There's a Good Time Coming

There's a Good Time Coming is a popular poem written by Charles Mackay and set to music by Henry Russell and was one of that composer of popular music's best-known works in the middle of the nineteenth century.

   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

   Of the good time coming.

   Cannon balls may aid the truth,

   But thought's a weapon stronger,

   We'll win our battle by its aid.

   Wait a little while longer.

   CHORUS.

   There's a good time coming, boys,

   A good time coming;

   There's a good time coming, boys,

   Wait a little longer.

   There's a good time coming, boys,

   A good time coming;

   War in all men's eyes shall be

   A monster of iniquity,

   In the good time coming.

   Nations shall not quarrel then,

   To prove which is the stronger,

   Nor slaughter men for glory's sake;

   Wait a little longer.

   There's a good time, c

   There's a good time coming, boys,

   A good time coming;

   Let us aid it all we can,

   Every woman, every man,

   The good time coming;

   Smallest help, if rightly given,

   Makes the impulse stronger;

   It will be strong enough one day,

   Wait a little longer.

   There's a good time, c.

Independent testimony quoted by John Dodds indicates that the song was popular with new immigrants to the United States; it was recorded as being sung on the emigrant ships as they approached New York Harbor.