Lyr Add: There's a Good Time Coming (S Foster)

Subject: Lyr Add: THERE'S A GOOD TIME COMING (Foster)
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 24 Apr 08 - 01:34 AM

THERE'S A GOOD TIME COMING
Stephen Collins Foster, 1846

1
There's a good time coming, boys,
A good time coming,
A good time coming:
We may not live to see the day,
But earth shall glisten in the ray.
Of the good time coming
Cannon bells may aid the truth,
But thought's a weapon stronger;
We'll win our battle by it's aid;
Wait a little longer.
2
There's a good time coming, boys,
A good time coming,
A good time coming;
The pen shall superced the sword,
And right, not might, shall be the lord.
In the good time coming;
Worth, not birth, shall rule mankind,
And be acknowledg'd stronger;
The proper impulse has been giv'n;
Wait a little longer.
3
There's a good time coming, boys,
A good time coming,
a good time coming;
War in all mens eyes shall be
A monster of inequity.
In the good time coming,
Nations shall not quarrel then,
To prove which is stronger;
Nor slaughter men for glory's sake;
Wait a little longer.
4
There's a good time coming, boys,
A good time coming,
A good time coming:
Shameful rivalries of creed
Shall not make the martyr bleed,
In the good time coming.
Religion shall be shorn of pride,
And flourish all the stronger;
And Charity shall trim her lamp;
Wait a little longer.
5
There's a good time coming, boys,
A good time coming,
A good time coming;
And a poor man's family,
Shall not be his misery.
In the good time coming;
Ev'ry child shall be a help,
To make his right arm stronger;
The happier he, the more he has;
Wait a little longer.
6
There's a good time coming, boys,
A good time coming,
A good time coming;
Little children shall not toil
Under, or above the soil.
In the good time coming.
But shall play in healthful fields,
Till limbs and minds grow stronger;
And ev'ry one shall read and write;
Wait a little longer.
7
There's a good time coming, boys,
A good time coming,
A good time coming;
The people shall be temperate,
And shall love instead of hate,
In the good time coming.
They shall use, and not abuse,
And make all virtue stronger;
The reformation has begun;
Wait a little longer.
8
There's a good time coming, boys,
A good time coming,
A good time coming;
Let us aid it all we can,
Ev'ry woman ev'ry man,
The good time coming.
Smallest helps, if rightly giv'n,
Make the impulse stronger;
'twill be strong enough one day;
Wait a little longer.

Sheet music first published by Peters & Field, Cincinnati; Peters & Webster, Louisville; and Firth, Pond & Hall, New York, 1846; "lines from the London Daily News; dedicated to Miss Mary D. Keller."
Sheet music in American Memory and Lester S. Levy Collections.
Midi at There's a Good Time Coming

Verse six with "Little children shall not toil, Under, or above the soil," is an early condemnation of child labor in the mines and in the fields.
The song is a good companion piece for "Hard Times Come Again No More."

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: There's a Good Time Coming (S Foster)
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 26 Apr 08 - 11:57 AM

refresh

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: There's a Good Time Coming (S Foster)
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 26 Apr 08 - 06:18 PM

The Foster song was inspired by the poem of the same title by Charles Mackay, a Scottish poet. Several of Foster's early songs are based on poems by well-known poets.
"There's a Good Time..." was written when Foster was 20 years old; it may have been written before he went to Cincinnati to work with one of his brothers, Dunning, and he may have been influenced by his friend, Charles Shivas, who became a well-known abolitionist.

Subject: ADD: There's a Good Time Coming (Australian)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 03 Dec 11 - 02:55 AM

Richie posted the same lyrics in this message, but attributed the lyrics to Mackay. So, who's the actual songwriter? The sheet music at the Levy Collection shows the title as There's a Good Time Coming (Lines from the London Daily News). So, did Foster find the lyrics in the newspaper and add a melody? Bartlett's Quotations attributes at least the first line to Charles Mackay (1814–1889).

