Random Thinking

It’s time for a radical change in this week’s music from my iPod. I’m pulling a song from my childhood this week.

The Chambers Brothers are a soul music group from Los Angeles, best known for their 1968 hit record, the 11-minute long song, “Time Has Come Today”. The group was formed in 1964 by four brothers from Mississippi, George, Willie, Lester and Joe Chambers. Later they added Brian Keenan on drums and the group became a nationwide success. The group had difficulty following up their hit song and broke up in 1972. The reformed two years later and have been together (minus Brian who died of heart failure in 1985) ever since.

The song “Time Has Come Today” was a ground breaking track in 1968. It uses many effects such as a cow bell to represent the ticking of a clock, echo and reverb effects, and distortion. The LP version is the quintessential version having the full range of effects that are lost in the other versions shortened for AM radio which preferred songs under 4 minutes. The middle of the LP version features the full range of effects which are attempting to recreate the sounds of war using distorted voices and the other effects mentioned earlier. This is also the part cut out of the other versions.

The song has been frequently used in movies and TV shows. The full version of the song was used towards the end of the movie, Coming Home, a story of Vietnam veterans and the difficulties they faced in returning home. Other movies include, “Girl, Interrupted”, “The Doors”, and “Remember the Titans”. The song has also been used in Beth’s favorite TV show, “Supernatural” as well as “CSI”, and “Kingdom Hospital”.

Time Has Come Today
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)

(Time)
Now the time has come (Time)
There are things to realize (Time)
Time has come today (Time)
Time has come today (Time)

Oh
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 tumbling tide (Time)
And my soul has been psychedelicized (Time)

(Time)
Now the time has come (Time)
There are things to realize (Time)
Time has come today (Time)
Time has come today (Time)

The video is a very short live version of the song. It does not capture the intensity of the song or give you an idea of the ground breaking nature of this song. For that only the LP, 11 minute version of the song will do. But at least it does give you an idea of what we looked like back in 1968.