Edited by Azizi Powell
Latest revision: Feb. 29, 2020
This pancocojams post showcases the Impressions' 1965 song "People Get Ready".
The lyrics of "People Get Ready" are included in this post along with a YouTube videos of The Impressions singing that song and a YouTube video of The Chambers Brothers singing that song.
The content of this post is presented for cultural, inspirational, and aesthetic purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to Curtis Mayfield & the Impressions for their musical legacy. Thanks also to The Chambers Brothers for their musical legacies. Thanks also to all those who are quoted in this post and thanks to the publishers of these videos on YouTube.
Thanks for all those who continue to work toward the eradication of racism and injustice in the United States & throughout the world.
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LYRICS: PEOPLE GET READY
(Curtis Mayfield)
People get ready
There's a train a-coming
You don't need no baggage
You just get on board
All you need is faith
To hear the diesels humming
Don't need no ticket
You just thank the Lord
People get ready
For the train to Jordan
Picking up passengers
From coast to coast
Faith is the key
Open the doors and board them
There's room for all
among the loved the most
There ain't no room
for the hopeless sinner
Who would hurt all mankind just
To save his own
Have pity on those
whose chances are thinner
Cause there's no hiding place
From the Kingdom's Throne
So people get ready
for the train a-comin'
You don't need no baggage
you just get on board !
All you need is faith
to hear the diesels humming
Don't need no ticket
you just thank, you just thank the Lord
Yeah
Ooh
Yeah
Ooh
I'm getting ready
I'm getting ready
this time I'm ready
this time I'm ready
Source: http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/rodstewart/peoplegetready.html
Note; Rod Stewart recorded a cover of this song in 1985.
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SHOWCASE VIDEOS
Example #1: "People Get Ready" The Impressions
catman916, Uploaded on Mar 4, 2010
Of all the songs of the 1960s,"People Get Ready" probably best represents the civil rights era. Written by lead singer, Curtis Mayfield and performed by The Impressions, it was released in 1965 on the ABC-Paramount label. "People Get Ready", reached #3 on the R&B charts and #14 on the pop charts. The members of the group were Curtis Mayfield, Fred Cash, and Sam Gooden. The song can be found on CD on The Very Best of the Impressions on Rhino Records. This sound recording is administered by UMG. The purpose of this upload is for viewer enjoyment and education not for monetary gain. I do not own the right to the songs, audio, or images contained in this video.
-snip-
From Wikipedia:
"People Get Ready" was a 1965 single by The Impressions, and the title track from the album of the same name. The single is today the group's best-known hit, reaching number-three on the Billboard R&B Chart and number 14 on the Billboard Pop Chart. The gospel-influenced track was a Curtis Mayfield composition, and displayed the growing sense of social and political awareness in his writing.
Rolling Stone magazine named "People Get Ready" the 24th greatest song of all time. The song was included in The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll. "People Get Ready" has also been chosen as one of the Top 10 Best Songs Of All Time by a panel of 20 top industry songwriters and producers, including Paul McCartney, Brian Wilson, Hal David, and others as reported to Britain's Mojo music magazine, and was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1998. Mayfield said, "That was taken from my church or from the upbringing of messages from the church. Like there's no hiding place and get on board, and images of that sort. I must have been in a very deep mood of that type of religious inspiration when I wrote that song." The song is the first Impressions hit to feature Mayfield's guitar in the break.
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Example #2: Chambers Brothers - People Get Ready LIVE version
guillaimz, Uploaded on Jan 19, 2010
People Get Ready (live version) from the Love, Peace and Happiness double album released in 1969.
People get ready, there's a train a comin'
You don't need no baggage, you just get on board
All you need is faith to hear the diesels hummin'
Don't need no ticket, you just thank the Lord
People get ready for the train to Jordan
It's picking up passengers from coast to coast
Faith is the key, open the doors and board 'em
There's hope for all among those loved the most.
There ain't no room for the hopeless sinner
Who would hurt all mankind just to save his own
Have pity on those whose chances grow thinner
For there's no hiding place against the Kingdom's throne
So people get ready, there's a train a comin'
You don't need no baggage, you just get on board
All you need is faith to hear the diesels hummin'
Don't need no ticket, you just thank the Lord
-snip-
The train motif is a common feature in African American religious & non-religious songs. However, in the article about Lester Chamber that I linked to in the beginning of this post, Chambers indicated that "if the song was recorded today Mayfield would change the lyrics from “there’s a train a comin’” to "there's a change a comin.'"
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