Time Has Come Today

Album: The Time Has Come (1966)
Charted: 11
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This psychedelic soul classic was written by two of the four Chambers brothers, Joe and Willie. Joe wrote most of the lyric after sitting in on a class at UCLA with Timothy Leary and taking LSD. Willie put the music together and contributed the line, "My soul has been psychedelicized."
  • This song spoke to the younger generation that was fighting for civil rights, social justice and an end to the Vietnam War. The lyrics are somewhat ambiguous, but the constant repetition of the word "Time!" makes it clear that the song is a call to action.
  • The Chambers Brothers were from Mississippi and started out as a gospel act. They wrote this song after relocating to Los Angeles, where they rented a two story house. In a Songfacts interview with Willie Chambers, he explained: "I was down in the dining room area with an acoustic guitar and I was playing that music over and over and over. I kind of got hooked on that line in that melody, but I didn't have any words. And Joe, at that same time, he was upstairs in his room writing the lyrics to 'Time Has Come Today.' He could hear what I was doing down there, and it interrupted his writing.

    He came to the top of the stairs and said, 'What's that you're playing?'

    I said, 'I don't know, this riff just came to me and I'm just playing it.'

    He said, 'You got lyrics to that?'

    'No, I don't have lyrics yet.'

    'Man, I was just up there in my room writing and everything I'm writing, the music is going with what I'm writing. At the same time I'm writing it and you're down here playing it. Well, bring your guitar down.'

    We had a basement in the house and we had a rehearsal studio down there. So, he and I went down in the basement and he started singing these lyrics. And man, the music and the lyrics were made for each other."
  • The original version was released in 1966 and ran just 2:37. It went nowhere, but they started playing extended versions of the song in their live shows, and when they recorded it on their 1967 album The Time Has Come, it ran 11:06. Many freeform FM radio stations played it from the album (DJs could grab a smoke break while it ran) and in 1968 it was once again released as a single, this time with a running time of 4:45. This is the version that was a hit, going to #11 in the US.
  • The Chambers Brothers started performing "Time Has Come Today" in 1965. The following year, they signed with Columbia Records, whose label boss Clive Davis surprised them by forbidding them to record it. Willie Chambers told the story in his Songfacts interview:

    "After we signed with Columbia Records, there was a big party with all the food and booze and all this stuff. All the important people were there and we got to meet all of the head hogs and Clive was there. He was there for a couple of hours and he says, 'Well, I must be going, I have other appointments.' He immediately leans back in the door, 'Oh, by the way, that song 'Time Has Come Today' that you guys do, we won't be doing that. We won't do that kind of s--t on this label.'

    That was it, and he walks away. I looked at my brothers, and we were looking at each other like, 'What the heck?' And our producer [David Rubinson], he was in tears now - he was crying. He says, 'I've waited my whole life to record this song, now he's going to tell us we can't record it. Why?'

    A couple of days went by and our producer came by and said, 'I don't give a s--t what he says, we're going to record that song. When we get our recording date, you guys show up an hour early, we're going to go in the studio, we're going to turn on the tape, we're going to play it live, we're going to do it like a live performance. We're going to record it and whatever we get we're going to have to live with it. We can't play back, we can't overdub, we can't splice, we can't fix something if there's a mistake, we're just going to have to live with it.' He says, 'I'm probably going to lose my job, but that's how important it is to me to record this song.'

    Later on, Joe and I went to Columbia Records to have a pow-wow with Mr. Davis to have him explain to us just why he thought we shouldn't record this song. We didn't have an appointment with him, we just showed up. We were six-feet-four tall, angry black guys. So, we walk in to the receptionist and we say, 'We need to speak to Mr. Davis.'

    'Do you have an appointment?'

    'No, we don't but we want to speak to him.'

    We were persistent. So, she calls his office and says, 'The Chambers Brothers are here, and they say it's important, they need to talk to you.'

    He says, 'Well, I'm very busy, I don't have time.'

    I said, 'You're going to take time.'

    So, we kind of forced our way into his office and we said to him, 'Why can't we record this song?' He says, 'It's not the kind of music that black guys produce or play.'

