Album: Best Of The Kingston Trio (1962)

Charted: 21

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• 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, 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
  Gone to young men, 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 to 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
  A long, 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
  Gone to flowers, every one
  When will they ever learn?
  When will they ever learn? Writer/s: Peter Seeger
  Publisher: BMG Rights Management, CONCORD MUSIC PUBLISHING LLC, Royalty Network
  Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 14

• Steven from California And FlorenceThe summary of the song "Where have all the Flowers gone" is in error. It is not about the cyclical nature of war but of its futility and horror. What is a world with out flowers. Written a time of heightened awareness of the imminent threat of nuclear war in the 1950-60s, it ends in the Seeger version "Where have all the people gone, long time passing, taken by the H-bomb everyone! When will we ever learn?" At the G 20 in Delhi, they had to warn against the use of nuclear weapons. 60 years after the song was written, it still calls out, when?
• Herbert from Northern Most Country In The Middle Of The AmericasThe Kingston Trio is tops and that video about US soldiers...is so sad and so meaningful
• Barry from Sauquoit, NyBob Shane, the last surviving original member of the popular folk group the Kingston Trio and the lead singer on their million-selling ballad “Tom Dooley”, passed away at the age of 85 on January 26th, 2020 in Phoenix, Arizona...
  Between 1958 and 1963 the Kingston Trio had seventeen records on Billboard's Top 100 chart, two made the Top 10 with one reaching #1, "Tom Dooley", for one week on November 17th, 1958...
  Besides the above "Tom Dooley", their other Top 10 record was "The Reverend Mr. Black", it peaked at #8 for one week on May 12th, 1963...
  They also had five albums that peaked at #1 on Billboard's Top 100 Albums chart...
  May Mr. Shane R.I.P.
• Fluxius from Los AngelesThe Kingston Trio recorded this song in 1961. Peter, Paul, and Mary recorded it in 1962. The KT mistakenly took it as a traditional folk song and so attached their name to it, and after Pete Seeger contacted them, they re-issued it and gave credit to Seeger.
• Barry from Sauquoit, NyOn February 5th 1967, the Kingston Trio performed "Where Have All the Flowers Gone" on the NBC-TV program 'The Andy Williams Show'...
  As already stated above Johnny Rivers reached #26 with it in 1965, that was on November 7th for 1 week and it spent 9 weeks on the Top 100...
  On the same 'Williams' show the trio sang Gordon Lightfoot's "Early Morning Rain" (on the Top 100 Peter, Paul & Mary reached #91 with it in 1965 and on Billboard's Hot Country Singles chart, in 1966 George Hamilton IV took his version to #9).
• Barry from Sauquoit, NyOn January 14th 1962, "Where Have All The Flowers Gone" by the Kingston Trio entered Billboard's Hot Top 100 chart; and on April 1st it peaked at #21 (for 1 week) and spent 14 weeks on the Top 100...
  Between 1958 and 1963 the trio had seventeen Top 100 records; with "Tom Dooley" being their biggest hit, it reached #1 (for 1 week) in 1958...
  R.I.P. Dave Guard (1934 - 1991), Nick Reynolds (1933 - 2008), and Bob Shane, born Robert Castle Schoen, will celebrate his 80th birthday in seventeen days on February 1st (2014).
• Ray Simard from Lakeside, CaA poignant, powerful voice for peace. Though strictly it speaks of the formal kind of war of nations and armies, Seeger's point is clearly beyond that, to the personal warfare within us all. In performance Seeger has freely varied from "they every learn" to both "we" and "you." I believe the canonical lyrics are "they" throughout.
  
  Though strong enough on its face, the real strength lies in the verses made continuous by linking each to the next, and then, most particularly, the connection from the final verse as you'll hear, making the point that it's not just the tragedy of anger and warfare, but the frustrating endlessness of it, the same folly repeated from one generation to the next, with the singer's voice crying, throughout, when will they ever learn? When will we?
  
• Bobby from Salem, Njvhtgvuttghkfjpoopyfuidlg
  it is a nice song it is cool
  fhdsiaghijhicody
• Bobby from Salem, Njit is a good song njdshaJKCHBDKPOOPYBDYCSGCYDUGYDGHSJ DHSAIGYUAGCHHICODY
• Bobby from Salem, Njhmmm i like chocolate it is good. it is a good song. i think it is sad
• David from Chicago, IlThe song presented and discussed here is missing the writer credit for Joe Hickerson, the creator of verses 4 and 5 when he was a camp counselor and the person who repeated the first verse at the end to bring out the circularity of the events.
• Heather from Los Angeles, CaA good enough cover I guess, but Pete Seeger's version is so much more powerful. The KT also changed the last line (or someone did) from "when will we ever learn" to "when will they ever learn" which really decreases the impact.
• Ryan from Poway, CaI love how every stanza is connected the one preceding--to me it's saying how everything is connected (that might just be a small part of the actual song, but it's still cool)
• Tiffany from Dover, FlI heard that Peter, Paul, and Mary sing this in a 1997 Ad Council ad (with the NCPC, of course) and the song was dubbed as Where Have All the Children Gone.

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