| "There Was a Time" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single byJames Brown | ||||
| from the albumI Can't Stand Myself When You Touch Me | ||||
| A-side | "I Can't Stand Myself (When You Touch Me)" | |||
| B-side | "I Feel All Right (maxisingle)" | |||
| Released | November 1967 (1967-11) | |||
| Recorded | June 24–25, 1967,Apollo Theater,New York, NY | |||
| Genre | Funk | |||
| Length | 3:35 | |||
| Label | King 6144 | |||
| Songwriters |
| |||
| Producer | James Brown | |||
| James Brown charting singles chronology | ||||
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| Audio video | ||||
| "There Was A Time" onYouTube | ||||
"There Was a Time" is a song written and performed byJames Brown.
"There Was a Time" was recorded in June 1967 during a live performance at theApollo Theater in amedley with "Let Yourself Go" and "I Feel All Right", and was first released November 1967 in edited form as theB-side of thesingle "I Can't Stand Myself (When You Touch Me)". The songcharted #3R&B — higher than the A-side — and #36Pop.[1] This edit of the song also appeared on the 1968 albumI Can't Stand Myself When You Touch Me.[2] A 14-minute-long edit of the Apollo medley was issued on Brown's 1968 albumLive at the Apollo, Volume II. Though it was nominally only one song in the medley, "There Was a Time" became the colloquial name for the entire sequence.[3] The complete medley was finally issued on the Deluxe Edition ofLive at the Apollo, Volume II, released in 2001.[4] The medley was also edited into two tracks which began the B-side of the 1969 King albumIt's a Mother retitled "The Little Groove Maker Me."
| Chart (1967–68) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| USBillboard Hot 100 | 36 |
| USBest Selling R&B Singles (Billboard) | 3 |
Brown made additional recordings of "There Was a Time" with the acousticjazz combo the Dee Felice Trio for his 1969 albumGettin' Down to It, and with theLouie Bellsonbig band for 1970'sSoul on Top, in a performance cut from the original LP release but restored for its 2004 CDreissue. A live performance from 1969 appears on the 1970 albumSex Machine.[5] Another live recording of "There Was a Time", from an August 1968 concert inDallas, Texas, was first issued on the 1991Star Timebox set,[6] then remastered for the 1998 releaseSay It Live and Loud: Live in Dallas 08.26.68.[7] Brown also performs the song in the concert filmsJames Brown: Man to Man andLive at the Boston Garden: April 5, 1968.
Aninstrumental version of "There Was a Time" with saxophonistAlfred "Pee Wee" Ellis was released in 1968. It was an overdubbed version of the tune credited toThe Dapps.
"There Was a Time" was part ofThe Jackson 5's repertoire beginning early in their career. They perform it in concert on the albumLive at the Forum. In a famous incident,Michael Jackson andPrince performed the song while sharing the stage with Brown and his band atLos Angeles' Beverly Theater in 1983.[8]
Other artists who have recorded the song includeGene Chandler,Eddie Harris, andThe Blue Sky Boys.
