Where Have all the Flowers Gone is a folk antiwar song about the pointlessness of war and the need for more peace and goodwill on earth. Pete Seeger wrote the first three verses in 1955, the year of my birth, and additional verses were added by Joe Hickerson in 1960. Thank you Pete and Joe.
“Seeger found inspiration for the song in October 1955, while on a plane bound for a concert in Ohio. Leafing through his notebook he saw the passage, "Where are the flowers, the girls have plucked them. Where are the girls, they've all taken husbands. Where are the men, they're all in the army. These lines were taken from the traditional Cossacks folk song "Tovchu, tovchu mak", referenced in the Mikhail Sholokhov novel And Quiet Flows the Don (1934), which Seeger had read "at least a year or two before.” (Wikipedia)
Yes, Kossacks. “Cossacks (Ukrainian: Козаки́, Kozaky, Russian: Казаки́, Kazaki, Polish: Kozacy) are a group of predominantly East Slavic people who originally were members of democratic, semi-military communities in Ukraine and Southern Russia inhabiting sparsely populated areas and islands in the lower Dnieper[1] and Don basins and who played an important role in the historical development of those nations.”
Kossacks were antiwar man. Think about it.
The song was a popular antiwar song during the Vietnam war and is generally placed in the top ten of all antiwar songs. It was recorded by an amazing assortment of artists from a variety of countries in a number of different languages. The Kingston Trio recorded the song in 1961. Fifty years ago, the same year President Ike gave his famous warning about the Military Industrial Complex.
Peter, Paul and Mary first recorded it in 1961 also.
Joan Baez recorded it:
Earth, Wind and Fire recorded it:
And of course, Pete Seeger:
When will they ever learn, when will they ever learn.