Time Has Come Today

"Time Has Come Today" is a hit single by the American psychedelic soul group the Chambers Brothers, written by Willie & Joe Chambers. The song was recorded and released as a single in 1966 by Columbia Records.[1] It was then featured on the album The Time Has Come in November 1967, and released again as a single in December 1967. The 1967 single was a Top 10 near-miss in America, spending five weeks at No. 11 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the fall of 1968.[2] In Canada, the song reached No. 9.[3] It is now considered one of the landmark rock songs of the psychedelic era.[4]

This article is about the song. For the episode of Grey's Anatomy, see Time Has Come Today (Grey's Anatomy).
"Time Has Come Today"
Cover of the 1968 French single
Single by The Chambers Brothers
from the album The Time Has Come
B-side
  • "Dinah" (original single)
  • "People Get Ready" (hit single)
ReleasedDecember 1967
RecordedAugust 1967
Genre
Length2:37 (original single version)
3:05 (hit single version #1)
4:45 (hit single version #2)
11:06 (LP version)
LabelColumbia
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)David Rubinson
The Chambers Brothers singles chronology
"Love Me Like the Rain"
(1966)		 "Time Has Come Today"
(1966)		 "All Strung Out Over You"
(1966)
The Chambers Brothers singles chronology
"Uptown"
(1967)		 "Time Has Come Today"
(1967)		 "I Can't Turn You Loose"
(1968)

Background

The song has been described as psychedelic rock,[5][6] psychedelic soul[7][8] and acid rock,[9] and features a fuzz guitar twinned with a clean one.[10] Various other effects were employed in its recording and production, including the alternate striking of two cow bells producing a "tick-tock" sound, warped throughout most of the song by reverb, echo and changes in tempo. The long version quotes several bars from "The Little Drummer Boy" at 5:40.

Writer Chuck Eddy includes the song in a list of examples of "pre-dub dub metal".[11]

Earlier version

The original version of the song, hastily recorded in late 1966,[12][13] was rejected by Columbia.[14][15] Instead, the more orthodox single "All Strung Out Over You" b/w "Falling In Love" (Columbia 4-43957) was released on December 19, 1966, and became a regional hit. The success of "All Strung Out Over You" gave them the opportunity to re-record "The Time Has Come Today" in 1967.[13]

Album version
  • 1967 released on the LP The Time Has Come - Columbia CK 63984–11:07, includes an extended "freak out" in the middle

Released single versions
  • 1966 original version – Columbia 43816 - the original recording, 2:37 in length, which is completely different from the widely known 1968 "hit version".
  • 1968 "hit version" #1 – Columbia 44414 – 3:05 edit of the LP version. Fades out at the beginning of the "A" chord instrumental break with no other edits within the track. The label does not refer to the album The Time Has Come.
  • 1968 "hit version" #2 – Columbia 44414 – 4:45 edit. The beginning of the "A" chord instrumental break is "overlapped" with its ending, followed by the third-verse reprise. There are also several other edits within this version. The label now mentions the album The Time Has Come. (Some copies with the 4:45 version were mispressed with the 3:05 labels.)

Cover versions

In other media

Film

The song has appeared in many films. Director Hal Ashby used the full 11-minute track as the backdrop to the climactic scene when Captain Robert Hyde (Bruce Dern) "comes home" to an unfaithful wife (Jane Fonda) in the 1978 Academy Award–winning film Coming Home.

It has also been used in the following films:[19]

Television

The song has also appeared in the following television episodes:[19]

In TV commercials:

Other

Anthony Bourdain said, in 2010, that this song "saved his life".[20]

The song was also featured in the trailer for the 1995 film Kiss of Death and the 2017 film Geostorm.

References
  1. "Little Sandy Review". Vol. 2. 1966. p. 45. {{cite magazine}}: Cite magazine requires |magazine= (help)
  2. Whitburn, Joel (2004). The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits: Eighth Edition. Record Research. p. 114.
  3. "Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada". Collectionscanada.gc.ca. 1968-10-07. Retrieved 2021-12-29.
  4. Greenwald, Matthew. "The Chambers Brothers: 'Time Has Come Today'". Review. Allmusic.com. Retrieved 1 January 2013.
  5. Beate Kutschke (25 April 2013). Music and Protest in 1968. Cambridge University Press. pp. 58–. ISBN 978-1-107-00732-1.
  6. "Time Has Come Today" at AllMusic
  7. Lynskey, Dorian (21 May 2014). "Psychedelic soul: 10 of the best". The Guardian. Guardian News and Media. Retrieved 31 July 2016.
  8. Nick Talevski (7 April 2010). Rock Obituaries - Knocking On Heaven's Door. Omnibus Press. pp. 330–. ISBN 978-0-85712-117-2.
  9. Dorian Lynskey (3 March 2011). 33 Revolutions Per Minute. Faber & Faber. p. 1578. ISBN 978-0-571-27720-9.
  10. Walter Everett (7 November 2008). The Foundations of Rock: From "Blue Suede Shoes" to "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes". Oxford University Press. p. 98. ISBN 978-0-19-029497-7.
  11. Eddy, Chuck (1997). The Accidental Evolution of Rock 'n' Roll. Da Capo Press. pp. 289. ISBN 0-306-80741-6
  12. 45Cat - The Chambers Brothers, A: Time Has Come Today, B: Dinah
  13. 98.7 WFGR, June 7, 2012 - “Time Has Come Today” by the Chambers Brothers – Classic Hit or Miss - Matt Hendricks
  14. Way Back Attack - THE CHAMBERS BROTHERS, Time Has Come Today
  15. Lyrics.com - Time Has Come Today (Single Version One- Rejected Version)
  16. "Tsp1988-11-20 – SPLRA".
  17. "Bo Bice Has Monopoly On Board Game Marketing - October 16, 2006". tvfanatic.com. 2006-10-16. Retrieved December 14, 2015.
  18. "Bo Bice on Twitter – Confirms he performed track for Monopoly anniversary – Dec 14, 2015". Twitter. Retrieved December 14, 2015.
  19. "Imdb: The Chambers Brothers". IMDb.
  20. "In 2010, Anthony Bourdain talked about his mental health struggles and the song that 'saved' his life".
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