Hit 1962 : Kingston Trio – Where Have All The Flowers Gone
Did You Now?
Where Have All The Flowers Gone? is a folk song that has become an anthem of peace and social justice. It was written by Pete Seeger, a legendary singer-songwriter and activist, in 1955, based on a passage from a novel by Mikhail Sholokhov, a Soviet writer and Nobel laureate. The novel, And Quiet Flows the Don, depicts the horrors of war and the loss of life and innocence.
The song has a circular structure, with each verse asking a rhetorical question about the fate of the flowers, young girls, young men, soldiers and graveyards, and each chorus answering that they have gone to feed the next cycle of death and destruction. The song ends with a plea to stop the war and learn from history.
The song was first popularized by The Kingston Trio, a folk group that dominated the charts in the late 1950s and early 1960s. They heard the song performed by Peter, Paul and Mary, another folk trio that shared Seeger’s political views, at a concert in 1961. They were so impressed by the song that they recorded it the next day in New York, in a single six-hour session. They released it as a single in 1962, and it reached #21 on the Billboard Hot 100. They initially credited the song as traditional, but later corrected it and gave Seeger his due.
The song has been covered by many artists over the years, including Joan Baez, Marlene Dietrich, Johnny Rivers, Dolly Parton, U2 and Bruce Springsteen. It has been translated into many languages and sung around the world as a protest against war and violence. It has also been used in movies, documentaries and TV shows as a soundtrack for scenes of tragedy and hope.
The song remains relevant today, as we face new challenges and conflicts that threaten our planet and humanity. It reminds us of the cost of war and the need for peace. It invites us to reflect on our choices and actions, and to ask ourselves: Where have all the flowers gone?
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