I don’t know what’s worse to look at – Roger McGuinn’s glasses or The Byrds’ haircuts. Put both on the same album cover and you’ve got yourself a real treat. Arghhh. Don’t mind me – I’m just in a silly mood on this frigid, overcast morning in Bogotá.
I first heard this on the US coming-of-age show The Wonder Years, where it featured in three episodes. While the song became closely associated with the show, it wasn’t the main theme – that went to Joe Cocker’s cover of With a Little Help from My Friends. I’ve mentioned this series often because it left such an impression on me, and a lot of its soundtrack has made its way in here.
Now, back to today’s featured track – the sermon-like, old lefty peace song, Turn! Turn! Turn! Pete Seeger adapted the first eight verses of Chapter 3 of the biblical Book of Ecclesiastes into the song. Apart from the repeated title and the final two lines, the lyrics come directly from that passage.
Seeger recorded his own version, but it was The Byrds who turned it into a hit – something they had a knack for, especially with Bob Dylan songs. Their version reached No. 1 on the US Billboard and No. 26 on the UK Singles Chart.
From Wikipedia: The Biblical text posits there being a time and place for all things: birth and death, killing and healing, sorrow and laughter, war and peace, and so on. The lines are open to myriad interpretations, but Seeger’s song presents them as a plea for world peace with the closing line: “a time for peace, I swear it’s not too late. This line and the title phrase “Turn! Turn! Turn!” are the only parts of the lyric written by Seeger himself”
Pete Seeger gave 45% of the royalties from Turn! Turn! Turn! to the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, a group critical of Israeli state policy. Seeger also had long ties to socialist and communist circles, which is reflected in the fact that his handwritten lyrics were later donated to New York University through the Communist Party USA in 2007.
To everything (Turn, turn, turn)
There is a season (Turn, turn, turn)
And a time to every purpose under heaven
[Verse 1]
A time to be born, a time to die
A time to plant, a time to reap
A time to kill, a time to heal
A time to laugh, a time to weep
[Chorus]
[Verse 2]
A time to build up, a time to break down
A time to dance, a time to mourn
A time to cast away stones
A time to gather stones together
[Chorus]
[Verse 3]
A time of love, a time of hate
A time of war, a time of peace
A time you may embrace
A time to refrain from embracing
[Chorus]
[Verse 4]
A time to gain, a time to lose
A time to rend, a time to sew
A time for love, a time for hate
A time for peace, I swear it’s not too late
References:
1. Turn! Turn! Turn! – Wikipedia
“The more I live, the more I learn. The more I learn, the more I realize, the less I know.”- Michel Legrand
Observation Blogger 
The TV series made an impression on me, too. I thought it was quite well done and seemed to pave the way for others like it. Hearing the opening’s jangly guitars certainly brings the show up in memory though, honestly, I didn’t recall Cocker. I suppose this song dominates the memory associated to the series.
And yeah, the glasses and haircuts (or ‘rug re-thinks’ as the late Martin Amis called them)….
That’s cool you enjoyed the show as well. As far as music in The Wonder Years goes, the song that made the biggest impact on me as a kid was Donovan’s “Catch the Wind” in one episode. It inadvertently led me to Dylan’s “Blowin’ in the Wind,” and I never looked back — as you’re well aware. lol
Great show, though, and I’d love to show it to my kids one day.
I don’t recall the Catch the Wind episode, but can totally see it working. The music supervisor did a fine job of selecting songs to elevate the moods and themes. It was indeed a great show. I think I liked it more than my kids, though I believe they’d get more out of it now.
If you don’t mind, I’ll send you the ending of the episode (S02E14 Brightwing) which features Donovan’s song which a friend told me was Dylan lol
It’s so lovely this scene and I remember tape-recording it, so I could hear the song again:
Ahhh, that’s just lovely. A very moving scene and, again, perfect song choice nails it. Thanks for digging that up and sharing.
To me, it’s so funny that you first heard this on “The Wonder Years”. I loved that show too, but I was 28 when it first came on. I probably didn’t even watch it until a few years later, when it was in syndication. In 1988, I was working all the time & didn’t watch much TV.
I first heard “Turn! Turn! Turn!” on a Pete Seeger LP that my parents had. I was 5 when the Byrds version came out. I have ALWAYS loved the Byrds. They were called the LA version of the Beatles ~ in those days, almost every new group was compared to the Beatles, just like earlier acts were compared to Elvis ~ but they had a distinct sound.
One of my husbands, Bob, had the Byrds complete CD collection ~ everything they every recorded ~ even stuff that wasn’t released ~ every version of the band. I taped all the CDs but they’re gone now ~ I’m assuming that I wore the tapes out before the end of the 90s or they got eaten by a cassette player. I had a car cassette player that routinely ate tapes. Tooling down the road, enjoying the tunes & then ~ ARGHHH!
Now I can laugh about that.
I remember singing “Turn! Turn! Turn!” in church choir with guitars & flutes & an oboe. Which also makes me laugh ~ my father HATED what he called “folk Mass”. LOL