation again. Hope it was the long album version.


Every once in a while I revisit the long version. Sadly, it still screams "NO" to me. Loudly. 

I wish I found it as good now as I did then, but...

However, the short version seems very appropriate for the present moment, so it'll probably pop up fairly often (by RP standards...) for a while.
Just came in the house and heard the end of it faintly playing in the kitchen. Hope it goes into rotation again. Hope it was the long album version.
This song has one of my all time favorite lyrics:
"My soul has been psychedelicized"

For that reason alone, I've changed my rating from 7 to 8.
 kingart wrote:
For those who don't like it: you may not like it now, but in the day it was a r & b rock classic and for that its always time for Time Has Come Today. 
 
What he said.  A classic then, still is.  
For those who don't like it: you may not like it now, but in the day it was a r & b rock classic and for that its always time for Time Has Come Today. 
This is a classic r & b rock funk musical artifact.  Infused by '67 - '68 race relations, Vietnam, Harlem and Haight Ashbury and you name it.  Don't heed the h8ers here. Play it again. 
{#Dancingbanana} {#Drummer}  
{#Tongue} {#Dancingbanana_2} {#Daisy} {#Bananajam} {#Roflol} {#Clap} {#Roflol} {#Bananapiano} {#Bananajumprope} {#Notworthy} {#Guitarist} {#Bananasplit}OK
Outstanding! And it is over 50 years old. To quote from "MASH": "Finest Kind!" {#Bananajam}{#Bananapiano}{#Drummer}{#Dancingbanana}
 drucev wrote:
Just came across this, posted by Lester Chambers
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lester_Chambers

Lester Chambers - I am the 99% 

 
Has this situation gotten any better? I know he was also assaulted on stage some years back, 
Chambers Brothers Singer Assaulted after Dedicating Song to Trayvon Martin

https://music.yahoo.com/blogs/stop-the-presses/chambers-brothers-singer-assaulted-dedicating-song-trayvon-martin-231802486.html
 aspicer wrote:
This has really grown old on RP and feels overplayed.  I agree with others maybe a few times a year max but I not multiple times in a month!

 

 
"Plays in last 30 days: 1"

One is "multiple"? {#Rolleyes}  Sheesh..
This has really grown old on RP and feels overplayed.  I agree with others maybe a few times a year max but I not multiple times in a month!

 
 Misterfixit wrote:

  This track was used by the same PsyOps folks in Panama blasting at the Noriega HQ.  

 


Noriega just checked out for good over the weekend.

His TIME HAS COME TODAY!!
I'm pretty sure I commented on "Time" here several years ago.  My anecdotes about this song abound:

1.  We had some huge metal cone speakers set up for psychological warfare operations at Phu Bai, Viet Nam.  They were monsters, about 1,200 lbs apiece, 8 feet on a side (they were square, you see), driven by a set of amplifiers which used huge metal triode amplifier tubes.  All in all about 50,000 watts RMS at 80 ohms (yes, RMS watts).  One day, after this came out, a cassette player was hitched to the input mixer.  The gain was cranked up, and the 100 Kilowatt dedicated generator running 3-phase 440 volts cranked up.  The sound was audible out to about 50 miles, and considering the Inverse Square Law of Audio, it was ear-drum destruction at close ranges.  Didn't last too long, the water cooling pump failed and somewhere around $10,000 worth of amplifier equipment became a crispy critter.  Well, a few years back, the VA finally issued me new hearing aids, so it wasn't all that bad.

1.5  This track was used by the same PsyOps folks in Panama blasting at the Noriega HQ.  We wore hearing protectors then.

2.  The Chambers Brothers never received a single penny in royalties from this song — they were fucked out of it by their "managers" by means of inflated "advances".


Only here will this song be played. 
Yes!!! Bill does it again! Yeah-uh-uh!
Bill has turned on the Wayback machine! Thank you Bill! I used to sing this out loud while mowing the lawn. The lawnmower was so loud no one could hear me and I enjoyed it so much pushing the mower around the yard and singing my head off. Such a cool song. Yeah-uh-uh!
 On_The_Beach wrote:

Maybe once a year . . . just for fun?  ; )

 
Puss from Shrek looking cute and sad and big-eyed

Hey Bill—at least you lined up the long version and thought about it. We all honor you for that. If there were a good studio version longer than this bumped-turntable one but shorter than the full (laughably bad*) monty, I'd buy and upload it as a welcome compromise. 


