Reply #47: It ain't exactly "Jesus Loves the Little Children" or "Turn! Turn! Turn!" [View All]

Turn! Turn! Turn! (song)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Turn! Turn! Turn!," also known by its full title "Turn! Turn! Turn! (to Everything There Is A Season)," is a song written by Pete Seeger, wherein Seeger set text from The Bible to music, specifically, a reading from the Book of Ecclesiastes, 3:1-8, in the Old Testament. Although written in the 1950s, Seeger would wait until 1962 to record it, releasing the song on his The Bitter and The Sweet album on Columbia Records.

The biblical text posits there being a time and place for all things, laughter to sorrow, healing to killing, war and peace, the lines therefore open to myriad interpretations. As a song, however, the text is commonly performed as a plea for world peace, with the stress on the closing line: "a time for peace, I swear it's not too late," the latter phrase the only part of the lyric composed by Seeger himself.

The song first appeared several months before the Seeger version on an album by the folk group The Limeliters on RCA Records, Folk Matinee, under the title "To Everything There Is A Season." One of their backing musicians, Jim McGuinn, would later work with folk singer Judy Collins, re-arranging the song to suit her style, now entitled "Turn! Turn! Turn! (to Everything There Is A Season)," for her Elektra album of 1964, Judy Collins #3.

More:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turn%21_Turn%21_Turn%21_%28song%29



See also:

Ecclesiastes 3

3:1 To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
3:2 A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
3:3 A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
3:4 A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
3:5 A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
3:6 A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
3:7 A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
3:8 A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

More:
http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.com/ec/3.html