It is a song for today, it is an anthem of the Sixties, it is millennia-old wisdom.
Back in 1959, folk singer Pete Seeger drew on Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 — one of the wisdom books of the Old Testament, the other two being Proverbs and Job — to write what he felt was a song of protest. In a flash of genius, he added the chorus, “turn, turn, turn”, and that appeal for peace: “A time of peace, I swear it’s not too late”.
Little did Seeger know that by 1965, the song would be on fire.
The Byrds took over and Roger McGuin’s bright and jangly opening riffs were enough to announce that immortality had arrived. The band, despite its short and tumultous journey, gave America its musical shorthand to the ’60s churn with the song. Vietnam, the civil rights movement, dissent and counterculture — Turn! Turn! Turn! was zeitgeist on song. It became #1 on the Billboard charts in 1965, but proved to be way more than a number in the decades that followed.
There are other versions, albeit less famous ones.
The Limeliters make it cheery, even boisterous. Judy Collins takes a meditative approach and makes the lyrics shine — a must-have on the playlist. Nina Simone’s slow turn, pun intended, is more spiritual. Seeger’s own take is simple, gently contemplative.
Every rendition is different. And no, the song isn’t only about the collective. Flip it inward, and it’s about your own seasons, your resilience, your story.
To everything, turn, turn, turn
There is a season, turn, turn, turn
And a time to every purpose under heaven
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....
In a 2006 interview with Daniel Sheehy, the director of Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, Seeger said: “I didn’t realise when I improvised a melody to a short poem in the Old Testament that these few words would be some of the most important words I ever would latch on to.”
We get you, Pete.