While technically Ecclesiastes are not Psalms of David, they are traditionally considered more songs of his son, Solomon, familiar with his father’s verses composed on harp and possibly with a grass whistle or whatever else he came up with in his early days as a shepherd. With Solomon’s seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines (1 Kings 11:3) you really wouldn’t have thought he’d have had time to be writing anything – and he certainly could never have imagined that a mere two or three thousand years later, Pete Seeger would be angrily leafing through a Bible, rage-read Ecclesiastes and think, Yeah, this is it.
In fact, Pete Seeger’s intention wasn’t to use the Bible for its own sake at all, but rather to prove to his publisher that protest songs – which his publisher had written to explain were altogether un-sellable in the current early 60’s era of Civil Rights demonstrations and the United State’s escalating aggression internationally – were all that should be written. In fifteen minutes, Seeger sat down and forcefully penned the familiar words to The Byrds’ biggest hit, lifting whole verses from Solomon’s original song, perhaps intending to prove that even the Bible agreed with him that it wasn’t the time to mess around.
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 (NIV):
There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens:​
2 a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
3 a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
4 a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
6 a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
7 a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
8 a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.​
The Byrds, “Turn!, Turn!, Turn!”, 1965:
To everything (turn, turn, turn)
There is a season (turn, turn, turn)
And a time to every purpose, under heaven​
A time to be born, a time to die
A time to plant, a time to reap
A time to kill, a time to heal
A time to laugh, a time to weep​
To everything (turn, turn, turn)
There is a season (turn, turn, turn)
And a time to every purpose, under heaven​
A time to build up, a time to break down
A time to dance, a time to mourn
A time to cast away stones, a time to gather stones together​
To everything (turn, turn, turn)
There is a season (turn, turn, turn)
And a time to every purpose, under heaven​
A time of love, a time of hate
A time of war, a time of peace
A time you may embrace, a time to refrain from embracing​
To everything (turn, turn, turn)
There is a season (turn, turn, turn)
And a time to every purpose, under heaven​
A time to gain, a time to lose
A time to rend, a time to sew
A time for love, a time for hate
A time for peace, I swear it’s not too late​.
Whether or not Seeger was further annoyed that his publisher wrote back within the week, crowing that the song was “exactly” what he’d been trying to get from him, history does not say – Seeger’s publishers clearly did not see the song as the anti-war anthem that Seeger did – but in this moment, in this season, it feels like it’s time for an anti-war song pulled straight from the Bible, doesn’t it?