There Was a Time

Not to be confused with "Once There Was a Time" by Tom Jones.

For other uses, see There Was a Time (disambiguation).

"There Was a Time" is a song written and performed by James Brown.

"There Was a Time"
Single by James Brown
from the album I 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
Songwriter(s)	James Brown Bud Hobgood
Producer(s)	James Brown
James Brown charting singles chronology
"I Can't Stand Myself (When You Touch Me)" (1967) "There Was a Time" (1967) "You've Got to Change Your Mind" (1968)
Audio video
"There Was A Time" on YouTube

Release history

"There Was a Time" was recorded in June 1967 during a live performance at the Apollo Theater in a medley with "Let Yourself Go" and "I Feel All Right", and was first released November 1967 in edited form as the B-side of the single "I Can't Stand Myself (When You Touch Me)". The song charted #3 R&B — higher than the A-side — and #36 Pop.^[1] This edit of the song also appeared on the 1968 album I Can't Stand Myself When You Touch Me.^[2] A 14-minute-long edit of the Apollo medley was issued on Brown's 1968 album Live 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 of Live 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 album It's a Mother retitled "The Little Groove Maker Me."

Chart performance

Chart (1967-68)	Peak position
US Billboard Hot 100	36
US Best Selling R&B Singles (Billboard)	3

Other recordings

Brown made additional recordings of "There Was a Time" with the acoustic jazz combo the Dee Felice Trio for his 1969 album Gettin' Down to It, and with the Louie Bellson big band for 1970's Soul on Top, in a performance cut from the original LP release but restored for its 2004 CD reissue. A live performance from 1969 appears on the 1970 album Sex Machine.^[5] Another live recording of "There Was a Time", from an August 1968 concert in Dallas, Texas, was first issued on the 1991 Star Time box set,^[6] then remastered for the 1998 release Say It Live and Loud: Live in Dallas 08.26.68.^[7] Brown also performs the song in the concert films James Brown: Man to Man and Live at the Boston Garden: April 5, 1968.

An instrumental version of "There Was a Time" with saxophonist Alfred "Pee Wee" Ellis was released in 1968. It was an overdubbed version of the tune credited to The Dapps.

Cover versions

"There Was a Time" was part of The Jackson 5's repertoire beginning early in their career. They perform it in concert on the album Live at the Forum. In a famous incident, Michael Jackson and Prince performed the song while sharing the stage with Brown and his band at Los Angeles' Beverly Theater in 1983.^[8]

Other artists who have recorded the song include Gene Chandler, Eddie Harris, and The Blue Sky Boys.