3A blog assignment
“Seasons in the Sun” covered by Terry Jacks in 1974
Covered by westlife in 1999
“Seasons in the Sun” have been covered by many singers. The most famous two will be Terry Jacks and Westlife. The oldest version of “seasons in the sun” is a French-language song. By translating the song to English version, Terry Jacks makes the song more popular and famous in 1974. And then in 1999, Westlife’s “Seasons in the Sun” become the Christmas Number one in that year. (Wikipedia)
There are both similarities and differences between Terry and Westlife’s “Seasons in the Sun”. We can find similarities in Rhythm and Intensity. The differences are shown in speed and arrangement (organization and instrument).
The Rhythm and Intensity are similar in Terry and Westlife’s “Seasons in the Sun”. Based on the same lyrics, both songs have the same rhythm. The lyric is very rhythmic. For example, in the sentence “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”, it can be very easy to find a rhythm with the last words of each sentence sounds the same. The rhythmic words are all around the song. Therefore, even we just read though the lyric, the rhythm is coming pretty straight to readers. In both song, they used the same lyric, and has the same rhythm. The intensity in both “Seasons in the Sun” is similar too. In “Seasons in the Sun”, the speaker, a dying man, call to mind the past. He was just missing his childhood, friends, family and lover. He was also mentioned that life is wonderful, but he is going to die. In both songs, the singer shows the feeling of regret, and reluctant to leaving. Because of the mood, the intensity of both songs is soft. When we listen to these songs, it’s like a person talking with us, and saying goodbye to the world and his life. The intensity in Terry’s “seasons in the sun” and westlife’s are both similar soft.
There are many similarities in these two songs. However, they are still different in speed and arrangement. The speed of Terry’s “Seasons in the sun” is faster than westlife’s song. In Terry’s song the beats in the back showed a fast tempo. And in westlife’s song, a slow piano makes a slow tempo. The biggest difference in these two songs is the arrangement, which in detail the instrument and organization of each song. The main instrument in Westlife’s “seasons in the sun” is the piano, it leading the flow of the music. Organization of westlife’s “seasons in the sun”, starts with a short introductory music, and then it’s the piano go with singer, during the climax they also adding some other instruments and beats in the music. But piano is almost all over the music. In Terry’s music, I will say the main instrument will be the guitar and beats. Compare to westlife’s cantilena, Terry’s music is more rock style. It starts a guitar solo, and by the music going though, they added beats and verse. The organization, instruments, and speed are distinct in two musics.
The lyrics of the English version “Seasons in the Sun” contains Active and didactic in the words. Each section of the lyric starts with the goodbye and each section is to different person. Like papa, Michelle, Friends. We could know that he is leaving, so he has to say goodbye to everyone. In deep, I think the man doesn’t want to leave but he has to. He is dying when he saying those words. Since he figured out he had to die, the world is seems too beautiful, and too much things makes him miss so much. There can be a deep consider to this lyric. Tension and Release can used to describe both Westlife and Terry’s singing. Westlife’s “seasons in the sun” can be considered as release, and Jerry’s song can be tension. By listening Terry’s singing, I can feel sad and nervous about dead. But in westlife’s singing, I think the feeling about death is not as strong as Terry’s. Westlife’s is more like the man is now understand the death cannot be changed, and now he just want remind his past, and enjoy the rest of the life.
Personally, I like Terry Jack’s “Seasons in the Sun” better. Because his singing really helps me imaging the dead man who is sad about leaving. Even it’s in a faster speed, the emotion is more upset in Terry’s song. And he is trying so hard to accept the fact that he have to facing the death.
