Marlene Dietrich performed this song in English, French and German. The song was first performed in French (as "Qui peut dire où vont les fleurs?") by Marlene in 1962 at a UNICEF concert. She also recorded the song in English and in German, the latter titled "Sag' mir, wo die Blumen sind", with lyrics translated by Max Colpet. She performed the German version on a tour of Israel, where she was warmly received; she was the first person to break the taboo of using German publicly in Israel since WWII.
"Where Have All the Flowers Gone?" is a folk song. The first three verses were written by Pete Seeger in 1955, and published in Sing Out! magazine. Additional verses were added by Joe Hickerson in May 1960, who turned it into a circular song. Its rhetorical "where?" and meditation on death place the song in the ubi sunt tradition. In 2010, the New Statesman listed it as one of the "Top 20 Political Songs".
The 1964 release of the song as a Columbia Records 45 single, 13-33088, by Pete Seeger was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2002 in the Folk category.
Qui peut dire où vont les fleurs
Du temps qui passe
Qui peut dire où sont les fleurs
Du temps passé
Quand va la saison jolie
Les jeunes filles les ont cueillies
Qu'en saurons-nous un jour ?
Quand saurons-nous ? Un jour…
Qui peut dire où vont les filles
Du temps qui passe
Qui peut dire où sont les filles
Du temps passé
Quand va le temps des chansons
Se dont données aux garçons
Qu'en saurons-nous un jour ?
Quand saurons-nous ? Un jour…
Mais où vont tous les garçons
Du temps qui passe
Mais où sont tous les garçons
Du temps passé
Lorsque le tambour roula
Se sont faits petits soldats
Qu'en saurons-nous un jour ?
Quand saurons-nous ? Un jour…
Mais où vont tous les soldats
Du temps qui passe
Mais où sont tous les soldats
Du temps passé
Sont tombés dans les combats
Et couchés dessous leurs croix
Qu'en saurons-nous un jour ?
Quand saurons-nous ? Un jour…
Il est fait de tant de croix
Le temps qui passe
Il est fait de tant de croix
Le temps passé
Pauvres tombes de l'oubli
Les fleurs les ont envahis
Qu'en saurons-nous un jour ?
Quand saurons-nous ? Un jour…
Qui peut dire où vont les fleurs
Du temps qui passe
Qui peut dire où sont les fleurs
Du temps passé
Sur les tombes du mois de mai
Les filles en font des bouquets
Qu'en saurons-nous un jour ?
Quand saurons-nous ? Jamais…
Where have all the flowers gone, long time passing?
Where have all the flowers gone, long time ago?
Where have all the flowers gone?
Young girls have picked them everyone.
Oh, when will they ever learn?
Oh, when will they ever learn?
Where have all the young girls gone, long time passing?
Where have all the young girls gone, long time ago?
Where have all the young girls gone?
Gone for husbands everyone.
Oh, when will they ever learn?
Oh, when will they ever learn?
Where have all the husbands gone, long time passing?
Where have all the husbands gone, long time ago?
Where have all the husbands gone?
Gone for soldiers everyone
Oh, when will they ever learn?
Oh, when will they ever learn?
Where have all the soldiers gone, long time passing?
Where have all the soldiers gone, long time ago?
Where have all the soldiers gone?
Gone to graveyards, everyone.
Oh, when will they ever learn?
Oh, when will they ever learn?
Where have all the graveyards gone, long time passing?
Where have all the graveyards gone, long time ago?
Where have all the graveyards gone?
Gone to flowers, everyone.
Oh, when will they ever learn?
Oh, when will they ever learn?
Where have all the flowers gone, long time passing?
Where have all the flowers gone, long time ago?
Where have all the flowers gone?
Young girls have picked them everyone.
Oh, when will they ever learn?
Oh, when will they ever learn?
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".
Seeger adapted it to the tune of the Russian folksong "Koloda Duda" (which was subsequently published in Sing Out in 1962). With only three verses, he recorded it once in a medley on The Rainbow Quest album (Folkways LP FA 2454) released in July, 1960 and forgot about it. Joe Hickerson added verses four and five, and a repeat of verse one, in May 1960 in Bloomington.
In 2010, the New Statesman listed it as one of the "Top 20 Political Songs".
The song appeared on the 1967 compilation album Pete Seeger's Greatest Hits released by Columbia Records as CS 9416.
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