Terry Jacks - "Seasons in the Sun": were it good or bad?

inspired by it being in the trailer for John Wick 4, with "it's hard to die" looped over and over again.

i listened to it for the first time in years because of this and i am one of those meh people. it's fine. i like the creedence-y tremolo'd guitar chords. shrug. it's silly am 70s fulff. i think it's kind of funny?

ooh yes, the rare 1970s phenomenon of fulff.

i saw on vh1 greatest one hit wonders that some jerkass who wasn't terry jacks was touring around the midwest as "terry jacks" maybe in the 80s or 90s? jeez, what a world. the terry jackses ain't even real sometimes.

Pros:

- the best five-second instrumental intro of any song ever
- attemped Gallicisms: "now that the Spring is in the air"; "pretty girls are everyHWHERE"
- berserk key changes (F# to A to B♭)

Cons:

- Brel's original lyric is very caustic and sardonic, Rod McKuen's adaptation is nothing but sap

i have a con to add:

the way he says "paPA." but he doesn't even say the first syllable properly. it's like "puh-PAW." no. nobody says it like that.

Released when I was in 8th grade and one of the first 45s I bought. The b-side, Put the Bone In, was... something and gets stuck in my head whenever SitS comes up. Purgatory.

I don't really hate it, but I definitely don't like it. A thousand times better: the Poppy Family's "Where Evil Goes."

Brel's original lyric is very caustic and sardonic, Rod McKuen's adaptation is nothing but sap

hah, exactly! did not deserve this treatment.

at least "Ne me quitte pas" became several quality versions of "If You Go Away"

English translation of "Le Moribund":

Goodbye, Emile, you were my good friend
Goodbye, Emile, you were my good friend, you know
We sang together of the same great wines
We sang together of the same great women
We sang together of our shared sorrows
Goodbye, Emile, I’m going to die
It’s difficult to die in the Spring, you know
But I’m going to the flowers with peace in my heart
Because I know that you are a good man, good as white bread
You’ll take care of my wife after I’m gone
(Chorus)
I want everyone to laugh
I want everyone to dance
I want everyone to party like a bunch of fools
I want everyone to laugh
I want everyone to dance
When they come to put me in my grave
Goodbye, Father Priest, I liked you well enough
Goodbye, Father Priest, I liked you well enough, you know
We weren’t always on the same side
We didn’t always take the same path
But we were both looking for Heaven just the same
Goodbye, Father Priest, I’m going to die
It’s hard to die in the Spring, you know
But I’m going to the flowers with peace in my heart
Because you were her Confessor
I know you’ll take care of my wife when I’m gone
(Chorus)
Goodbye, Tony, I didn’t like you too much
Goodbye, Tony, I didn’t like you too much, you know
It’s killing me to be dying today
While you are so vigorous and full of life
And stronger even than boredom itself
Goodbye, Tony, I’m going to die
It’s hard to die in the Spring, you know
But I’m going to the flowers with peace in my heart
Because you were her Lover
I know you’ll take care of my wife when I’m gone
(Chorus)
Goodbye, my wife, I love you still
Goodbye, my wife, I love you still, you know
But I’m taking that trip to see the Good Lord today
I’m taking the trip before you do
But we all take that trip when we must
Goodbye, my wife, I’m going to die
It’s hard to die in the Spring, you know
But I’m going to the flowers with my eyes closed, once more
And because I closed them so many times before
I know you’ll take good care of my heart

love his expressiveness on this performance

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h02pNUKInBo

horrible earworm that afflicted 70s radio. no idea it was based on a song by Jacques Brel but that doesn't make the Terry Jacks song suck any less

We sang together of the same great wines

xpost well for the record I'm very much in the "kill it with fire" camp lol

The Terry Jacks rendition was my first favorite song. It’s not technically good, but maybe something of Brel comes across in it

I don't really hate it, but I definitely don't like it. A thousand times better: the Poppy Family's "Where Evil Goes."

Like “Beyond the Clouds.”

anyway, going with Purgatorio.

Jacks released his version as a single in 1973 on his own label, Goldfish Records. "Put the Bone In", an original composition about burying a deceased pet dog, was included as the B-side.

we had dog, we had fun
now it's dead so we have none

The woman with the dead dog is at the butcher buying meat. "'Put the bone in', she cried out once more!"

Ha, deliberately didn’t mention that right away.

8th grade me totally did not get the joke. I was also learning guitar, memorized and worked out the chords for it and sang a blistering heart-felt rendition.

Anyway, carry on. It's all joy and fun on the a-side 😂

Remember discussing that song whilst on crossing guard duty in elementary school.

- attemped Gallicisms: "now that the Spring is in the air"; "pretty girls are everyHWHERE"

Huh? Why is that a Gallicism? Had to google...

It is now most commonly pronounced /w/, the same as a plain initial ⟨w⟩, although some dialects, particularly those of Scotland, Ireland, and the Southern United States, retain the traditional pronunciation /hw/, generally realized as [ʍ], a voiceless "w" sound.

... though Terry Jacks is from Canada tbf.

Pro: a song about death topping the charts is always a welcome imo.

Con: Terry's whiny wheedling voice.

On balance though I'm more for than against.

There was a DJ in Manchester in the 80s I remember would drop this in at the end of the night...may've been Dave Haslam, idk. Anyway it always struck a chord with the party people of a certain age.

we had joy we had fun
we had Villa on the run

Terrible song but still better than 'Streets Of London'.

Later covered by Boyd Rice! Not sure if that should go in the pro or con category, although the presence of Rose McDowall might tip it towards pro.

Terry Jacks ephemera from his Wikipedia entry: he later produced records for both DOA and Chilliwack.

Other: the Too Much Joy version fucking rules

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lMRmOCax9M

horrible earworm that afflicted 70s radio.

OTM

imagine a world where your only source of music is an FM radio, which, if you dare to turn it on for an hour or two, is going to play this Terry Jacks song and equally soul-composting tracks at least twice for every time it plays something as tolerable as "Boogie Down" or "Rock On"

Feelings
nothing more than

(screams into the void)

Another other:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=heIog9Rv7Qw

downsized to one season

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

As much as I love 70s fluff, this one is a miss. It's like a poor cousin of "Alone Again (Naturally)." Pugatory.

As several folks have already said, the Brel version rocks, although it sounds weirdly martial.

haha it really does

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

I need to be alone

Point of order, "If You Go Away" is line by line a worse Brel translation than "Seasons In The Sun".

OTM

This song sucks.

well, Terry jacks, it’s not a mystery