1974 var også året, hvor den canadisk fødte sanger og sangskriver Terry Jacks hittede i Danmark med “Seasons in the Sun”. Oprindeligt var det meningen af Terry Jacks og hustruen Susan skulle have indspillet nummeret i samarbejde med The Beach Boys, men det blev ikke til noget, blandt andet på grund af ægteskabets opløsning. Derfor indspillede Jacks selv nummeret på sin første LP, der også hed “Seasons in the Sun”. Med en førsteplads i både USA, England og mange andre lande blev singleudspillet det største hit i canadisk musikhistorie.
I øvrigt var sangen en versionering af den belgiske sanger og sangskriver Jacques Brels “Le Moribond” (Den dødsmærkede). Terry Jacks tog den engelske digter Rod McKuens oversættelse og piftede den lidt op. ((“Piftede lidt op” er måske lidt for venligt. Digteren Rod Mckuen kommenterer på sin hjemmeside Terry Jacks manipulationer med oversættelsen med disse ord: ” Terry Jacks did not get permission from either Jacques or myself to change any of the lyrics or chords to Seasons in the Sun. I was in Mexico taking my month long yearly sabbatical from just about everything when the Jacks record was released. It was an immediate hit and by the time I heard it the single had already hit number one on the charts in Canada and the United States. Pretty hard to step in at that stage and censor a song that was not only a hit but one that had been covered by many other artists in the unauthorized version.

To begin with, whatever may have been reported Jacks did not change any of the words or chords to the four choruses of Seasons in the Sun but he did muck about with the final verse. Just for the record, here are the unauthorized changes Jacks made in the final verse of the song.

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
get my feet back on the ground.

And here is my original lyric to the last verse:

Goodbye Francois my trusted wife
without you I’d have had a lonely life
You cheated lots of times but then
I forgave you in the end
thou your lover was my friend.

And in the second part of that verse where I have the line “with your lovers everywhere just be careful I’ll be there.” he substituted “with the flowers everywhere wish that we could both be there.”

In a song where I tried to be as faithful as possible to Brel’s original lyric, agonizing over every one of the more than two hundred fifty words that tell the tale of a dying man saying goodbye to his father, best friend and finally his wife; was I upset that Jacks changed forty-two of them? You bet, but not as pissed off as Jacques on finding out that his serious short story had been turned into a teenyboppers lament. I was more riled that the humor of “with your lovers everywhere just be careful I’ll be there” was sacrificed.

I bought a house with my share of the royalties and never looked back. Over time Terry keeps changing his story about the song. For years he claimed to be the original translator. That would of course have meant that he had written it as a small child. About ten years ago when I presented the facts in a widely printed interview that must have gotten back to him he started to somewhat minimize his role as the songwriter. Still even now TV channel VH1 continues to re-run a segment of its “One Hit Wonders” series where Jacks claims to be the author, even elaborating on his inspiration for it. He isn’t challenged on the claim despite the camera close up on the label revealing the writers to be Brel-McKuen.

As you know Jacks is from Canada, one of my favorite places, but there must be something about the air up there. Another Canadian artist once added one word to my song “Rock Gently” (making it Rock Me Gently), put his name on it as the author and even won a Juno award for writing the best song of the year.

With all deference to your fiancé it’s my humble opinion that you won the fiver.

Incidentally “To You” is one of the songs Jacques and I wrote together from scratch and one of my favorites. As you have probably heard by now I have gotten back to working on a number of songs Jacques and I started together but never finished during his lifetime.” ))
The Beach Boys skulle angiveligt have indspillet den oprindelige udgave, men den er aldrig blevet udgivet.
På nummeret hører man en tydelig vibrerende el-guitar. Guitaristen skulle – igen i følge rygterne – have været selveste Link Wray.
Seasons in the Sun er forblevet Terry Jacks største succes. Han fik dog et mindre hit med endnu en Jacques Brel-sang – “If You go Away” (Ne Me Quitte Pas) – der nåede en 8. plads i England.
Siden har Jacks ved siden af sin sang arbejdet som pladeproducer og været aktiv miljøforkæmper.

Jeg var ikke særlig vild med sangen, da den kom frem, og synes stadigvæk den er lidt for sentimental i tonen. Men jeg kan huske, at den blev spillet i ét væk, dengang den var fremme…

Season in the Sun