“For the Good Times”
Ray Price
Written by Kris Kristofferson
Billboard
#1 (1 week)
September 19, 1970
In the nineties, I read New Country magazine religiously.
Every month, I would wait for the latest issue and devour the interviews, features, and reviews. As I became more infatuated with the history of country music, I relied heavily on their thorough reviews of reissues that were easy to miss. Wanda Jackson’s Vintage Collection and Emmylou Harris’ Portraits box set ended up on my Christmas list based on those reviews, which also gave me a window into the conventional wisdom among many country journalists of the time.
One of the themes that emerged the most clearly was how certain artists crossed over and sold their souls in the process, making obviously worse music once they did. I remember a review of Essential Dolly Parton One mentioning that the set opening with “9 to 5” was an indication that it was a dud of a compilation. And I remember Ray Price recording “Danny Boy” and “For the Good Times” with strings and pop flair being the big scarlet letter on his honky tonk legacy.
What an astonishingly stupid take that is in retrospect. First, those great honky tonk records still exist. If “Crazy Arms” is your jam, and “Danny Boy” isn’t, play the old record instead of the new one.
But second, and more importantly, versatile artists shouldn’t have their talents fenced in based on some genre labels some industry folks created to segregate music markets.
“For the Good Times” is the perfect example of this because it’s every bit as vital and exemplary of its musical style as “Crazy Arms” was. Price gives a mature and intelligent performance here that grounds this in the business of older adults. Nobody is naive in this situation, and his request for one more night comes off as genuinely heartfelt and anything but lascivious.
That’s not an easy feat to pull off with this lyric. Picture, say, T. G. Sheppard taking a pass at it in the early eighties. But Price was as great a singer as this genre ever saw, and how beautiful that his gifts where shared with the wider pop audience on this essential and timeless record.
Countrypolitan for the win.
“For the Good Times” gets an A.
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Just gonna note that the teaser line here is “the Supremes hit this ain’t” so it seems you accidentally reused the Sonny James line.
I’ll have Bonus Beats ready soon, but there’s quite a bit to choose from and I’m still looking
I’m kind of shocked that this song spent only one week atop the C&W singles chart. Sure, it was a huge change from Ray’s honky-tonk style of the late 1950’s and 1960’s, but it worked quite well, both artistically and commercially. It was, after all, the moment that the Nashville Sound which sprung up in the late 1950’s in the wake of rock and roll morphed into the Countrypolitan sound, which more or less lasted in some form or another until the end of the 1980’s.
Even more incredibly, this crossed over and became Ray’s only Top 40 pop hit, peaking at #11 during the first weeks of January 1971, where it wasn’t uncommon to hear it being played alongside, for instance, “Your Song” by Elton John, and “My Sweet Lord” by George Harrison.
Ray Price was too good of a singer to be pigeonholed into one style of music. I was originally of the mindset that his countrypolitan work was subpar and only his honky tonk sound should be remembered. But because he’s Ray Price, and would be on a Mount Rushmore or country vocalists, I came to realize that Countrypolitan was no enemy when done well.
And oh boy, is this done well. Kacey Musgraves said this is one of the saddest songs in country music history. In a bittersweet way, I can agree with that. What an emotional gut punch, beautifully sung, and simply timeless. It doesn’t get much better than this, ever.
The 1970s up through the middle 1980s were the “spin-o-rama” years as far as Billboard’s country charts were concerned – typically 45+ songs would make it to #1.
Interestingly enough, this song was the B side of the 45 rpm I purchased back then – the A side was a song titled “Grazing In Greener Pastures”. It was a very good song; however, Ray told Columbia they were erring in making that song the A side. Fortunately, DJs agreed with Ray’s assessment and flipped the record.
I want to share David Cantwell’s superlative take on this elegiac Ray Price performance of a brilliant Kris Kristofferson song:
Country music is often called music for grown-ups, and no record better illustrates the point than Ray Price’s “For the Good Times.” The foundation is Kris Krisstoferson’s song, which is every bit as complex and conflicted as any real-life adult breakup.
“Don’t look so sad, ” Price begins. You figure he’s comforting a woman to whom he just delivered bad news. But as the scene unfolds, you learn that he’s the one getting the bad news; she’s leaving him, and the song is his attempt to get her to go to bed with him just once more. You know, “For the Good Times.” Price could have delivered these lines in all sorts of ways. He could have sung as if the man were unable or in billing to let go. He could leave the man wallowing in self-pity or nostalgia, or he could have let the man believe he just needs someone to help him make it through the night. It could have been a last ditch effort to get her to stay, or maybe he’s just a creep who wants to get laid. The miracle of Price’s delivery – he croons elegantly in one breath, all pathetic in the next – is that he never allows us to choose between the interpretations. Krisstoferson’s words and melody and Price’s delivery combine to let the man be all these things at once. No wonder Price has frequently gone out of his way to identify “For the Good Times” as among the best songs he’s ever sung.
