Origin: For the Good Times (Kristofferson)

Subject: For the Good Times
From:
Date: 23 Oct 99 - 04:07 AM

There seems to be one or two Country/Western threads about, so I have the courage to ask this question. There is a song called "For the Good Times" which I first heard done by Jim Reeves; but which was also covered by Perry Como. I would be interested in any details about it like who wrote it and who originally performed it. I would be interested in the lyrics too.

Murray

Subject: Lyr/Chords Add: FOR THE GOOD TIMES^^
From: katlaughing
Date: 23 Oct 99 - 04:27 AM

Murray,this was not lsited as by Jim Reeves, so I went looking elsewhere. Here's what I found at Cowpie (which there is a link to on the Links page. Sorry if the chords didn't wind up in the right places:

  
************ FOR THE GOOD TIMES *************  
  
written and performed by Kris Kristofferson.  
  
  
Verse 1:  
              G7                C    
Don't look so sad, I know it's over.  
              G7                                        C  
But life goes on, and this whole world will keep on turning.  
              F               G7                C  
Let just be glad we had some time to spend together.  
             F                 Dm                  G7     
There's no need to watch the bridges that we're burning.  
  
  
Chorus:  
          C             G7  
Lay your head upon my pillow.  
                                         C  
Hold your warm and tender body close to mine.  
                                           F                 Dm   
Hear the whisper of the raindrops blowin' soft against the window  
      G7                                                             C    
And make believe you love me one more time, for the good times.  
  
  
Verse 2:  
           G7                  C  
I'll get along, you'll find another  
             G7                                  C        
And I'll be here if you should find you ever need me.  
             F             G7           C   
Don't say a word about tommorrow or forever  
               F                 Dm                G7  
There will be time enough for sadness when you leave me.  
  
  
Chorus.  

HTML "preformatted text" commands added. -JoeClone, 13-Apr-01.

Subject: RE: For the Good Times
From: JedMarum
Date: 23 Oct 99 - 11:44 AM

This is a wonderful song, a joy to sing, and it always amazes me but it seems to go over well with every kind of audience. So many people know it, sing along or just listen carefully.

I learned this song because I heard a wonderful recording of it (it seems to me it was Eddy Arnold) one dawn as I was sailing out of Appanaugh Rhode Island to Cutty Hunk.

My friend Billy Dunlop had taken me, and a few other friends for a three day weekend sailing trip. The other guys all crashed and burned by Midnight, on our first night out, and the wind was so low that Billy wanted to make as much headway as possible. So he and I sat up and sailed all night, and by dawn we were well off shore and watched a magnificient sunrise accompanied by some great country music, in particular For teh Good Times. I determined to learn the song and have sung it ever since.

Billy went on, years later to sail the Atlantic in a 9'1" sail boat, and in deed was sailing that same boat around the world when he got lost off the coast of Australia. He was a very interesting character, and a good friend. I never sing that song without remembering him.

Subject: RE: For the Good Times
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 23 Oct 99 - 11:55 AM

Wow, I'd forgotten that song. Used to sing it a lot. One night at the Bond Place Hotel in Toronto, I got half way through it, and a woman jumped up with tears in her eyes and ran out of the room. Oops, I thought, but continued the song. One verse later, the man who had been sitting with her got up (also crying) and left as well! Didn't have a clue what to say (or sing) after that, so I went into another Kristofferson song for a medley..it was "Help Me Make It Through The Night"....bad choice! The two of them emerged almost simultaneously from the respective washrooms, took a quick listen, and vamoosed! (together, thank goodness)
Like Hank Williams, Kris could get the emotions in high gear.

Rick

Subject: RE: For the Good Times
From: katlaughing
Date: 23 Oct 99 - 12:26 PM

Hmmmm, yes that voice! Sexy! I love this one and also Jesus Was A Capricorn which I first heard in a Unity Church in Colorado; Some sweet young girl got up and sang it while strumming her guitar. Went out and bought the LP that very day.

Subject: RE: For the Good Times
From: Frankie
Date: 23 Oct 99 - 04:14 PM

I think Ray Price first popularized it with his stunning version of it. F

Subject: RE: For the Good Times
From: Frankie
Date: 23 Oct 99 - 04:16 PM

I think Ray Price first popularized it with his stunning version of it.

F

Subject: RE: For the Good Times
From:
Date: 23 Oct 99 - 11:48 PM

Thanks for the lyrics kat. I always forget Cowpie!

It is also interesting that and "Help Me Make it Through the Night" were both written by the same person. I am not a great C/W fan, but there are some exceptions and these two are amongst them. They transcend the plastic instrumentation used from the 60s on.

Liam: Maybe the Eddy Arnold version was what I was confusing with Jim Reeves (all these cowboys look alike :) I have memories whenever I hear it too. The first time I heard it was in the middle of the night on a car radio as I was driving across the US. I had just broken up with a girl and I was alone and liking it. In that mood that only driving on an almost deserted road at night can induce. I was half-listening to the station; but this caught my attention--not quick enough for me to get who sang it or the name. Now I live in a different country, don't drive anymore, and have been happily married for almost 30 years. The song still recreates some of the feeling I had that night.

Murray

Subject: RE: For the Good Times
From: katlaughing
Date: 23 Oct 99 - 11:54 PM

You're welcome, Murray. Just one thing: I've never really considered any of them to be "cowboys".**BG** Funny thing, I've never thought of Kristofferson as C&W, either, though I guess that is what he is considered to be.

Nice story, easy to imagine the way you describe it.

kat

Subject: RE: For the Good Times
From: JedMarum
Date: 24 Oct 99 - 01:06 AM

murray - I know the feeling.

Subject: RE: For the Good Times
From:
Date: 24 Oct 99 - 09:43 PM

I was only kidding, kat, when I used the word "cowboy". Actually neither "For the Good Times" nor "Help Me Make it Through the Night" sound like a typical C/W song.

Murray

Subject: RE: For the Good Times
From: katlaughing
Date: 25 Oct 99 - 12:19 AM

Me, too, Murray.:-)

Subject: RE: For the Good Times
From: bseed(charleskratz)
Date: 25 Oct 99 - 03:06 AM

Kristofferson's first two albums have some absolutely wonderful songs on them--in addition to the ones mentioned above. Of course there's "Me and Bobby McGee," but there's also "When I Loved Her," "The Pilgrim," "Jodie and the Kid," "The Silver Tongued Devil and I," "Sunday Morning Coming Down," "The Other Side of Nowhere," and so on. With good, spare country outlaw arrangements. Many of them made up the sound track of Kristofferson's first movie, "Cisco Pike."

--seed

Subject: RE: For the Good Times
From: Steve Latimer
Date: 25 Oct 99 - 09:15 AM

I sometimes have difficulty with Kris's voice, but find him to be a wonderful songwriter. I really enjoy the Willie Nelson Sings Kristofferson CD. He covers several of the songs mentioned here in his own inimitable style. One of my favourites.