Turn Turn Turn

Memories...I had just entered Lincoln-Way High School in New Lenox, Illinois. We lived on a small farm, grew our own vegetables and raised chickens. I spent most of my time dodging work and sneaking off fishing. 

On October 1, 1965, THE BYRDS released the single TURN! TURN! TURN! (TO EVERYTHING THERE IS A SEASON.

 

Written by Pete Seeger in the late 1950s and first recorded in 1959, TURN! TURN! TURN! was built around the first eight verses of the third chapter of the biblical Book of Ecclesiastes. 

 

The song became an international hit in late 1965 when it was adapted in a folk rock arrangement by The Byrds. 

 

The single reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart on December 4th 1965.

"Turn! Turn! Turn!" had first been arranged by the Byrds' lead guitarist Jim McGuinn in a chamber-folk style during sessions for Judy Collins' 1963 album, Judy Collins 3.

 

The idea of reviving the song came to McGuinn during the Byrds' July 1965 tour of the American Midwest, when his future wife, Dolores, requested the tune on the Byrds' tour bus.

 

The rendering that McGuinn dutifully played came out sounding not like a folk song but more like a rock/folk hybrid, perfectly in keeping with the Byrds' status as pioneers of the folk rock genre.

 

McGuinn explained, "It was a standard folk song by that time, but I played it and it came out rock 'n' roll because that's what I was programmed to do like a computer. I couldn't do it as it was traditionally. It came out with that samba beat, and we thought it would make a good single."

 

The song reached No. 1 in the UK Singles Chart in late January 1965.