The 60s thrived as a musical era due to the daring on display. Artists who were willing to cross genre lines created fascinating hybrid styles that no one had ever imagined. That is where The Chambers Brothers enter the picture.
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The fraternal band (with the exception of the drummer) threw seemingly every influence they’d ever encountered into a wild musical stew when creating “Time Has Come Today”. Against all odds and objections, it thrived on the charts. And it remains one of the most distinct tracks of the entire decade.
Tripping to Success
Clive Davis‘ track record when it comes to helping artists mint big hit songs is relatively immaculate. But his acumen departed when it came to “Time Has Come Today”. The song emanated from The Chambers Brothers, a Georgia-bred group that had moved on to Los Angeles, the hotbed for all things pop music in the 60s.
When they began, the four brothers (George, Joe, Lester, and Willie Chambers) played mostly gospel music. That made them stand out on the West Coast scene. But it also left them lacking when it came to their commercial prospects. So, they added a drummer (Brian Keenan) and began segueing into more secular styles of music such as R&B and rock.
While they initially relied on cover material, The Chambers Brothers soon began adding to their repertoire with original songs. One of those featured lyrics was written by Joe after an impromptu LSD trip. Willie came up with the driving rhythm, and “Time Has Come Today” was born. But it would take a lot of persistence and a bit of skullduggery before it could reach a mass audience.
Expanding “Time”
Clive Davis, who was making the calls on artists and their music at Columbia Records, didn’t think The Chambers Brothers should be releasing “Time Has Come Today”. He thought that, as a black group, they should be focusing on more of an R&B feel, instead of a song which could best be described as issue-oriented psychedelic rock.
Davis seemed like he was prophetic when a single version of the song arrived in 1966 and sank without a trace. Still, The Chambers Brothers knew that it had potential beyond that truncated original version. They convinced their producer, David Rubinson, to include it on their first album (The Time Has Come), released in 1967. Rubinson had to sneak the band into the studio ahead of their scheduled time so that they could record it.
With only one take, The Chambers Brothers created a wild, sprawling 11-minute piece of music that took off from the main structure of the song to go on a psychedelic odyssey. DJs started playing this long version without any prompting. Columbia responded by releasing an edited version of the album track in late 1967. It made its way to no. 11 on the pop charts.
Exploring the Lyrics of “Time Has Come Today”
Joe Chambers’ lyrics don’t follow any pat narrative. But they offer a series of striking lines that amount to both a call to action and an account of a personal awakening. George Chambers’ vocals evoke both wonder and defiance as the narrator charts his own path: “I don’t care what others say / They say we don’t listen anyway.”
There’s a bit of “Like A Rolling Stone” in the protagonist’s wayward journey.“Oh my Lord, I have to roam,” the narrator moans. “I have no home.” But even Dylan must have been envious about these vivid, unique lines: “I’ve been loved and put aside / I’ve been crushed by the tumbling tide / And my soul has been psychedelicized.”
The Chambers Brothers stuck to their guns with “Time Has Come Today”. They refused to let it be recorded by others (as Clive Davis had suggested) before they first had their iconic crack at it. And they were rewarded with a song that earned musical immortality as a result.
Photo by Frank Edwards/Fotos International/Getty Images
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