Terry Jacks - Solo and Production Work

Solo and Production Work

The couple recorded two more albums before Susan left the marriage in 1973: Susan's solo album I Thought of You Again... and Terry's solo album Seasons In The Sun. The song "Seasons in the Sun", released in late 1973 on his own record label, Goldfish Records, became the largest-selling international single by a Canadian artist at that time and earned Jacks two Juno Awards. It is Rod McKuen's 1965 adaptation of "Le moribond", a 1962 original by Belgian singer Jacques Brel; for his version, Jacks made some modifications to the lyrics. In the United States, in Great Britain and in Germany, in these countries it was released on Bell Records, and the song went to #1 on the charts. The B-side of "Seasons In The Sun" was a humorous song entitled "Put the Bone In" which was ostensibly about a woman asking her butcher to put in a bone with the rest of her meat order, but was intented to be a sexual double entendre. Jacks later released "If You Go Away" (another McKuen adaptation of a Jacques Brel song entitled "Ne Me Quitte Pas"), which reached #8 in Great Britain and #24 in Germany, and a cover of Kevin Johnson's "Rock 'N' Roll (I Gave You The Best Years Of My Life)", both of which had more success in Canada but also made the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the USA.

Jacks wrote and recorded a number of other songs and went on to produce records for Valdy, Buddy Knox (unreleased), Nana Mouskouri, Chilliwack (including "Crazy Talk") and a handful of other artists.