The song “Seasons in the Sun”, released in late 1973 on his own record label, Goldfish Records, became the largest-selling international single by a Canadian artist at that time, eventually selling 14 million copies worldwide. It earned Jacks two Juno Awards and became one of the biggest selling Canadian Singles of all time.
The song was based on Rod McKuen’s 1965 re-write of “Le moribond”, originally by Belgian singer Jacques Brel from 1962. For his version, Jacks made some modifications to the lyrics, which along with McKuen’s, resulted in a work that bears little resemblance to Brel’s original in tone, substance or poetry. In the United States,[2] in Great Britain[3] and in Germany,[4] it was released on Bell Records, and the song nonetheless went to #1 on the charts. In Canada it was released on his own label, Goldfish Records, distributed by London Records Canada.[citation needed]
Jacks later released “If You Go Away” (another McKuen adaptation of a Jacques Brel song entitled “Ne Me Quitte Pas”), which reached #8 in Great Britain and #24 in Germany, and a cover of Kevin Johnson’s “Rock ‘N’ Roll (I Gave You The Best Years Of My Life)”, both of which had more success in Canada but also made the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the U.S. He wrote and recorded a number of other songs and went on to produce many artists including The Beach Boys with a version of “Seasons in the Sun” shortly before his own, but that was never released. He also produced the singles “Crazy Talk”[5] and “There’s Something I Like About That” for Chilliwack from their album Riding High.
Jacks produced two songs for Nana Mouskouri: “Scarborough Fair” and “Loving Arms” in 1976.[citation needed] He produced the Vancouver top 10 hit “Country Boy Named Willy” for “SPRING” on London Records (#38 Canada); And Valdy’s original version of “Rock and Roll Song” (b/w sometime “Sunday Morning”). The record was scheduled for release on London Records but was re-recorded in L.A. with another producer when Valdy signed a recording contract. He also spent a lot of time with Buddy Knox in the 1970s and produced a single for him with two songs: “Me and You” (written by Jacks) and the George Jones song “White Lightnin'”. The single remains unreleased. Jacks also went on to produce a number of other artists in the 1980s and 1990s including DOA who recorded a punk rock version of “Where Evil Grows”.
Terry Jacks – Seasons in the Sun Lyrics
Goodbye to you, my trusted friend.
We’ve known each other since we were nine or ten.
Together we’ve climbed hills and trees.
Learned of love and ABC’s,
skinned our hearts and skinned our knees.
Goodbye my friend, it’s hard to die,
when all the birds are singing in the sky,
Now that the spring is in the air.
Pretty girls are everywhere.
Think of me and I’ll be there.
We had joy, we had fun, we had seasons in the sun.
But the hills that we climbed
were just seasons out of time.
Goodbye, Papa, please pray for me,
I was the black sheep of the family.
You tried to teach me right from wrong.
Too much wine and too much song,
wonder how I got along.
Goodbye, Papa, it’s hard to die
when all the birds are singing in the sky,
Now that the spring is in the air.
Little children everywhere.
When you see them I’ll be there.
We had joy, we had fun, we had seasons in the sun.
But the wine and the song,
like the seasons, have all gone.
We had joy, we had fun, we had seasons in the sun.
But the wine and the song,
like the seasons, have all gone.
Goodbye, Michelle, my little one.
You gave me love and helped me find the sun.
And every time that I was down
you would always come around
and get my feet back on the ground.
Goodbye, Michelle, it’s hard to die
when all the bird are singing in the sky,
Now that the spring is in the air.
With the flowers ev’rywhere.
I wish that we could both be there.
We had joy, we had fun, we had seasons in the sun.
But the stars we could reach
were just starfish on the beach
We had joy, we had fun, we had seasons in the sun.
But the stars we could reach
were just starfish on the beach
We had joy, we had fun, we had seasons in the sun,
But the wine and the song,
like the seasons, have all gone.
All our lives we had fun, we had seasons in the sun.
But the hills that we climbed
Were just seasons out of time….
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