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The Times I've Had

Mark Spoelstra
Language: English


Mark Spoelstra


[1964]
Album “Broadside Ballads, Vol. 3: The Broadside Singers”, Folkways Records.



“The Broadside Singers” è stato un super-gruppo composto da alcuni dei songwriters che negli anni 60 e 70 furono tra i maggiori contributori della rivista “Broadside Magazine”, tra i quali Phil Ochs, Tom Paxton, Pete Seeger, Mark Spoelstra, Patrick Sky, Malvina Reynolds, Bob Dylan e Buffy Sainte-Marie

In questo brano, l’autore Mark Spoelstra è accompagnato da Phil Ochs, voce e chitarra, e da Pete Seeger, banjo.

“This antiwar song was recorded in a Broadside Singers session with Phil Ochs leading the group. The song was written by Mark Spoelstra, who recalls this as one of his early compositions. He remembered traveling to Ohio for a concert with Rambling Jack Elliott. On the way back, they stopped for refreshments and ran across a group of young men in army fatigues talking about how they could not wait to go to war — a feeling that was in direct conflict with Spoelstra's own feelings and ideology” (nota al brano trovata – come il testo – su Mudcat Café)
Let me tell you 'bout the times I've had
They ain't so good and they ain't so bad
Let me tell you 'bout the times I've had
Travelin' up the road to Gilead
Let me tell you 'bout the places I've been
Let me tell you 'bout the folly of men
Oh, oh, oh, the times I've had.

Too many people try to lead the blind
Half of them don't know their own minds
Let me tell you when you see the light
You got to stand and shout when you know it's right.

Let me tell you 'bout the times I've had
They ain't so good and they ain't so bad
Let me tell you 'bout the times I've had
Travelin' up the road to Gilead
Let me tell you 'bout the places I've been
Let me tell you 'bout the folly of men
Oh, oh, oh, the times I've had.

Lots of people talk about a coming war
Some of them rich and some of them poor
They talk about it like a blackjack game
But win or lose you can't play again.
Let me tell you 'bout the times I've had
They ain't so good and they ain't so bad
Let me tell you 'bout the times I've had
Travelin' up the road to Gilead
Let me tell you 'bout the places I've been
Let me tell you 'bout the folly of men
Oh, oh, oh, the times I've had.

I was in Ohio in a little truck stop
A soldier told me this peace has got to stop
Think about the economy
I ain't afraid to fight for my country.

Let me tell you 'bout the times I've had
They ain't so good and they ain't so bad
Let me tell you 'bout the times I've had
Travelin' up the road to Gilead
Let me tell you 'bout the places I've been
Let me tell you 'bout the folly of men
Oh, oh, oh, the times I've had.

It's folks that want to fight, I'm talkin' about
Leading the blind in a timeless drought
I don't want no drought on my land
When there's Peace and Love in my right hand.

Let me tell you 'bout the times I've had
They ain't so good and they ain't so bad
Let me tell you 'bout the times I've had
Travelin' up the road to Gilead
Let me tell you 'bout the places I've been
Let me tell you 'bout the folly of men
Oh, oh, oh, the times I've had.

Let me tell you 'bout the times I've had
They ain't so good and they ain't so bad
Let me tell you 'bout the times I've had
Travelin' up the road to Gilead
Let me tell you 'bout the places I've been
Let me tell you 'bout the folly of men
Oh, oh, oh, the times I've had.

Contributed by Alessandro - 2010/4/2 - 13:35




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