Seasons in the Sun

"Seasons in the Sun"
Song
B-side	"Put the Bone In"

"Seasons in the Sun" was a worldwide hit song for Terry Jacks in 1974. It was first released in the United States and Canada early in the year, and rose to number one in America by March 2. The song had been done by English band The Fortunes in 1968, and by Pearls Before Swine in 1970/71.

The song was based on a song called "Le Moribond" ("The Dying Man") by Jacques Brel. Brel's song was translated into English by poet Rod McKuen, and McKuen's English version was recorded by Bob Shane of the Kingston Trio, which did not sell. The Beach Boys also recorded the song. Jacks rewrote part of the lyrics to "lighten them up." Jacks' revisions tended to add a bit of ambiguity as to the nature of the storyteller's demise, allowing listeners the option to choose whether the death is from suicide over a failed life - quite possibly to escape drug addiction - or someone accepting death from natural causes, such as cancer. References to a cheating wife were also removed. A comparison is given below. Jacks' recording included a recurring, reverb-drenched guitar riff that many sources attribute to Link Wray.

The resulting version became an international hit and made Jacks a star, albeit considered today as a "one-hit wonder". According to a posting on McKuen's website [1] the royalties from "Seasons in the Sun" "helped pay for a new roof on my house."

In 1973, the master tape of "Seasons in the Sun" sat on a shelf in his basement for more than a year. A newspaper delivery boy heard Jacks playing it and asked if he could bring some friends by to listen to it. Their enthusiasm convinced Jacks to release it on his own label and it soon topped the record charts in the U.S.(where it was released on Bell Records), Canada and the UK and sold over six million copies worldwide.

It has been cited as an example of something called the "gear-shift", the overuse of key changes in an attempt to prolong listener interest.

Version comparison

This is an English translation of the original final verse by Jacques Brel:

Good-bye, my wife, I loved you well

Good-bye, my wife, I loved you well, you know,

But I'm taking the train for the Good Lord,

I'm taking the train before yours

But you take whatever train you can;

Goodbye, my wife, I'm going to die,

It's hard to die in springtime, you know,

But I'm leaving for the flowers with my eyes closed, my wife,

Because I closed them often,

I know you will take care of my soul.

(i.e. he seems to be referring to closing his eyes to her infidelity. This is confirmed by the preceding verse in which he bids goodbye to his wife's lover Antoine.)

And this is Terry Jacks' version:

Goodbye, Michelle, my little one,

You gave me love and helped me find the sun,

And every time that I was down

You would always come around

And get my feet back on the ground;

Goodbye, Michelle, it's hard to die

When all the birds are singing in the sky,

Now that the spring is in the air,

With the flowers ev'rywhere,

I wish that we could both be there!

Westlife Version

"Seasons in the Sun"
Song

In December 1999, Westlife released their 4th Single. It was their 4th No.1 in the UK. It was released as a double-A-side with "I Have A Dream" which was first recorded by ABBA in 1979. It remained #1 for 4 weeks in the UK.

Other versions

An earlier recording appeared on The Kingston Trio's 1963 album, "Time to Think".

Swedish "dansband" Vikingarna covered the song in Swedish in 1974, as "Sommar varje dag". the song has also been covered by Spell, Bad Religion, Too Much Joy, Black Box Recorder, Nirvana, Pearls Before Swine, Alcazar, Me First and the Gimme Gimmes and Gob featuring Blink 182. In 2006, fictional boyband Boytown recorded the song for the film of the same title. It featured at the end of the film, with all five members singing it to their loved ones through a dream-like cloud motif.

Cat Stevens also covered this song.

Another cover version, by Bobby Wright (son of Johnnie Wright and Kitty Wells), reached the Top 40 of the Billboard magazine Hot Country Singles chart in 1974.

The earliest single recording may well have been the Manchester based Coachmen's version recorded At EMI's Abbey Road Studios in July 1966 and released on Columbia DB8057 in November 1966.

Trivia

• On the original 45, if you listen very closely after the end of the B-side "Put the Bone In", you will hear a faint annoyed voice say "Aw, naw".

• In an episode of Rugrats where the Pickles family is having a garage sale, Seasons In The Sun is one of the records mentioned.

External links

• Terry Jacks sings Seasons in the Sun at YouTube
• Seasons in the Sun at Super Seventies.
• "Goodbye, Papa, It's Hard to Die: The enduring appeal of an abominable pop song" (Slate.com, March 16, 2005)
• "Gear Changing" or unnecessary key shifts in Seasons in the Sun
• Nirvana's Version of Seasons in the Sun at YouTube
• comments by Rod McKuen on the song's origins.