Seasons of Love

"Seasons of Love"
"Seasons of Love" cover
Song by Rent cast from the album Rent: Original Broadway Cast Recording
Released	September 1996
Genre	Musical
Length	2:52 (Original Broadway Cast Recording) 3:02 (Film version)
Writer(s)	Jonathan Larson
Composer(s)	Jonathan Larson

"Seasons of Love" is a song from the Broadway musical Rent, written and composed by Jonathan Larson. The song starts with an ostinato piano motif, which provides the harmonic framework for the cast to sing "Five hundred twenty-five thousand, six hundred minutes" (the number of minutes in a normal year). The main instruments used throughout the song are piano, vocals, guitar, organ, bass and drums.

The song is performed by the entire cast in the musical and in the 2005 film of the same name. The lyrics ask what the proper way is to quantify the value of a year in human life, concluding in the chorus that the most effective means is to "measure in love". Since four of the lead characters either have HIV or AIDS, the song is often associated with World AIDS Day and AIDS awareness month.

Jonathan Larson actually intended for Seasons of Love to be performed symbolically as a song at Angel's funeral. When Larson died the night before the preview opening of the show, the cast sang it at the beginning to pay their respects to the composer. It is performed at the beginning of the second act, referencing recent past events or the events to come. The song is heard twice throughout the second act (once as the opener, before A Happy New Year and the reprise is heard after "Take Me Or Leave Me," before "Without You") before hearing it in its last incarnation as background to I'll Cover You: Reprise and Angel's eulogy.

In the stage production, the song is sung at the opening of the second act. The cast stands downstage in a straight line facing the audience. The entire cast performs the song, and the solos are normally performed by two cast members who play several minor roles each (namely Mr. and Mrs. Jefferson). "Seasons of Love" is performed in two parts, the first at the beginning of Act II with the reprise following a few numbers later, following "Take Me Or Leave Me".

The song has been translated into multiple languages for the international productions of the musical ("Tiempos de amor" in Spanish, "Nur Liebe Bleibt" in German, "Sígræn ást" in Icelandic and "A szerelem évszakai" in Hungarian).

In the 2005 film version of Rent, "Seasons of Love" is performed in the opening scene. Only the eight principal characters perform the song, and the two solos are performed by Joanne (Tracie Thoms) and Tom Collins (Jesse L. Martin). "Seasons of Love" is performed in two parts, but features at the start of the film with the cast performing it on a theater stage. In the reprise the song plays as a backdrop to a documentary style film about New York life made by the character Mark. Selections from "Seasons of Love" were also used in several of the film's trailers and other promotional material.