There's a Good Time Coming

DESCRIPTION: "There's a good time coming, Boys, a good time coming. We may not live to see the day, But Earth shall glisten in the ray." There will be no more wars. The poor shall be no more. Children won't have to work. Hearers are urged to "wait a little longer."
AUTHOR: Words: Charles MacKay? / Music: Henry Russell (1812-1900) (see NOTES)
EARLIEST DATE: 1926 (Scott), but best-known in the mid-nineteenth century
KEYWORDS: nonballad poverty help war freedom
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Scott-EnglishSongBook, pp. 92-93, "There's a Good Time Coming" (1 text, 1 tune)
Wolf-AmericanSongSheets, #2316, p. 156, "There's a Good Time Coming" (4 references)
Dime-Song-Book #1/72, p. 69 and #1/64 p. 63, "A Good Time Coming" (1 text)
Roud #16621
SAME TUNE:
The World's All Before Us (Henry Randall Waite, _Carmina Collegensia: A Complete Collection of the Songs of the American Colleges_ first edition 1868, expanded edition, Oliver Ditson, 1876, p. 50)
The Good Time Coming [Garfield Campaign Song] (Garfield and Arthur Campaign Song Book 1880, p. 10)
NOTES [150 words]: Talk about optimism.... This really doesn't seem like something that would go into tradition, and I have no clear proof that it has. But there is one short North Carolina fragment that Steve Roud lists among the Cecil Sharp MSS. that MIGHT be this, so I have very tentatively included it in the Index.
There seems to be agreement that Henry Russell wrote the music to this. He is the only author listed by Scott. But Wolf-AmericanSongSheets, p. 156, lists four broadsides, one crediting it to "Charles MacKay," another to "Charles Macray." Since MacKay is a known poet, I have tentatively credited him with the lyrics.
It looks as if this was popular enough to inspire parodies in the nineteenth century; Dime-Song-Book #31, p. 11, is "There's a Good Time Coming, Girls." It is clearly related to this song, but it is not the same.
For background on Henry Russell, see "Cheer, Boys, Cheer (II)." - RBW
Last updated in version 6.7
File: ScES092

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