The Byrds-Turn! Turn! Turn!

"Turn! Turn! Turn! (to Everything There is a Season)", often abbreviated to "Turn! Turn! Turn!", is a song adapted entirely from the Book of Ecclesiastes in the Bible (with the exception of the last line) and put to music by Pete Seeger in 1959. Seeger waited until 1962 to record it, releasing the song on his The Bitter and The Sweet album on Columbia Records. 45% of the royalties for the song are donated to the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, due, in Seeger's own words, to the fact that "[in addition to the music] I did write six words.""Turn! Turn! Turn!" was the third single by the American folk rock band The Byrds and was released on October 1, 1965 by Columbia Records, The song was also included on the band's second album, Turn! Turn! Turn!, which was released on December 6, 1965. The Byrds' single (b/w "She Don't Care About Time") is the most successful recorded version of the song, having reached #1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 charts and #26 on the UK Singles Chart. The Byrds' version distinguishes the song as the #1 pop hit with the oldest lyrics, dating back to the Book of Ecclesiastes.Many biblical scholars believe Ecclesiastes 1:1 implies King Solomon as the book's author; thus, if true, giving Solomon lyrical credit for a number one hit.The master recording of the song reputedly took 78 takes, spread over five days of recording, to complete.The song's plea for peace and tolerance struck a nerve with the American record buying public as the Vietnam War continued to escalate.The single also solidified folk rock as a chart trend and, like the band's previous hits, continued The Byrds' successful mix of vocal harmony and jangly twelve-string Rickenbacker guitar playing.During 1965 and 1966, the band performed the song on the television programs Hollywood A Go-Go, Shindig!, The Ed Sullivan Show, and Where the Action Is, as well as in the concert film, The Big T.N.T. Show. Additionally, the song would go on to become a staple of The Byrds' live concert repertoire, until their final disbandment in 1973. The song was also performed live by a reformed line-up of The Byrds featuring Roger McGuinn, David Crosby and Chris Hillman in January 1989.In addition to its appearance on the Turn! Turn! Turn! album, the song also appears on several Byrds' compilations, including The Byrds' Greatest Hits, History of The Byrds, The Original Singles: 19651967, Volume 1, The Byrds, 20 Essential Tracks from the Byrds Box Set (1965-1990), The Very Best of The Byrds, The Essential Byrds and There Is a Season.Nearly three decades after the Byrds released the song as a single, the recording was featured prominently in the 1994 movie Forrest Gump.The song was also featured in Jim Sheridan's 2002 film, In America, although it was not included on the official soundtrack.Following Joe Cocker's cover of "With a Little Help from My Friends", the song was the first to play on the first episode of the television series The Wonder Years.It was also used in a Wonder Years parody, during The Simpsons' episode, "Three Men and a Comic Book".

Category:

Music

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• Turn!
• The
• Byrds
• 60's
• music

[dandiehl1948]

@MySweetestMoments If you were old enough to remember the '60s you would know that no death, no matter how evil the man, is to be celebrated.

[Aceman7895]

to the one person who disliked this, rethink your taste in music,\

[BlondieFan75]

A Time for Peace, I swear It's Not Too Late.

Peace & Love.

[deaddoc]

@MrJacMac1986 Having been a teen then, I can tell you that the band all U.S. bands were trying to reply to was The Beatles. I was a big Yardbird fan, but they were their own separate thing. Before naming themselves The Byrds, they called themselves The Beefeaters, which was a reply to the British Invasion, as it was called. A U.S. band doing blues something like the YBs would have been a reply. People weren't that simple minded about music or names.

[MrJacMac1986]

@joelimanoldiekapner To me the Byrds seemed like USA's answer to the Yardbirds.Like the Yardbirds alot of the Byrds personel would go on to better music careers.even though the Byrds were more folk and the Yardbirds more blues. Band names were similar

[jennburdick]

This was the No.1 song on the day I was born....ah! :)

[AKnightAtPeace]

It's a shame many great bands like these didn't last that long together: but their incredible music efforts and talents will stand much greater than most of the mainstream music we hear today on the radio...

[FanCatoon]

Dieses lied hab ich schon so lange gesucht

[CuteCatFaith]

I was a little too young to see this live, but I was there to get these records a few years later second hand, thrown out. I took them to NYC to play them for my punk pals. Greetings from Paris, France.

[ilovedatasoong]

Happy Birthday Gene! <:o)

[bjohnson55555]

@ilovedatasoong Yup. What's what I meant. LOL.

[ilovedatasoong]

@bjohnson55555 Don't you mean 3:09