This is a different take with similar thoughts to Eric Olsen's post on Pete Seeger from May 2, '03. Pete is old, I agree, and the terrors of the middle East are never ending; but his music still bounces around the head and heart. The fight for justice and common sense endure.
Pete Seeger was born in 1919. He was born and began listening to music in the time of Ledbelly, worked with Woody Guthrie and was still singing when Arlo Guthrie was in Stockbridge, Mass dumping trash from Alice's Restaurant. He and The Weavers were making it when Joseph McCarthy and his henchmen blacklisted him. Now he has finally been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Pete Seeger was a fixture of folk music. Then in the 1980's he saw one of our (mine and Patricia Beringer, my wife) photo essays on the Hudson Valley in the "Hudson Valley Regional Review" published by Bard College. He was a firm advocate of conservation and renovation of the Hudson River and Valley and called me to meet about a book on the subject which had been brick buildings in the Valley. Some had gone back to the 17th c. in Columbia County where the headless horseman had ridden.
We met and spent some sweet time at his house near Beacon, NY overlooking his beloved River. We spoke of the book and planned it and then I fell under the press of assignments and deadlines and other projects. The time went by and the momentum died. That was a shame since time with an icon of music was lost.
He was more than an icon. He was more than a singer with a voice with a guitar or al capella was that of an angel or a muse. He was "the greatest influence on folk music of the last century..." says the Rock and Roll Hall of lFame "...with the possible exception of Woodie Guthrie..." But, for me, it is not just his music and his impetus for its "...revival and survival..." that makes him great. It is his bravery and honor during one of America's periods of insanity, the Joseph McCarthy witch hunts of the late '40's and 50's that make him a heroic figure. Later it was his championing of the Hudson River and the creation of the Clearwater — the Association and the ship.
Put some Seeger in your music machine and be ready for sounds from another time that are so much part of our time. One of my recent favorites, for example, is Waist Deep in the Big Muddy. It is not one of his best known works but is so current (oh, these puns). It is the ballad of soldiers being led to certain death by the irreversible stupidity of their leader who wants them to cross the swollen Mississippi. The leader refuses to think and likes to throw his weight around. Get it. Along with the basic classics: If I Had a Hammer, We Shall Overcome, Where have all the Flowers gone? and Little Boxes; there are surprises to be found.
Article comments
1 - Mat Brewster
That was great. How anyone cannot love Pete Seeger is beyond me. He's a national treasure.
I dind't know all the background thanks for posting it.
2 - Al Barger
Ever lovin' Pete Seeger. You speak of him in the past tense. Best I can tell, he's still alive.
Groovy gratuitous Pete Seeger quote:
"I like to say I'm more conservative than Goldwater. He just wanted to turn the clock back to when there was no income tax. I want to turn the clock back to when people lived in small villages and took care of each other."
3 - Eric Olsen
Pete's a cool old commie, indeed
4 - Eric Olsen
no one has mentioned he used to have the world's smallest pony tail
5 - francisco68
Al Barger is correct. Pete Seeger is still alive, probably still full of piss and vinegar and music. The past tense comes from the fact that I left the US 7+ years ago so my life before then and before a heart attack always seem "past tense". Point taken in the grammar department.
6 - Al Barger
Francisco speaks words of wisdom, which you would all do well to memorize and repeat frequently. "Al Barger is correct." Take those words to heart.
7 - Dave Nalle
The only record I had for several years of my childhood was a Pete Seeger EP for kids. I think it permanently warped my musical tastes. Even today I still have several of his songs on my iPod.
Dave
8 - brian
First saw Pete in london in the very early sixties at 18, him standing six feet in front of me and towering above me, leaning back and singing up to the ceiling almost. A real warm and genuine man!
9 - Len Smiley
Pete Seeger was a dedicated Stalinist who hated rock 'n' roll.
The Cleveland abomination gives new meaning to "mistake on the lake".
Lemmy, si! Pete, no!
10 - Barry Stoller
I would suggest his LP (CD, still in print) God Bless The Grass as one of his more consistent efforts. Tom Wilson (Dylan; S&G) produced it right before leaving Columbia (for Verve). It has the Husdon River Song, among other essentials. 1966, straight up.
11 - HW Saxton
Larry Williams - "Dizzy Miss Lizzy,Bony
Maronie,Slow Down,Bad Boy,She Said Yeah"
isn't in the R n R Hall O' Shame but he
(Pete Seeger)is? Pete Seeger has got to
be the lamest entry yet.He's got NOTHING
to do with R n R. Even being Communist
isn't on his side. Can't even give the
RnR HOS credit for trying in this case.
12 - Dani Seeger
Omg maybe we are realated!