Pete Seger, Joan Baez, Kingston Trio (#21
in 1962),
Johnny Rivers (#26 in 1965), Peter
Paul and 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?
Young girls picked them, ev'ry 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? / Gone to young men ev'ry 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 to soldiers ev'ry 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, ev'ry 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? / Gone to flowers, ev'ry one.
When will they ever learn? When will they ever learn?
Repeat first verse
Where Have All the Flowers Gone? (Seeger) Pete
Seeger is responsible for this legendary folk ballad, one of the earliest
protest anthems of the '60s. A gentle lament for the loss of innocence
and the ravages of war, it asks over and over, "When will they ever learn?"
"Where Have All the Flowers Gone?" has been recorded by Peter, Paul and
Mary, Joan Baez and many others. Even Marlene Dietrich sang it, to great
acclaim. But The Kingston Trio had the biggest chart success with the song,
at No. 21 in 1962.
If Capitol had been considering a second single from CLOSE UP, all that
changed when Nick, Bob and John played Boston that Autumn of 1961. The Trio
visited a club where they heard a new Pete Seeger composition performed by
a group of up-and-comers called Peter, Paul and Mary. After six-hours in
a heavily booked New York City studio, the Kingston Trio and Voyle Gilmore
emerged with there own version of "Where Have All the Flowers Gone," three
minutes of magic that would put the Trio back on the airwaves and the Top
Forty Chart. It had the distinction of being the first Trio 45 to crack Billboard's
"Easy Listening" chart, where it peaked at #4. It was also the groups only
charting social consciousness (or "protest") song. (Johnny Rivers would do
a Top Forty remake in 1965, when such anthems were more in vogue.) The Trio
re-recorded "Flowers" live for their next album COLLEGE CONCERT, but it is
the single version, later included on THE BEST OF THE KINGSTON TRIO, that
appears here. Until they disbanded in 1967, Nick, Bob and John would continue
to introduce the song in concert as "our favorite."
