Arlo Guthrie is Woody Guthrie's son; Arlo was very popular in 1960's hippie… Read Full Bio ↴Arlo Guthrie is Woody Guthrie's son; Arlo was very popular in 1960's hippie communities for his lyrics, always looking for fun, chronicling the values of the day, sample verbiage "You can get everything you want in Alice's Restaurant" And Alice's Restaurant was also a movie as well as an album, Arlo Guthrie made the music for the film, devised it and featured in it. Woody Guthrie, obviously performing a generation earlier, was a folk-singer, singing solo songs to speak out for his fellow downtrodden Americans, as well as working children's songs, just using acoustic guitar, while Arlo had occasional, collaborating backgound musicians, such was the communal zeitgeist, adding to his sound and his much-acclaimed 1960's public stance.

Where Have All the Flowers Gone
Arlo Guthrie & Pete Seeger Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Where have all the flowers gone?
Long time passing.
Where have all the flowers gone?
Long time ago.
Where have all the flowers gone?
The girls have picked them every one.
Oh, When will you ever learn?
Oh, When will you ever learn?

Young girls
They've taken husbands every one.

Young men
They're all in uniform.

Soldiers
They've gone to graveyards every one.

Graveyards
They're covered with flowers every one.

Flowers
Young girls have picked them every one.

Overall Meaning

The song "Where Have All The Flowers Gone" by Arlo Guthrie & Pete Seeger is a powerful anti-war ballad that uses the symbol of flowers to represent the cycle of life, love, and war that human beings have gone through throughout history. The song has a repeating structure, with each verse posing the same question in a slightly different way, highlighting the destructive nature of war and its impact on society.

The first verse of the song starts with the question "Where have all the flowers gone?" and responds with "Long time passing" and "Long time ago," suggesting that the destruction caused by war has been going on for a very long time. The second verse reveals that the young girls who once picked the flowers have now taken husbands, emphasizing the human cost of war on families and individuals. The third verse describes how the young men have all gone to war, and the fourth verse reveals that they have all been killed and are now buried in graveyards covered with flowers. This cycle of life, love, and death is repeated over and over again, highlighting the futility and tragedy of war.

The chorus of the song asks the question "Oh, when will you ever learn?" suggesting that the song is a call to action, challenging people to understand the futility of war and to work towards peace. The song became an anthem for the anti-war movement of the 1960s and 70s, and its message is still relevant today.

Line by Line Meaning

Where have all the flowers gone?
What happened to all the flowers that used to be here?

Long time passing.
It's been a long time since they disappeared.

Where have all the flowers gone?
Where have all the flowers disappeared to now?

Long time ago.
It's been a while since they were last seen.

Where have all the flowers gone?
What happened to all the flowers that were once here?

The girls have picked them every one.
The flowers were picked by the young girls.

Oh, When will you ever learn?
Oh, when will we learn from our mistakes?

Oh, When will you ever learn?
When will we understand that our actions have consequences?

Young girls
The young female population.

They've taken husbands every one.
They grew up and got married.

Young men
The young male population.