Dedicated To My Dad - Seasons In The Sun

My Dad taught school, so that meant my family had every summer open to go on vacation. Our travel was always by car, pulling a 1968 Delta Queen camper from the Midwest to far off destinations like Florida, California, Montana, Canada; we went to all of the continental United States, and far into Canada and Mexico too! My Dad was an adventurer, so our vacations could last however long it took to ramble to wherever he plotted on the map, three weeks was not unusual. These long trips meant hearing tons of AM radio in the late 60's, early and mid 70's, from which there are certain songs embedded in my memory to this day! Delta Dawn was surely one of them, but Seasons in the Sun was the one that left the most vivid memories.

Seasons in the Sun was an adaptation by Terry "Jacks" in 1974 of a French song, "Le Moribond" by song writer-poet "Jaques" Brel. As you continue to read this, know that my Dad's name was "Jack".....

At eight years old when the song came out, I knew it had to do with the pain of death, and death to me then was this unknown, awful stranger I hoped I'd never have to meet. Death was something that happened to those soldiers you saw on the news every morning in faraway countries like Managua, Nicaragua or Vietnam, or to gang members you saw on the Chicago news getting shot by Chicago police for not "freezing," or to these Manson-like people I never saw firsthand called "hippies" or "flower children" who you heard OD'd on heroin in big cities like Los Angeles (I remember we saw Hippies on one vacation - my dad was disgusted, and my mom said to lock the car doors. I don't know how my young mind conjured such images, but I was sure they were insane people whose drug fueled lives revolved around rock music, orgies, not working, and living in Volks Wagon Vans with flowers painted all over them and shag carpeting hanging from the ceiling! !) or to a really old relative, or to some unfortunate child in Reader's Digest who had some rare illness...seemed it was not something that would ever touch my immediate family.

Death was not a thought in this typical eight years old's world, so Seasons in the Sun evoked mysterious, eerie thoughts, and at the same time, made me feel so much empathy for that rare individual the song was talking about who was going through that unfamiliar thing, dying. What a contrast, like in the song itself, death set against a beautiful season. When I'd heard it, it was summer and hot, the car had no air conditioning, just wind roaring over the backseat of the '68 Ford Galaxy from four fully opened windows. But you did not miss what you did not have, instead, you enjoyed what you did have! We were having fun, we were together, I was tucked away in that long ago misty dream of childhood, and I was so safe with my Mom and Dad, even my brother - a mythical creature of my memory now - who I thought would be there forever - they just had to be, right?

I don't know why I looked up the lyrics to Seasons in the Sun to begin with, but when I did, I cried. I'm far from that safe, long ago place -- the misty dream of childhood, a place where my Dad lived and was the world to me, along with my Mom who held the same dear, high post in my heart. My childhood was a place where life seemed that it went on over a road so long in front of me that it virtually had no end in sight, adulthood was so far away, and death simply didn't happen. Fast forward to age 43, all I could think as I watched my Dad fighting cancer was similar to the words of the original French song:

" Le Moribond, Ne me quite pas"

or,

"to the dying man, don't leave me."

My Dad died in the hot summer, August 2009; it was our last Season in the Sun.

Here are the lyrics to Seasons in the Sun by Terry Jacks, 1974:

Goodbye to you my trusted friend

We've known each other since we were nine or ten

Together we climbed hills and trees

Learned of love and A B C'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 its 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 h

ave all gone.

We had joy we had fun

We had seasons in the sun

But the wine and the song like the seasons h

ave 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 birds 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 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......

We had joy we had fun

We had seasons in the sun.