"Turn! Turn! Turn!" is the second album by the American rock band The Byrds, released in December 1965 on Columbia Records. Like its predecessor, Mr. Tambourine Man, the album epitomized the folk rock genre and continued the band's successful mix of vocal harmony and jangly twelve-string Rickenbacker guitar.
Produced by Tom Wilson and band member Terry Melcher, the album features the famous title track "Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There Is a Season)", a Pete Seeger cover, which topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart and marked the band's commercial success. Notably, this track was significant because its lyrics were taken almost verbatim from a passage in the Bible (Ecclesiastes), a rarity for a rock song.
Other than the title track, the album consists of three more original songs and six covers, including Gerry Goffin and Carole King's "Goin' Back" and Bob Dylan's "Lay Down Your Weary Tune." Although the album received mixed reviews initially, it is now considered a defining album of the folk rock genre.
Band personnel during this album include Jim McGuinn, Gene Clarke, David Crosby, Chris Hillman, and Michael Clarke. However, tensions were rife among the band members, particularly between McGuinn and Clarke, eventually leading to Clarke's departure from the band soon after the release of the album.
Overall, "Turn! Turn! Turn!" cemented The Byrds' reputation as a formidable player in pop and rock music of the 1960s, combining folk, rock, and elements of psychedelic music.