The reason he even has to point this out at all is the record’s arrangement. It’s clopping drum and tic-tac bass are unmistakably country in feel, but the problem for some listeners is the Cam Mulljns string arrangement intertwined with that pulsing rhythm – as every purist knows by heart, string arrangements don’t belong on country records. Whatever. There’s really no accounting for such reactions, particularly to a record like “For the Good Times,” where the strings so clearly aid both the singer and the song. It’s true that on some records strings are needlessly stitches into perfectly serviceable country rhythm sections (think of those Frankenstein monster overdubs of Hank Williams’ hits), but that’s not the case here. “For the Good Times” was clearly conceived with an orchestra at its centre. As a result the strings give the song it’s mournful tone and sonic thrust; they suggest, in their call-and-response with the singer, all the history that stands between this couple. Most of all, they assist Price in his seduction even as they point to the man’s inevitably lonely future.
Because he eis going to tell him no, right? “Don’t look so sad,” he begins. Every time you hear Price sing those lines, you wonder anew just what it is he has done to make her give him that look. He he moved to hold her in his arms as she was packing to leave? Touched his lips to her neck as she pulled away? “Make believe you love me,” he purrs, then pauses ever so slightly before adding “one more time.” And that where you finally understand why her eyes have been filled with tears- she’s remembering all those nights when making believe was precisely what she had to do.
This is a solid “A+”, and as you stated it a good example that JUST because something is not traditional country that it can’t be great. I too bought into that argument as well for some years. Wouldn’t it be a shame if we didn’t get both sides of Dolly? And yes, it would be a shame if we didn’t get both sides of Ray Price.
Kris Kristofferson’s songwriting career was short but nothing less than genius. Next to “I Will Always Love You”, this IS the best gentle goodbye song of all time.
I agree with the A rating. Ray was my grandpa’s favorite country singer and toward the last few years of his life we both shared common love for older country music artists.
Ray is someone while I do appreciate the 50’s up to mid 60’s material the most enjoy most of his 70’s output as well.
Willie Nelson and Ray Price’s version of “Faded Love” will always be my favorite due to that lonesome fiddle introduction alone.
The Sinatra of country music and one of the best to step foot to the microphone.
Finally getting around to it. Here’s some Bonus Beats:
To start, I feel obligated to bring up the fantastic soul version of “For the Good Times” that Al Green recorded for his 1972 album I’m Still in Love with You. This version was used in the movie If Beale Street Could Talk. Here it is:
https://youtu.be/C2dEwY0xzcI
For another version by a soul legend, Isaac Hayes recorded a version for his legendary 1971 album Black Moses. I’m gonna assume his version has been sampled at least once. Here’s that version:
https://youtu.be/j8U2Yto9Fsc
And for the last soul version to bring up, Aaron Neville recorded it for his 1995 album The Tattooed Heart, with the song’s country roots apparent, as Keith Stegall produced it. Here’s that version, which has a music video:
https://youtu.be/M7v55GlqriA
More bonus beats! I’m not done yet.
First, pretty much any time a song appears in this column that Elvis has covered, I should probably bring up the Elvis version. Elvis recorded it for his 1973 album Elvis (Live). Here’s that version:
https://youtu.be/QEybmQ6aJmc
Norah Jones performed “For the Good Times” as part of a series of “live from home” performances that she did during the Covid quarantine. She also recorded it in studio as a member of the alt-country supergroup the Little Willies. Here’s the “live from home” version:
https://youtu.be/tral9e586l8
Finally, here’s a version recorded by, of all people, Megan Mullally. Yes, the actress. Shockingly, her singing voice is absolutely beautiful, which I was not expecting:
https://youtu.be/f5JlLAJFoBI
A bit late, but I also wanted to chime in and say I’ve always really loved this song, as well. I love Ray’s smooth, mature vocals, along with the classy arrangement featuring the orchestra and the very beautiful melody. My parents all loved this song, too, and I remember hearing it for the first time on a classic country program on one of our stations with both my mom and dad enjoying it.
While I also enjoy Ray’s honky tonk music from the 50s and early 60s, I’ve really come to appreciate his crooner/countrypolitan side, as well. His voice is simply perfect for that kind of material, especially as it got deeper. Same with Marty Robbins and Eddy Arnold. I love crooner/easy listening music, in general, so the smoother material they all recorded in the 70s is right up my alley. It’s a style of country that I feel doesn’t get as much recognition or respect as it should.
Oh, and I also enjoy this version of “For The Good Times” by Jimmy Dean & Dottie West that appeared on a 60s country hits compilation my step dad bought in 2000: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hF7Qm-TE3Fo