* sez you not Jimi   gif of Jim Hendrix shaking head no

{#Dancingbanana_2}{#Dancingbanana_2}{#Dancingbanana_2}{#Dancingbanana_2}{#Dancingbanana_2}
 BillG wrote:
I added the long version to the library. I was ready to play it in place of this version.

But then I listened carefully, and too much of the 'psychedelicized' section is just plain bad. I mean laughably bad. Just my opinion, of course, but it's a pretty strongly held one.
 
Maybe once a year . . . just for fun?  ; )
 kingart wrote:
No, the long version's time has not come. 
 

 
I added the long version to the library. I was ready to play it in place of this version.

But then I listened carefully, and too much of the 'psychedelicized' section is just plain bad. I mean laughably bad. Just my opinion, of course, but it's a pretty strongly held one.
Please never play this again..:-(
No, the long version's time has not come. 
 
 Skydog wrote:

Thanks to you I now know about PSD, wish I knew sooner.

 
My PSD no work
dragon1952 wrote:

OK Bill.....come on bro....there is a long version out there. This is worse than the AM version of Light My Fire :^ / I mean, I'll donate $50 right now if you promise to only play the long version from now on.

 
Break out your wallet!  

 

if Bill did play the entire song back on 9/13/16, he didn't today...continues to leave out the entire "psychedelicized" (yeah, I know, i probably butchered the spelling) segment...oh well - time to break out the vinyl


I think this must be the only song in existence that can be considered to have a cowbell solo.
 dragon1952 wrote:

OK Bill.....come on bro....there is a long version out there. This is worse than the AM version of Light My Fire :^ / I mean, I'll donate $50 right now if you promise to only play the long version from now on.

 
Break out your wallet!  
Like Sly and Santana, this was a band of 'mixed race' that my older brother turned me on to.  I loved that about the sixties and the fact it opened me up to the fact that all people can make great music together.  Today I like 'world' music for all the same reasons.
 pfwashburn9485 wrote:
Mr Bill, please play the long version ?
 
OK Bill.....come on bro....there is a long version out there. This is worse than the AM version of Light My Fire :^ / I mean, I'll donate $50 right now if you promise to only play the long version from now on.
 Stefen wrote:


So far, Bill has resisted all entreaties to play the whole song.  Maybe this time!

 

Nope.  Its time has not come.
 pfwashburn9485 wrote:
Mr Bill, please play the long version ?
 

So far, Bill has resisted all entreaties to play the whole song.  Maybe this time!
Love how the song slows down as it approaches the black hole and then veers off into open.space again.  Relatively excellent.  The only thing I hear missing is the cuckoo clock at the beginning. 
Still not the original version - so disappointing.
Awesome cow bell,,,
Second Atlanta Pop Festival in Byron, Ga, some time before Hendrix came on. Standing in the middle of a couple hundred thousand people dancing being bombarded by this piece. Forever etched in  my mind. Not one of my favorite etchings, but very deep!
The short version....seriously? Boo!
Absolutely superb for a Sunday morning! 
I grew up listening to this song....  My brain was not fried, it was sauteed!
 
 rushed wrote:
Bill - gotta put the long-form version on!!! Missed the best part!!

 
wait, it gets... longer?
A time and a place - I'm pretty sure I was there, somewhere.
 
More cow bell          {#Drummer}
I'mmmmmmmmmmmmmm not your stepping stone!
I'mmmmmmmmmmmmmm not your stepping stone!

 
Bill - gotta put the long-form version on!!! Missed the best part!!
I love hearing 60's psychedelia every once in a while. Keep it coming, my soul was psychedelicized in my youth!
When I was a young kid growing up in the split level NJ suburbs just outside NYC all this great stuff was always on the radio. I loved to sing this out loud while mowing the lawn because the sound of the lawn mower engine masked my singing. Great stuff to hear on RP!

at some point in this song i get an unexpected seizure leading to wanting to destroy my stereo
...if they "sing" time or hey one more time...
"Time flies however turkeys do not"

President Barack Obama 
White House Turkey Pardon Ceremony 2015
Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana...
Hate this hippie crap.....
 misterbearbaby wrote:
Perhaps I am only realizing this late in life, Mr. Burroughs, but my soul HAS been psychodelicized.