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John Thompson posted a similar song at his Australian Folk Song a Day blog:

THERE'S A GOOD TIME COMING

There's a good time coming, boys, a good time coming,
When it will it's hard to say but I hope it will be some day
This good time coming.
A comic song oft tells hard truth in place of weapons stronger,
So now I'm going in to win, wait a little longer.

There's a good time coming, boys, a good time coming,
Squatters shan't permitted be to overrun this colony
In this good time coming,
Our members shall not squabble then to show which is the stronger,
Nor sell themselves to gain a place - wait a little longer.

There's a good time coming, boys, a good time coming,
Shepherds in the bush shan't be fed on damper, chops and tea
In this good time coming,
Then bullock drivers shall not swear, or taste a drink that's stronger
Than ginger beer when on the road - wait a little longer.

There's a good time coming, boys, a good time coming,
Camp officials shall have sense and not try to give offence
In this good time coming
Some magistrates too will be found with love of justice stronger
And also know a little law - wait a little longer.

There's a good time coming, boys, a good time coming,
Not a shicer shall be sunk not a digger e'er seen drunk
In the good time coming
Jumpers too shall be laid by, the rule of fashion stronger,
Bell-toppers worn when down the holes - wait a little longer.

There's a good time coming, a good time coming,
Cases, Courts of Mines decide, shan't dissatisfy any side,
In this good time coming,
Mails shan't be behind their time, both ships and engines stronger
Shall not break down, or run ashore, wait a little longer.

There's a good time coming, boys, a good time coming,
Railways to the diggings made will Cobb' Coaches throw in shade,
In the good time coming,
Stations shall be large and fine, embankments, too much stronger
In fact they'll beat the Geelong line - wait a little longer

There's a good time coming, boys, a good time coming,
Young colonials han't be seen with their ladies at thirteen,
In this good time coming,
English girls shan't be allowed, though love than fire is stronger,
To marry flash John Chinamen - wait a little longer.

There's a good time coming, boys, a good time coming,
Then no single ship that comes shall e'er land us more new chums,
In this good time coming,
But be searched in Hobson's Bay by the police made stronger
And new chums sent back overland - wait a little longer.


From Coxon's Comic Songster with a melody by Henry Russell (composer of A Fine Old English Gentleman).

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Note this YouTube Video

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: There's a Good Time Coming (S Foster)
From: Mick Pearce (MCP)
Date: 03 Dec 11 - 05:37 AM

Here's the Mackay poem:The Good Time Coming. Foster has made virtually no changes to the poem in setting it:

He inserted the repeated A good time coming 3rd line
The contractions giv'n and ev'ry are in full in the poem
The poem has Hateful rivalries rather than Shameful rivalries
The poem has Till limbs and minds rather than Till limbs and mind



The poem was from Voices From The Crowd, 1845-46 and the collected edition I linked to above, quotes the preface to the 5th edition of 1857:

"The Poems entitled "Voices from the Crowd" were for the most part written in the year 1845 and in the early part of 1846, a time of social and political agitation. The Corn Laws were unrepealed; and Sir Robert Peel had not announced the downfall of the old protective system. Many of them were intended to aid - as far as verses could aid - the efforts of the zealous and able men who were endeavouring to create a public opinion in favour of untaxed food, and of Free Trade and free intercourse among all the nations of the world. They were written as plainly as possible, that they might express the general sentiment of the toiling classes in phraseology broad, simple and intelligible."


Mick

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: There's a Good Time Coming (S Foster)
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 03 Dec 11 - 03:53 PM

Charles Magnus, Boston, printed an early broadside (n. d.) but mis-spelled the author's name as "Charles Macray."
J. Andrews, New York, n. d., printed a broadside with Mackay's name, music attributed to Henry Russell.
As previously posted, Foster's sheet music, entered by W. C. Peters in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Ohio, 1846, did not name Mackay, but said the lines were from the London Daily News.

The Hutchinson Family sang the song in 1847, "written by Charles Mackay, symphonies and accompaniments by E. L. White."
All of the above at American Memory.

No broadsides seem to be in the Bodleian Collection.