Goodbye to you, my trusted friend
We've known each other since we're nine or ten
Together we climbed hills or 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
When you see them 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 get 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 all have 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 everywhere
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 starfishes on the beach
*black sheep 黑綿羊 在英文俚語中,是指敗家子、家裡最不成材的孩子或害群之馬。
這首帶有勵志色彩的歌曲,原作者是法國的民歌手傑克斯布瑞爾(Jacques Brel),經由也是歌手的美國朋友洛徳麥昆(Rod MaKuen)翻成英文,才流傳到美國。這首曲子原名" Le moribond ",意思是「臨終的人」。一九六一年,傑克斯布瑞爾發現自己罹患了癌症,因而寫下這首歌,獻給他的父親、摯友和妻子。
" Seasons in the sun "被介紹到美國以後,原本是由當時十分走紅的'Beach Boys海灘少年合唱團"灌錄成單曲,但錄完卻因為某些原因決定不發行。後來,參與錄音伴奏的泰瑞傑克斯為了追悼一位意外死亡的友人,便自己重新錄了這首歌,並徵得原作詞者的同意,修改了最後一段歌詞,也就是我們目前所聽到的版本。
一九七三年,泰瑞傑克斯演唱的版本發行於加拿大,大受歡迎。後來在英、美兩地都登上排行冠軍並風靡全球。據統計,這首單曲全球總銷售量超過了六百萬張。進入廿一世紀以後,英國的偶像團體西城男孩合唱團(Westlife)曾翻唱這首歌,味道相去不遠,將這首經典老歌再度介紹給了全世界的年輕歌迷。