 
I believe it's a movement, the Alice's Restaurant Psychodelicized Movement.We are all wearing cowbells and singing, "Time has Come Today"!
 torino390 wrote:
please no, not again. I really can't stand this tune. thanks for the PSD feature by the way...  ;-)

 
Thanks to you I now know about PSD, wish I knew sooner.
 torino390 wrote:
please no, not again. I really can't stand this tune. thanks for the PSD feature by the way...  ;-)

  You just haven't take the necessary medication to allow your brain to decode the song. "Ask your doctor if LSD is right for you."


Perhaps I am only realizing this late in life, Mr. Burroughs, but my soul HAS been psychodelicized.
 torino390 wrote:
please no, not again. I really can't stand this tune. thanks for the PSD feature by the way...  ;-)

 
 
Indeed
please no, not again. I really can't stand this tune. thanks for the PSD feature by the way...  ;-)
It would be kind of cool to follow this with "Hazy Shade of Winter"

"....Time....Time....Time......Time"
"Time, time, time, see what's become of me...."

EDIT: No sooner did I write this than Bill followed it up with "Shuffle Your Feet":.

"....Time....Time....Time......Time"
"Ti-i-i-ime won't save our souls...."
Annoying at best. It sucks.
Great Cowbell!  {#Dancingbanana_2}
 OHMish wrote:
For gods sake, give them the tie

 
A blast from the past. Cool tune {#Cool}
Makes me think of Coming Home
For gods sake, give them the tie
 dragon1952 wrote:
Seriously RP.....the short Top 40 version? I'm shocked. That is too pathetic for words.

 
 kingart wrote:


NOT. 

Surprised it was aired at all?  Surely you jest. 

This a bona fide 24 karat '60s classic. However...

Bill, PLEASE play the long version.  This surgically neutered Top 40 blasphemy needs to go. Play the long cut less often, just replace this one with that. 

  
 Djoy wrote:
Alright! Time has come today…to pull out the album & hear it whole.  Thanks!

  
 tovarisch wrote:
- I am always left wanting to hear the extended version of this though I realize that the haters and they with the 3 minute 45 second attention spans will moan and disagree
- I always hear this song in context of its time, its revolutionary nature and now more than ever in the context of how these guys got worked over by the industry. 
- That "Yeah..uh" at the end is epic

All of that takes me to *8* for this one  

  
 Emwolb wrote:
longer version, tho dated, is SO much better
  
 Emwolb wrote:
The edited version?!?!? Why bother!!!
  
 DaveInVA wrote:

I prefer the long version...

  

kingart wrote:
A bona fide classic — when we hear the original, longer version. I have it in my CD pile. Should I submit it?

  
oldfart48 wrote:
yo, bill.... you continually refuse the long version of this great jam, but continue ti inflict sugar mountain and cowpie in the sand. both screeched by squeel at his most bubblegum best. what up wid dat?

  
 pk53 wrote:

Don't know if there's an 18 minute version (maybe on some bootleg tape or underground radio station in the 60s)...but the 11 minute version is certainly desirable over this sanitized version...
  
 

  
 d-don wrote:
Give us the full version, Bill. We need to be psycho-deli-cized!!

  
 1wolfy wrote:

I need the Long version ...  there are things to realize   


 
 
Glaring old woman—looks like my Swiss grandmother! Don't mess with her!
"William, you whippersnapper slacker: I want the long version!"
Frankly, Grandmama is appalled at this radio-butchered version. 

It was the 60s. It's psychedelia. Play the 11:06 version so you can revel in its sprawling, overwhelming munificence...and have a catnap if needs must. 
time has come to switch the channel....
For some reason when I hear this song I have olfactory hallucinations ... I swear I smell the sweet odor of ganja ...

Time has definitely come today...


 midnightoil wrote:
This is truly awful. Am surprised it was aired at all.

