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.[1]
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.