    Clive says, 'You're four black guys, you're going to be sending up that stream into the world, 'Time Has Come Today.' It's too profound of a statement for four black guys to be saying to the world.'

    That was his reason. He says, 'We'll get a white artist to record the song, it's not your kind of music.' My brother Joe says, 'What do you mean it's not our kind of music? We wrote this.'

    So, after having that conversation with him, we were ready to do whatever the producer said. We were going to record it anyway.

    When we got our moment, we went in the studio and did it in one take. 'Time Has Come Today' was done in one take. There was no listening back - we couldn't listen back. When we came to the end of it, we had no idea where it was going to go. Once we ended it, we shut down the machines and then we left the studio and came back at the time we were supposed to.

    Clive Davis didn't find out about it until it had been mixed, prepped and released. When he found out, he fired everybody he could. He fired our producer, I think he fired the guy that opened the door for us. He fired everybody that got involved with recording that song."
  • In the line, "My soul has been psychedelicized," the word "soul" can refer to both soul music and to a person's life-force. "Psychedelicized," while not in the dictionary, was a popular saying around this time.
  • This song used many unusual production techniques to give it a rich, encompassing sound that made it stand out. There is plenty of echo and reverb along with various sound effects.
  • When the band started playing an extended version of the song live, they whacked a metal bumper guard from an old Plymouth car to simulate the ticking clock. They noticed Latin bands were using cowbells, but they weren't easy to find in Los Angeles. They finally found one in a store that specialized in Latin music. Lester Chambers played it.
  • Like many artists who were part of the civil rights movement, The Chambers Brothers faced a dilemma: They could take part in the protests, but that would risk silencing their music. They chose to let their music be their voice, and they spoke out loud with "Time Has Come Today."

    "We had been warned by the media and by booking agents that if we participated in any of the protests or marches, or we sang at any of them, we would no longer be booked by any of the agents," Lester Chambers said on the Songfacts Podcast. "So we figured, 'Hey, we don't have to be there. Let's get on the radio with it.' We wrote the greatest song that's ever been written for it: 'Time Has Come Today.' Time has come today for hearts - young hearts - to go their way. Can't put it off another day, we gotta do this. People really need to know that time has come for us to act like people, not animals, and stop killing, shooting and stealing from one another."
  • Numerous movies and TV shows have made use of this song, including The Doors, Girl, Interrupted and My Name Is Earl.
  • Steve Earle, Bo Bice and The Ramones are among the artists to cover this song.
  • The Chambers Brothers never achieved a Top 10 hit on the Hot 100. They came agonizingly close as this song stalled at #11 for five weeks without ever graduating to the top tier.
  • Willie Chambers takes credit for dreaming up the extended version of this song. "I was in my room one evening just lying there, and all of this psychedelic music was trying to happen," he said. "But it didn't make any sense. It had no rhythm, it had no meaning. It was just a bunch of noise, and they called it psychedelic music.

    I was lying there and that long extended version came into my head. I got excited. I jumped up, I ran to everybody and said, "I've got an idea. This is going to be our contribution to psychedelic music. When we get to that one chord right there we'll just stay there. We're going to scream. We're going to have a clock."