 
Yeah, this song definitely flies way above the comprehension of most modern day listeners I'm sure. Sorry you couldn't have been there to appreciate the most kick-ass period in rock history.
Seriously RP.....the short Top 40 version? I'm shocked. That is too pathetic for words.
This was a definite bad ass psychedelic song with time echoing in and out, now the time has come, mind bending questions as to just what has time brought, well the time has come, just for what...?
Check out The Ramones' version. Pretty cool.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wanoXM90yHE
 Art_Carnage wrote:
I've been psychodelicisized!!!

 
Amen.
 westslope wrote:
Is to 'cow bell' a verb?
 
It shouldn't be.  I'd prefer it if the phrase (not the actual bell) were eliminated from the vocabulary for the next thirty or forty years.
 Stingray wrote:
1

 

PSD time.
This song used to scare the CRAP out of me way back when I was a little kid . The local a.m station would play it nightly , and I`d always have my little transistor radio tucked away under my pillow . They always seemed to play it just as I was falling asleep , and the song would jolt me right back to total alertness - if paranoia could be called alert .

Love it now (the song) though . 
Is to 'cow bell' a verb?
 midnightoil wrote:
This is truly awful. Am surprised it was aired at all.

 

NOT.

Surprised it was aired at all?  Surely you jest. 

This a bona fide 24 karat '60s classic. However...

Bill, PLEASE play the long version.  This surgically neutered Top 40 blasphemy needs to go. Play the long cut less often, just replace this one with that. 
I have this album plus a previous one with "Wade in the Water"...  Can you play that tune for me sometime Bill {#Wave}
Alright! Time has come today…to pull out the album & hear it whole.  Thanks!
I've been psychodelicisized!!!
- I am always left wanting to hear the extended version of this though I realize that the haters and they with the 3 minute 45 second attention spans will moan and disagree
- I always hear this song in context of its time, its revolutionary nature and now more than ever in the context of how these guys got worked over by the industry. 
- That "Yeah..uh" at the end is epic

All of that takes me to *8* for this one  
1
 KurtfromLaQuinta wrote:

That Bill is such a kid.


 
He is being led astray. Next thing we'll hear Justin Timberlake here, dammit. 

Seriously, after grooving to the 11-minute version your ears will wince at the cuts someone made to get this classic down to 7 minutes or less. To the whiners who don't want to hear this at all:

PSD, that's what it's there for
PSD, and don't be such a bore.  
Is that Freedom Rock Man?  Turn it up!







{#Arrowd} I don't care what others say..midnightoil wrote:
This is truly awful. Am surprised it was aired at all.

 



This is truly awful. Am surprised it was aired at all.
Time Has Come Togo
longer version, tho dated, is SO much better
Chambers Brothers Singer Assaulted after Dedicating Song to Trayvon Martin

https://music.yahoo.com/blogs/stop-the-presses/chambers-brothers-singer-assaulted-dedicating-song-trayvon-martin-231802486.html


{#Wall}   WHY???
More cowbell............

The edited version?!?!? Why bother!!!



I prefer the long version...
 Cynaera wrote:
I like this song when I'm feeling really honked off at the way the government is raping the people. I like it when I'm recovering from a hellacious argument with my older brother.  I like it when I need to psyche myself up for a confrontation that under other circumstances, I'd avoid.

To just sit and listen to, when nothing's wrong?  I need a lot of rum for that.  Still - this will never be less than a seven for me, simply because it's pulled me through some pretty ugly confrontations.  And their passion and dedication - even back then, it was pretty dangerous for a bunch of non-white (I don't know what the politically-correct term is anymore) singers and musicians to protest anything - never fails to make me sit up straighter in my chair, think a little harder, get a little more angry, and finally resolve to DO something.

And I've talked too much. Again. {#Doh}  

 
Never!
And unfortunately, never again. 
 pk53 wrote:
I won't buy this song or album, because I don't think that the Chambers Brothers will see any of the royalties.  Give to https://www.sweetrelief.org/program/lester-chambers-fund/

 
Thanks for posting this. I just donated.
A bona fide classic -- when we hear the original, longer version. I have it in my CD pile. Should I submit it?