"Seasons In The Sun" Is An English-Language Adaptation Of The Song "Le Moribond" By Belgian Singer-Songwriter Jacques Brel With Lyrics By American Singer-Poet Rod McKuen. It Became A Worldwide Hit In 1974 For Terry Jacks And Became A Christmas Number 1 In 1999 For Westlife. The Terry Jacks' Version Is One Of The Fewer Than Forty All-Time Singles To Have Sold 10 Million Copies Worldwide. The Song Is A Dying Protagonist's Farewell To Relatives And Friends. The McKuen "translation" Keeps The Same Theme As Brel's Original But Delivers A Less Mordant Message. For Example Brel's Lines That Mean "You Can Dance Do Not Frown/when They Lay Me In The Ground" Become "But The Stars We Could Reach/Were Just Starfish On The Beach." It Has Been Described As Saccharine By Some But It Connected Powerfully With A World-Wide Audience And The Jacks Version Was A Huge Chart-Topper.