Comments: 23

  • Gael from VirginiaFast forward to 2023 - this song is about homelessness. In the 60s when I heard it I was preparing to leave home, start new things. I thought the songs was about that. Like all good poetry, it resonates at the time you are reading it. I saw Chambers Bros live at Fillmore West with Grateful Dead, great show!
  • Anonymous from Blirzburgh, PaI first heard the Ramones' cover in the summer between high school and college in 1984 and immediately searchwd for a copy of the Chambers Brothers' original as it came out the year I was born. This song has long spoken to me on a primordial level. I don't know how else to explain the appeal.
  • Freewheelinfred from PennsylvaniaI saw the Chamber Brothers perform at Rutgers U. in New Jersey in early 70’s. When they played “Time has come today” they had speakers scattered around auditorium. The result was that the music kind swerled around the audience - it was an amazing experience that I’ll never forget !
  • Norman E Anderson from The Middle Of The Pacific Ocean.. Locked In Tight And Out Of Range..Nobody Understood what "Time" the Chambers Brothers were talking about and I would venture to say they did not know either. I don't believe they wrote the song in the first place even if their name is on it. The ticking of Time was .. the waiting for the New Age of Aquarius which we entered a month ago.
    Yes, "The Times they are a-changing".. and soon everything is going down on "Highway 61- (when) REVISITED".. which equals 88.. as in Carbondale, Illinois, and the New Madrid..
    Vietnam was merely one of the War Zones.. America has always been the Target labeled The British Invasion.. and we are just about finished. Now, listen to the song again, listen to the Horror we/they in Chicago down to New Orleans.. listen to Dylan's Highway 61-Revisited single... we have been played since Day One... and the Time has Come..
  • Mike Barrios from Oklahoma CityI was 13 in '68 and remember this song played often on AM radio at night before I went to sleep. Haven't heard it in years and forgot the title or who wrote it. Was looking through my YouTube play list a few days ago and listening to The Zombies, Time of the Season. The clock ticking came to me first then the guitar intro. After a few days of searching Songfacts with different word groupings the lyrics started to come back and now I have my oldest favourite tune in my playlist and know the history of it as well as the Chamber's Brother's. Many a good artist and song have been lost by Clive Davis and his kind of thinking. God bless Willie and Joe for confronting Clive. Kudos to David Robinson for setting up the recording. Truly a bold move at the time for a timeless song!!!!
  • Tim Robertson from Brunswick Ohio I can't find the version where he says "we blew your mind's huh " at the end.
    But i remember it..
  • Sue from HomeAs Kinky Friedman sang about charles whittman "there was a rumor of a tumor nestled at the base of hia brain" funny
  • Chris Merchant from New EnglandShesh people! Try Google before you tip someone else apart for being wrong. The Charles Whitman mass shooting, which IS what Elana is talking about, happened in 1966. The only thing she got wrong was when that happened. The song wasn't released until late 1967, so she could very well be RIGHT.
  • Stephen from PaElena, are you talking about this?
    Charles Joseph Whitman (June 24, 1941 – August 1, 1966) was an American engineering student at the University of Texas, former U.S. Marine and mass murderer who killed 16 people.

