"Seven Daffodils"

“Seven Daffodils” written by Lee Hays of the Weavers and Fran Mosely is a favorite song in Japan for The Brothers Four. Even today people begin to applaud when they hear the first notes being played. It’s an “oooooh” song. A lot of times we can hear an audible “ooooooh” from the audience as they hear those first notes.

There are a lot of possible reasons for the success of that song and the connection the Japanese people have with it. Flower arranging is an important part of their culture. The minor feel to the verses is a familiar sound to the Japanese something also found in the songs “Green Fields” and “Green Leaves of Summer.” It’s also a love song where the singer is talking about love indirectly. In Japan speaking indirectly is a way of being polite.

The fact is that like a lot of things for us in Japan it’s a mystery why that song was and is so popular. What we do know is that after fifty years people haven’t gotten tired of hearing the song and we haven’t gotten tired of singing it.

While The Brothers Four’s recording of the song never approached the same success in the US, not long ago a woman came up after a concert and said because of our recording she planted seven daffodils beside her mailbox.