*** Welcome to piglix ***

Seasons in the Sun

"Le Moribond
(The Dying Man)"
Song by Jacques Brel from the album Marieke
Published 1961
Released 1961
Recorded February 22, 1961
Genre Chanson
Length 3:06
Label Philips
Writer(s) Jacques Brel
Rod McKuen (English lyrics "Seasons in the Sun")
Marieke track listing
Marieke
(1)
"Le Moribond
(The Dying Man)
"
(2)
Vivre Debout
(3)
"Seasons in the Sun"
SEASONS IN THE SUN.jpg
Single by Terry Jacks
from the album Seasons in the Sun
B-side "Put the Bone In"
Released December 1973
Format 7"
Recorded 1973
Genre Pop
Length 3:24
Label Bell
Writer(s) Jacques Brel, Rod McKuen
Producer(s) Terry Jacks
Terry Jacks singles chronology
"Seasons in the Sun"
(1974)
"If You Go Away"
(1974)
""I Have a Dream" / "Seasons in the Sun""
Single by Westlife
from the album Westlife
Released December 19, 1999
Format CD single
Recorded PWL Studios, London
Genre Pop
Length 4:09
Label BMG
Writer(s) Brel, McKuen
Westlife singles chronology
"Flying Without Wings"
(1999)
"I Have a Dream" / "Seasons in the Sun"
(1999)
"Fool Again"
(2000)

For the Spell album, see Seasons in the Sun (album). There is also a book of this title by Dominic Sandbrook.

"Seasons in the Sun" is an English-language adaptation of the song "Le Moribond" by Belgian singer-songwriter Jacques Brel with lyrics by American singer-poet Rod McKuen. It became a worldwide hit in 1974 for Canadian singer Terry Jacks and became a Christmas Number 1 in 1999 for Westlife. Jacks's version is one of the fewer than forty all-time singles to have sold 10 million copies worldwide.

The song is a dying protagonist's farewell to relatives and friends. The protagonist mentions how hard it will be to die now that the spring season has arrived (historically, spring is portrayed as the season of new life).

The original French-language song is a sardonic ballad, in which the speaker gives backhanded farewells to his adulterous wife and her lover and the priest he disagreed with while sarcastically expressing his wish that there should be singing and dancing when he is buried. Before Jacks popularized the song, earlier recordings had been released by The Kingston Trio with the first cover version of McKuen's translation in 1963 and the British band The Fortunes in 1968.

Jacks's version was recorded in Vancouver in 1973 by Jacks and his wife at the time, Susan Jacks. They made the decision to record the song when The Beach Boys, who recorded a version with Terry Jacks producing, decided to abandon their recording.


...
Wikipedia

...