    In the early morning hours of August 1, 1966, Whitman murdered his wife and mother in their homes. Later that day, he brought a number of guns, including rifles, a shotgun, and handguns, to the campus of the University of Texas at Austin where, over an approximate 90- to 95-minute period, he killed 14 people and wounded 32 others in a mass shooting in and around the Tower. Whitman shot and killed three people inside the university's tower and eleven others after firing at random from the 28th-floor observation deck of the Main Building. Whitman was shot and killed by Austin police officer Houston McCoy.
  • Stephen from PaOne of this old man's favorites!
  • Doug from MaineElena--If the mass murder you refer to took place "in the early 70's" and the album The Time Has Come was released in November '67, what would be the connection to this song? Actually the earliest release date I can find for the very first version of "Time Has Come Today" is Sept. 12, 1966. It would have been written "sometime prior" to the release date. The "Texas Tower Massacre" (University of Texas clock tower) took place on August 1, 1966. The 1966 "THCT" version is very different from the 1968 "hit version." There are two of those "hit version" singles from '68, either 3:05 or 4:45 long, edits of the 11:06 LP version in some of the videos linked above. I think the "single drum beat" you refer to is the cowbell (or two) that was/were played (sometimes through reverb and and echo, with changes in tempo) throughout the song. I don't think that sounds anything like someone "slowly climbing the tower," but opinions can always differ.
  • Ricky from Ohsweken, Ontario CanadaAn anthem in every sense of the word; GREAT song!
  • Barry from Sauquoit, NyOn January 12th 1969 the Chambers Brothers performed "Time Has Come Today" on the CBS-TV program 'The Ed Sullivan Show'...
    Five months earlier on August 10th, 1968 it entered Billboard's Hot Top 100 chart; and on September 15th it peaked at #11 and spent 14 weeks on the Top 100...
    As stated above it was #11 for five weeks; in its 1st at #11 Aretha Franklin's "The House That Jack Built" was at #10 and in the 3rd week at #11 the #10 record was "I Say A Little Prayer" by Aretha Franklin...
    Four of the five members were actually brothers; Lester, Joe, Willie, and George Chambers. The fifth member was drummer Brian Keenan...
    On the Sullivan show the song was performed within medley of their #37 hit "I Can't Turn You Loose" and "People Get Ready".
  • Gary from Seattle, WaHaving interviewed Lester several times, he reminded me that there were many versions of Time Has Come Today. The LP Long version 11.06. The first Single version at 2:37. The Hit Single version at 3:05 and finally, the Hit Single #2 version at 4:45. a real testament to a song that still rings true today. Be safe, Crowski KZOK Seattle's One and Only Classic Rock Station.
  • Elena from Westerville, OhI love this song but it wasn't written about Vietnam. Sorry. In the early 70's, a young man went nuts, climbed a tower on a university campus ( in Texas?) with a rifle and killed a bunch of students. Thus 'time has come today'. The single drum beat is him slowly climbing the tower. You hear rapid drum beats depicting gun shots as well as shot people screaming and him laughing in the background! Check and see!
  • John from Missoula, MtIf memory serves me well the song was part of the movie Looking For Mr. Goodbar. It plays somewhat toward the end of the film complimenting the scene.
  • Skip from Jiaxing, ChinaObviously this is a great song. What must be said about the Chambers Brothers,as unpopular it might be..., is that the solid Christian background of this band indirectly or directly gave them the forward thinking ability to create their music and emboldened them to face the issues before them. Great band great and great music.
  • Dave from Easton, PaInteresting to note that The Chambers Bros. was one of the first racially mintegrated bands of the 60's. The four Chambers Brothers, who are black, and their white drummer, Brian Keenan.
  • Karen from Manchester, NhKeith, I am SO jealous! So what if I was only 4 in 1968...I love ALL of those bands. I used to bug my older sister (she's 13 years older than me) to play "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" (the ALBUM cut) and "Time Has Come Today" to death.
  • Keith from Downey, CaChambers Brothers didn't get the recognition for the quality of music they produced. Awesome concert (1968) with Chambers Brothers, Sly and the Family Stone and Iron Butterfly at Cobo Hall in Detroit, Michigan.
  • Steve Dotstar from Los Angeles, CaDominic, I remember it also , blaring out of a lot of apratments on Friday and Saturday nights...
    parties I went to...during the summer of love or
    perhaps the year after that..can't remember the exact date..
  • Cameron from Irvine, CaI F@#$ING LOVE THIS SONG!
  • Dominick from New York, NyGreat song. While growing up, I remember spending many nights in the basement of my parents' house with my friends with the blacklight and Day-Glo paint, listening to this song.
see more comments

Editor's Picks

Have Mercy! It's Wolfman Jack

Have Mercy! It's Wolfman JackSong Writing

The story of the legendary lupine DJ through the songs he inspired.

Name the Character in the Song

Name the Character in the SongMusic Quiz

With a few clues (Works at a diner, dreams of running away), can you name the character in the song?

Francesca Battistelli

Francesca BattistelliSongwriter Interviews

The 2011 Artist of the Year at the Dove Awards isn't your typical gospel diva, and she thinks that's a good thing.

Linda Perry

Linda PerrySongwriter Interviews

Songwriting Hall of Famer Linda Perry talks about her songs "What's Up" and "Beautiful," her songwriting process, and her move into film music.

Wherefore Art Thou Romeo Lyric

Wherefore Art Thou Romeo LyricMusic Quiz

In this quiz, spot the artist who put Romeo into a song lyric.

Loudon Wainwright III

Loudon Wainwright IIISongwriter Interviews

"Dead Skunk" became a stinker for Loudon when he felt pressure to make another hit - his latest songs deal with mortality, his son Rufus, and picking up poop.