Lyr Req/Add: The Times I've Had (Mark Spoelstra)

Subject: Lyrics req: Let me tell you 'bout the times I had
From: GUEST,indiana
Date: 26 Feb 08 - 07:48 AM

I found this in Fort Wayne in the early 1960's performed by a fantastic guitarist named Rick Curtis. Does anyone know the verse lyrics?song continues:I had,they ain't so good and they ain't so bad....thanks.

Subject: RE: Let me tell you 'bout the times I had
From: GUEST,Tunesmith
Date: 26 Feb 08 - 09:03 AM

Could that be the great Mark Spoelstra? Recorded by him - and, I think, by the wonderful( I like using superlatives - where they're warranted)Carolyn Hester.

Subject: RE: Let me tell you 'bout the times I had
From: cptsnapper
Date: 26 Feb 08 - 10:49 AM

I seem to remember that the first verse continued something like
Let me tell you 'bout the times I had
walking down the road to Gilead.
Let me tell you 'bout the places I've been
Let me tell you 'bout the people I've seen.
Oh, the times I've had

Does that ring any bells.

Subject: RE: Lyrics req: Let me tell you 'bout the times I had
From: GUEST,Tunesmith
Date: 26 Feb 08 - 03:44 PM

Yes, it is the Mark Spoelstra song. I have it on a LP somewhere. I'll try and find it and post the rest of the lyrics.

Subject: RE: Lyrics req: Let me tell you 'bout the times I had
From: GUEST,Tunesmith
Date: 26 Feb 08 - 03:53 PM

I've misplaced the LP. The middle sections goes thus:
         "It's people who fight that I'm talking about
          they're leading the world to an endless drought.
          I don't want no drought in my land,
          when there's peace and love in my right hand"

Subject: ADD:The Times I've Had (Spoelstra)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 26 Feb 08 - 04:05 PM

I found this on the wonderful Smithsonian/Folkways Best of Broadside collection, a 1964 recording by the Broadside Singers with Phil Ochs and Pete Seeger - Ochs is very obviously the lead singer, and he does a great job.

Here are the lyrics from the CD book:

The Times I've Had
(Mark Spoelstra)

CHORUS
Let me tell you 'bout the times I've had
They ain't so good and they ain't so bad
Let me tell you 'bout the times I've had
Travelin' up the road to Gilead
Let me tell you 'bout the places I've been
Let me tell you 'bout the folly of men
Oh, oh, oh, the times I've had.
Too many people try to lead the blind
Half of them don't know their own minds
Let me tell you when you see the light
You got to stand and shout when you know it's right.

CHORUS

Lots of people talk about a coming war
Some of them rich and some of them poor
They talk about it like a blackjack game
But win or lose you can't play again.
CHORUS

I was in Ohio in a little truck stop
A soldier told me this peace has got to stop
Think about the economy
I ain't afraid to fight for my country.
CHORUS

It's folks that want to fight, I'm talkin' about
Leading the blind in a timeless drought
I don't want no drought on my land
When there's Peace and Love in my right hand.
CHORUS (2x)


THE TIMES I'VE HAD
THE BROADSIDE SINGERS WITH PHIL OCHS, VOCAL AND GUITAR; PETE SEEGER, BANJO; BACKGROUND VOCALS BY THE GROUP
Words and music by Mark Spoelstra
From Broadside Ballads Vol. 3
Recorded 29 October 1964
Published in B'side #37, 1964

THIS ANTIWAR SONG WAS RECORDED in a Broadside Singers session with Phil Ochs leading the group. The song was written by Mark Spoelstra, who recalls this as one of his early compositions. He remembered traveling to Ohio for a concert with Rambling Jack Elliott. On the way back, they stopped for refreshments and ran across a group of young men in army fatigues talking about how they could not wait to go to war — a feeling that was in direct conflict with Spoelstra's own feelings and ideology (personal communication, 2000). (See Track 10 for information about Mark Spoelstra.)

Other versions of the song include Mark Spoelstra, Folkways 02444c

Subject: RE: Req/Add: The Times I've Had (Mark Spoelstra)
From: GUEST,Times I/ve Had
Date: 21 Mar 11 - 12:34 PM

I knew Rick Curtis in Fort Wayne;learned this song,never knew where he got it/Will check out Spoelstra's version. Rick added lots of his own to other songs.Anyone know what happened to him?one of the best guitarists I ever knew.

Subject: Spoelstra Times I've Had
From: Tigger the Tiger
Date: 10 Apr 12 - 08:12 AM

I understand that Phil Ochs/Pete Seeger did a version of this. Does anyone have a link to hear someone actually performing this song?Thanks

Subject: RE: Spoelstra Times I've Had
From: GUEST,999
Date: 10 Apr 12 - 08:25 AM

http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=108955#2272617


Some folks still around here have the recording.