S.O.D. "Seasons in the Sun" by Terry Jacks

3/24/2015     This song is an adaptation of the original version by Belgian singer-songwriter Jaques Brel.  It features lyrics from American singer-poet Rod McKuen. Jacks' version became the most popular and is one of the fewer then 40 singles to ever sell more then 10 million copies.  Also reaching success with the tune were the Kingston Trio, The Fortunes, and Westlife.  In 1973 the Beach Boys were recording the song with Jacks producing but decided to abandon the recording which led Jacks to record the song with his wife Susan.  He also wanted to create a more sentimental tune then the original sarcastic French version.    

     The dying protagonist that the song revolves around therefore bids farewell in a caring way rather than the original backhanded manner to someone important in his life in each verse.  Much criticism came Jacks' way for his overly sentimentalized rewriting of the original version and is commonly held up as an example of bad music.  That's a critic for you alright.  In March 1974 the song began a three-week run at #1 on top of the Hot 100 and remained in the top 40 until Memorial Day weekend.  

     Jacks has been honored with several awards by groups including the United Nations Association of Canada and the Western Canada Wilderness Committee for his work as an environmentalist.