So how old is Pete Seeger? He’s so old that Eleanor Roosevelt did not like his music while her husband, President Franklin Roosevelt, was sure no one would listen to it. He’s so old that he was blacklisted during the McCarthy era. He’s so old that he actually wrote the anti-war song “Where Have All The Flowers Gone.”
Pete Seeger will turn 90 on May 3rd and is now the grand old man of folk music. He was a member of the legendary folk group The Weavers and the Almanac singers before that. He has played with everyone from Woody Guthrie to Bob Dylan to Leadbelly (or Lead Belly). The cream of American folk music will gather in Madison Square Garden next month to celebrate his birthday.
Pete Seeger has always been consistent in his anti-war positions, his support of environmental causes, and as a performer and advocate of traditional folk music.
Live In Australia 1963 finds Seeger at a transition point in his career. He had just emerged from years of persecution by The American Government and his social and anti-Vietnam War activity was in the future. He had embarked on a world tour and the core of this DVD is his 1963 performance at the Melbourne Town Hall. It should be required viewing for anyone who has even the slightest interest in the history of American music.
The concert itself may seem simplistic today and granted it is from another era. While such songs as “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall” and “If I Had A Hammer” are included; it is the simple folk songs of America and other countries that dominate his performance. “Skip To My Lou,” “Pretty Polly,” “Down By The Riverside,” “Kum Ba Ya,” “Michael, Row The Boat Ashore,” and “I Will Never Marry” among others are brought to life by Seeger and give hints of their importance to American culture.
Article comments
1 - Steve Ramm
I fully agree. Can you imagine who will be the next in the Folk Icons series. Also from Audtrialia is the 3 Lps on 1 Cd release from Omni. Licensed from Sony Australia. Add's the non-commercially released single of Fixin to Die Rag. I wasn't thrilled with the quality of the transfers but here are songs that Pete rarely sang and were mostly against the war (or to clean up the Hudson)