Song #149: "Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There Is A Season" by The Byrds

Date: Dec 4, 1965
Weeks: 3

As I mentioned before, when a movie wants to establish the 1960s, they only have to play the first 4 seconds of this song. This is an indisputable classic.

The lyrics famously come straight from the Book of Ecclesiastes. The only additions to the song are the title phrase "Turn! Turn! Turn!" and the ending line "a time for peace, I swear it's not too late." That end line has turned it into a rather famous peace anthem from the Vietnam War era, which goes right back to explain why this song is so synonymous with the 60s. I'm not entirely clear on the meaning of "turn," but perhaps it's supposed to express the passage of time, the turning of the Earth, that sort of thing. Anyway, setting existing poetry to music is a pretty good trick, so the lyrics certainly get a pass from me.

As for the music, it's classic. The bass is excellent. The vocals are well-performed and harmonized. The guitars sound downright pretty. But the subtle standout is the percussion. During the verses, the percussion is mostly light cymbal-taps and tambourines. But when the chorus comes up, the percussion adds more drums. I have to say, I think the percussion is the main reason this song works so well. The drums modulate the intensity in a way that lets the nice, gentle verse build into a relatively intense chorus.

My verdict: Like it. Even without the historical context, this is just plain a great-sounding song.