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This song has held very special memories for me for over 50 years. We lost my beautiful 17 year old cousin, Beth, in an auto accident in 1974. . Not only my first funeral, but the first time I had heard the song. It’s been hard to hear it ever-since, but I carry treasured memories of her. RIP

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Terry Jacks – Seasons In The Sun

The lyrics “Goodbye my friend, it’s hard to die” are from the song “Seasons in the Sun” by Terry Jacks, but the phrase originates from the Belgian original “Le Moribond” by Jacques Brel. While Brel’s song was about a man dying of a broken heart and bidding farewell to his wife’s lover, the American translation by Rod McKuen and the subsequent Terry Jacks version shift the focus to the speaker saying goodbye to their loved ones, including a father figure, as they die from a natural cause.