♫ Where Have All The Flowers Gone? ♫ (Redux)

Posted on by under Bits 'n Pieces, music, music history, Social commentary

Searching … searching … searching for a song tonight … seems to me that I’ve played every song in the universe in the past two years!  Seeking a song to redux, for it is late and I’m too tired to go in search of something new … seeking something that goes beyond just happy music, something with a message.  And I finally land here … I have lost count of how many times in the past year I’ve referenced this song in my socio/political posts … one line in particular … “When will they ever learn …”  And so, I give you Pete Seeger … and Peter, Paul, & Mary … take your pick, or listen to ’em both!

Pete-Seeger-1

Pete Seeger (May 3, 1919 – January 27, 2014)

Pete Seeger, who died in January 2014 at the age of 94, wrote this song, and the following is his story of how the song came to be:

“I had been reading a long novel—”And Quiet Flows the Don”—about the Don River in Russia and the Cossacks who lived along it in the 19th century. It describes the Cossack soldiers galloping off to join the Czar’s army, singing as they go. Three lines from a song are quoted in the book: ‘Where are the flowers? The girls plucked them / Where are the girls? They’re all married / Where are the men? They’re all in the army.’ I never got around to looking up the song, but I wrote down those three lines.

“Later, in an airplane, I was dozing, and it occurred to me that the line ‘long time passing’—which I had also written in a notebook—would sing well. Then I thought, ‘When will we ever learn.’ Suddenly, within 20 minutes, I had a song. There were just three verses. I Scotch-taped the song to a microphone and sang it at Oberlin College. This was in 1955.

“One of the students there had a summer job as a camp counselor. He took the song to the camp and sang it to the kids. It was very short. He gave it rhythm, which I hadn’t done. The kids played around with it, singing ‘Where have all the counselors gone? / Open curfew, everyone.’

“The counselor added two actual verses: ‘Where have all the soldiers gone? / Gone to graveyards every one / Where have all the graveyards gone? / Covered with flowers every one.’ Joe Hickerson is his name, and I give him 20 percent of the royalties. That song still brings in thousands of dollars from all around the world.”

bernie sandersThe song has been recorded by many, including Joan Baez, The Kingston Trio, Olivia Newton-John and even Dolly Parton, but the one that surprised me was Bernie Sanders!  Yep, the one and only Senator Bernie Sanders from Vermont apparently produced an album in 1987, 20 years before becoming a senator, titled We Shall Overcome.  Who knew?

My favourite version of the song has always been Peter, Paul & Mary’s, but tonight I came across a version Seeger did sometime late in life, playing banjo and singing, and I found it moving.  So, I am including both here, and you can pick one or listen to both.  Or neither, I suppose, but then my feelings would be hurt, so listen to at least one, ‘k?

Where Have All the Flowers Gone
Pete Seeger/Peter, Paul & Mary

Where have all the flowers gone?
Long time passing
Where have all the flowers gone?
Long time ago
Where have all the flowers gone?
Girls have picked them every one
When will they ever learn?
When will they ever learn?

Where have all the young girls gone?
Long time passing
Where have all the young girls gone?
Long time ago
Where have all the young girls gone?
Taken husbands every one
When will they ever learn?
When will they ever learn?

Where have all the young men gone?
Long time passing
Where have all the young men gone?
Long time ago
Where have all the young men gone?
Gone for soldiers every one
When will they ever learn?
When will they ever learn?

Where have all the soldiers gone?
Long time passing
Where have all the soldiers gone?
Long time ago
Where have all the soldiers gone?
Gone to graveyards every one
When will they ever learn?
When will they ever learn?

Where have all the graveyards gone?
Long time passing
Where have all the graveyards gone?
Long time ago
Where have all the graveyards gone?
Covered with flowers every one
When will we ever learn?
When will we ever learn?

Songwriters: Peter Seeger
Where Have All the Flowers Gone lyrics © The Bicycle Music Company

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41 thoughts on “♫ Where Have All The Flowers Gone? ♫ (Redux)”

  2. I thought looking backward which made me think edward bellamy which made me think utopia which made me think it’s not that way which made me think of flowered fields of the future. Manure is good for flowers. If the lamenting is true we have well prepared the garden for our great great grands.👎Music was great though.👍👍👍We were also singing that if we had a hammer we could fix things.😂Is that a nail?

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  3. Jill, it is a classic. And, the sad answer is we will never learn. As long as war is “old men talking and young men dying,” it will continue. As long as the soldiers are not the “fortunate sons” it will continue. I believe if more “fortunate sons” fought, we would find a way to end war. Keith

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    • All my life, I thought that yes, someday we would learn, would be better. But in my dotage, I’ve had lots of time to think, to reason, and I’ve concluded that we, the human species, have had thousands of years to learn, to be better, and we’ve failed to do so, and with that realization comes another … that we won’t learn. Greed and arrogance are built into our DNA and they will always cause us to put our own selfish whims ahead of the greater common good. Is it any wonder, really, that we are on the path to self-extinction due to our lack of stewardship of our only home, Planet Earth? Sigh.

      Liked by 1 person

      • Jill, one of Dwight Eisenhower’s more famous and astute comments was to craft the term “military industrial complex.” Bob Dylan wrote a song that applies as well called “Masters of War.” Until people stop making money, remain in power and/ or avoid their children fighting due to war, the fighting will continue. Keith

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  4. Folk music – my favourite! I grew up knowing the PP&M version, which was a track on a hit EP here, but was introduced to Seeger’s version by the BBC folk music programme and have always preferred it. This is a poignant performance, and I love it.

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  5. Here we go😄 I heard quite a few versions of this song, also in German. But I had no idea about the original. And again, it is interesting to know how the song came about. A little inspiration from a book, some time to let it mature naturally, and here it is… wow.

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  7. An evergreen. It was the Peter, Paul and Mary version which made it in the UK (when we were just little kids).
    That’s a fascinating back story, I didn’t know how much work and contributions went into it. Thanks for that Jill.
    And the answer, sadly lies in the Talking Heads song ‘Once In a life Time’

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    • I get that … PP&M are “too folky” for many, but I figured you might like the Pete Seeger version. Ah well … back to the drawing board!

      On a different topic, I woke up at 6:00 a.m. with your Ollie on my mind … I think I had been dreaming about him. Lay awake thinking about him for nearly an hour, went back to sleep, and dreamed about him yet again. Give him a hug from me today, please.

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        • My heart breaks every time I think of him. I wish I were closer … at least on the same continent … and I would come visit him, spend a day just cuddling with him, walking if he felt up to it. I love him without ever having seen him! And my heart goes out to you and Julie.

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