The New Christy Minstrels - Today (1964)

Formed in 1961 by Kansas native Randy Sparks, this American folk band was at the forefront of the folk revival movement taking place in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Sparks had initially been a solo performer in the 1950s before forming The Randy Sparks Trio with is wife Jackie Miller in 1960. Wanting a larger group, Sparks merged his outfit with The Inn Group, The Fairmount Singers, and four solo artists to create a fourteen-member lineup. They named themselves after Christy’s Minstrels, a blackface group of performers founded by Edwin Pearce Christy in 1843. The Fairmount Singers splintered apart from the rest of the band before recording their first album, and thus began the ever-changing lineup of members that has now included nearly three hundred total members. Although some members never got the opportunity to record or perform with the band, there were notable names to have been part of the group in varying degrees: Jim McGuinn and Gene Clarke (of The Byrds), Barry McGuire, Jerry Yester (of The Lovin’ Spoonful), Kenny Rogers and Mike Settle (of The First Edition), Larry Ramos (of The Association), and many others.

The band is notable for having never conformed to the “activist” folk music of the 1960s. Randy Sparks believed that folk music should bring about pleasant feelings and help people forget about their problems, not worry them. As the most popular folk music of the time was primarily politically driven, this band slowly lost their relevance as the sixties progressed.

This song was released on the band’s 1964 album, titled Today and Other Songs from ‘Advance to the Rear’. The album was initially intended to be a simple soundtrack to the 1964 film Advance to the Rear, but when the song heard below was released in the spring of 1964, it became so popular that they wanted to name their upcoming album after it. Not able to abandon their soundtrack association with the film, the album was given the aforementioned name. The film was notable for inspiring the television show F-Troop, and the album was notable for featuring this particular song, written and composed by The New Christy Minstrels’ (NCM’s) leader Randy Sparks.



The New Christy Minstrels - Today (1964)

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Lyrics:

Today, while the blossoms still cling to the vine
I'll taste your strawberries, I'll drink your sweet wine
A million tomorrows shall all pass away
‘ere I forget all the joy that is mine today

I'll be a dandy and I'll be a rover
You'll know who I am by the song that I sing
I'll feast at your table, I'll sleep in your clover
Who cares what the ‘morrow shall bring?

Today while the blossoms still cling to the vine
I'll taste your strawberries, I'll drink your sweet wine

I can't be contented with yesterday's glory
I can't live on promises winter to spring
(Winter to spring)
Today is my moment and now is my story
I'll laugh and I'll cry and I'll sing

Today while the blossoms still cling to the vine
I'll taste your strawberries, I'll drink your sweet wine
A million tomorrows shall all pass away
‘ere I forget all the joy that is mine today