Seasons in the Sun: The Beach Boys Killed It First

Seasons in the sun sounds like a gentle goodbye, but it started life as something much darker.

The Beach Boys recorded it four years before Terry Jacks made it a hit.

They scrapped their own version and called it wimpy.

Jacks finished his rewrite only after a real friend was dying.

It became one of the best-selling singles of the entire decade.

Terry Jacks with an acoustic guitar in 1974, the year seasons in the sun hit number one

Terry Jacks, photographed in 1974.

Image credit: Bell Records, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

Seasons in the Sun Started as a Dark French Farewell

Le Moribond Was About a Cheating Wife, Not a Peaceful Goodbye

Seasons in the sun began in 1961 as Jacques Brel's "Le Moribond," a French song about a dying man.

Brel's original man says goodbye to his priest, his wife, and his friends before he dies.

Along the way, he reveals that his wife has been having an affair with his friend Antoine.

The tone is bitter and unresolved, not comforting.

Poet Rod McKuen translated it into English in 1963 and softened it somewhat, but the sting stayed.

The Kingston Trio recorded that McKuen version the same year, without much chart impact.

Terry Jacks Rewrote It After His Friend's Real Diagnosis

Terry Jacks knew the Kingston Trio recording and kept coming back to it.

A close friend of his was diagnosed with leukemia and given only months to live.

That friend died within four months of the diagnosis.

Jacks rewrote the lyrics again, stripping out the betrayal and leaving a peaceful, sentimental farewell instead.

He has said the loss is what finally pushed him to finish it and put his voice on tape.

The song most people know today owes its gentleness to that real grief, not to Brel's original intent.

The Beach Boys Recorded It First, and Killed It Themselves

Brian Wilson Wouldn't Let the Tape Go

Terry Jacks wasn't just a singer before this song made him famous, he was also a working producer.

The Beach Boys brought him in during 1970 sessions for their album Surf's Up.

They attempted their own recording of seasons in the sun on July 31, 1970.

Brian Wilson kept trying to rework Jacks's production long after it should have been finished.

Jacks later said the engineer had to physically take the tape home at night to keep Wilson from touching it further.

The session dragged on and was never completed to anyone's satisfaction.

Mike Love Called Their Own Version Wimpy

The Beach Boys shelved seasons in the sun and never released it at the time.

Mike Love later admitted the band recorded a version but scrapped it.

"It was so wimpy we had to throw it out," Love said. "It was just the wrong song for us."

The abandoned recording sat unreleased for over fifty years.

It finally surfaced in 2021 on the Beach Boys compilation Feel Flows.

Terry Jacks took the song he couldn't get the Beach Boys to finish and finished it himself instead.

Three Weeks at Number One and Three Juno Awards

The Real Chart Numbers

Seasons in the sun hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 on March 2, 1974.

It held the top spot for three straight weeks.

It became the second-best-selling single of the entire year in the United States.

It sold more than three million copies domestically alone.

This site's own year-end chart archive confirms its number one position for 1974.

Loved by the Public, Hated by Critics

Seasons in the sun became one of pop music's strangest contradictions.

It hit number one in more than ten countries, from Canada to West Germany to Zimbabwe.

Worldwide sales topped 10 million copies.

Critics tore it apart at the same time.

Slate later called it impossibly maudlin and an unsurpassed nadir of pop music.

A CNN public opinion poll listed it among the worst songs ever recorded.

The same record that filled dance floors and dedication shows also filled worst-song lists for decades afterward.

A Trio of Junos for a Song Nobody Else Would Finish

Seasons in the sun made Terry Jacks a three-time Juno Award winner in 1974.

He won Best Male Vocalist and Best Single in two separate categories that year.

A further Juno for Best Selling Single followed in 1975.

It also topped the charts in more than ten countries, including his native Canada.

Curious what other decade-defining hit matches your mood right now?

Try the Mood Song Matcher and see what comes up.

Or pull a random hit from the whole decade with the Random 70s Song Generator.

Another 1970 chart-topper carried its own real rivalry behind the scenes.

Read that story in Bridge Over Troubled Water: The Gospel Line Simon Paid For.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is seasons in the sun actually about?

Seasons in the sun is an English rewrite of Jacques Brel's 1961 French song "Le Moribond," about a dying man saying goodbye to the people in his life.

The original is far darker, with the man discovering his wife's affair with his best friend before he dies.

Terry Jacks softened the ending into a peaceful, sentimental farewell for his 1974 version.

Is seasons in the sun based on a true story?

Terry Jacks wrote his version of seasons in the sun after a close friend was diagnosed with leukemia and given only months to live.

That friend died within four months of the diagnosis.

Jacks has said the loss is what pushed him to finally finish and release his own rewrite of the song.

Did the Beach Boys record seasons in the sun first?

Yes, the Beach Boys attempted seasons in the sun during 1970 sessions for their album Surf's Up, with Terry Jacks producing.

Brian Wilson kept trying to rework the tape until the engineer had to take it home each night to keep him from touching it.

The band scrapped the recording, and Mike Love later called their version too wimpy to release.

How many weeks was seasons in the sun number one?

Seasons in the sun spent three weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 starting March 2, 1974.

It became the second-best-selling single of 1974 in the United States, moving more than three million copies.

This site's own year-end chart archive confirms its number one position for the year.

Did seasons in the sun win any awards?

Seasons in the sun won Terry Jacks three Juno Awards in 1974, Canada's equivalent of the Grammys, for Best Male Vocalist and Best Single in two categories.

He won a further Juno for Best Selling Single in 1975.

The song never won a Grammy, though it dominated charts in more than ten countries.