Live 23 Apr 2008 version
[Bruce Springsteen (spoken intro):] We have a special guest with us tonight, somebody whose music we really grew up on and who's been a tremendous influence in my music. This is the guy that kinda single-handedly invented Country Rock, invented jangling guitars (chuckles), Folk Rock and uh, just uh, Space Rock too, absolutely! (chuckles) And uh, he's made so much incredible beautiful, beautiful music. We're honoured to have on our stage, from the Byrds, Mr. Roger McGuinn. (crowd cheers, Roger McGuinn joins the band onstage)
| Roger McGuin: | To everything |
| Springsteen and McGuin: | Turn, Turn, Turn |
| Roger McGuin: | There is a season |
| Springsteen and McGuin: | Turn, Turn, Turn |
| And a time for every purpose, under Heaven | |
| Roger McGuin: | 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 | |
| Springsteen and McGuin: | A time to laugh, a time to weep |
| Roger McGuin: | To everything |
| Springsteen and McGuin: | Turn, Turn, Turn |
| There is a season | |
| Turn, Turn, Turn | |
| And a time for every purpose, under Heaven | |
| Bruce Springsteen: | A time to build up, a time to break down |
| A time to dance, a time to mourn | |
| A time to cast away stones | |
| Springsteen and McGuin: | A time to gather stones together |
| Roger McGuin: | To everything |
| Springsteen and McGuin: | Turn, Turn, Turn |
| Roger McGuin: | There is a season |
| Springsteen and McGuin: | Turn, Turn, Turn |
| And a time for every purpose, under Heaven | |
| Springsteen and McGuin: | 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 | |
| [guitar solo] | |
| Springsteen and McGuin: | To everything |
| Turn, Turn, Turn | |
| There is a season | |
| Turn, Turn, Turn | |
| And a time for every purpose, under Heaven | |
| Bruce Springsteen: | A time to gain |
| Springsteen and McGuin: | A time to lose |
| Bruce Springsteen: | A time to rend |
| Springsteen and McGuin: | A time to sew |
| Bruce Springsteen: | A time to love |
| Springsteen and McGuin: | A time to hate |
| A time for peace, I swear it's not too late |
TURN! TURN! TURN! (TO EVERYTHING THERE IS A SEASON), often abbreviated to TURN! TURN! TURN!, is a song written and composed by Pete Seeger but made famous by The Byrds in 1965. Bruce Springsteen covered the song a couple of times in 2006 and 2008, and his live 23 Apr 2008 version was officially released in 2008.
The song was written and composed in the 1950's by Pete Seeger who adapted the words from the book of Ecclesiastes (a book of the Hebrew Bible). He added words to it and put it into music, and waited until 1962 to record the song, releasing it in May 1962 on his album The Bitter And The Sweet on Columbia Records. The song can now be be found on several Pete Seeger compilations, including The Essential Pete Seeger (Sony).
TURN! TURN! TURN! (TO EVERYTHING THERE IS A SEASON) was also recorded, and made famous, by The Byrds in 1965. They first released it as a single in October of 1965 (Columbia 43424, with SHE DON'T CARE ABOUT TIME on the B-side). It was their second #1 hit after MR. TAMBOURINE MAN. In December that year, the song became the title track to the group's second studio album, Turn! Turn! Turn!.
The above lyrics are for the live 23 Apr 2008 performance of TURN! TURN! TURN! (TO EVERYTHING THERE IS A SEASON) at Amway Arena in Orlando, FL, during the Magic Tour. This concert was rescheduled from 19 Apr 2008. The song was performed as a duet with Roger McGuinn. This live 23 Apr 2008 version of TURN! TURN! TURN! (TO EVERYTHING THERE IS A SEASON) was officially released on the Magic Tour Highlights digital EP in 2008.
During the 23 Apr 2008 Magic Tour show at Amway Arena in Orlando, FL, returning from the encore break, Springsteen announced, "We have a special guest with us tonight, somebody whose music we really grew up on and who's been a tremendous influence in my music [...] We're honoured to have on our stage, from the Byrds, Mr. Roger McGuinn" (see spoken intro above). Byrds lead singer/guitarist Roger McGuinn joined Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band onstage to perform a short set that included TURN! TURN! TURN! (TO EVERYTHING THERE IS A SEASON) and MR. TAMBOURINE MAN.
On 15 Jul 2008, Columbia Records released Magic Tour Highlights, a Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band download-only digital EP consisting of four live audio tracks and their accompanying videos. The performances were recorded in March and April 2008 during the Magic Tour, and feature guest musicians, as well as Danny Federici's last performance with the group. Bob Clearmountain mixed and Bob Ludwig mastered the songs. Frequent Springsteen collaborator and Grammy and Emmy Award winner Thom Zimny edited the videos.
The songs on the EP are not the Magic Tour's "highlights", but more of a sampling of some of the tour's best guest spots.
Magic Tour Highlights was not released commercially on a physical format, but some CD-R's were issued in the United States and Europe for promotional use.
The EP is available for download from all major digital downloads stores, including the iTunes Store and Amazon.com. The net proceeds from the sales of Magic Tour Highlights support The Danny Federici Melanoma Fund. These include the artists', the songwriters', and the music publishers' royalties, in addition to all Columbia Records' net profits. The iTunes Store donated their first year's net profits as well.
The Danny Federici Melanoma Fund was started shortly after Frederici's death, and is dedicated to the research and development treatments for melanoma through funding for clinical trials at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. The fund also aims to help raise awareness for the disease.
In preparation for The Seeger Sessions Tour, TURN! TURN! TURN! (TO EVERYTHING THERE IS A SEASON) was performed during one of the tour's four public warm-up rehearsal shows that took place in April 2006 in Asbury Park. The song is also known to have been practiced during at least once of the private rehearsals that took place in Mar-Apr 2006 in Asbury Park prior to the tour's first leg.
TURN! TURN! TURN! (TO EVERYTHING THERE IS A SEASON) was sound-checked prior to the 21 May 2006 show in Stockholm, Sweden, (as far as it's known) but it was not performed on any of The Seeger Sessions Tour's regular shows.
TURN! TURN! TURN! (TO EVERYTHING THERE IS A SEASON) was performed once during the Magic Tour (100 dates, October 2007 to August 2008), on 23 Apr 2008 in Orlando, FL, when Roger McGuinn joined Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band onstage. That performance of the song was included three months later on the Magic Tour Highlights digital EP. See the below section for more details.
List of available versions of TURN! TURN! TURN! on this website:
TURN! TURN! TURN! [Live 23 Apr 2008 version]
