Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Pete Seeger (1919-2014)

Singer-songwriter. Activist. Icon. Folk legend Pete Seeger was all of these, and then some. Today, the music world mourns the loss of Seeger, who passed away at 94 after a lengthy illness.

While I never saw Seeger live in concert, nor had much opportunity to see him on TV, he wrote one of my favorite songs of the 60's, an interpretation of the words of Ecclesiastes that became "Turn, Turn, Turn (To Everything, There is a Season)", which was a monster hit for The Byrds. He was just as well known around these parts as a political activist, with songs like "Waist Deep in the Big Muddy".

Here, Seeger pays a visit to The Johnny Cash Show in 1970, and teams with the "Man in Black" for "Worried Man Blues":

 

Rest in peace, Pete.
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4 comments:

  1. magicdogJanuary 29, 2014

    Great singer/songwriter, but hated his politics.

    Dad was the same way too - those folksy types who dominated Greenwich Village in the 50s and 60s had great tunes and harmonies, but they hated America (and "The Man") too much.

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  2. hobbyfanJanuary 30, 2014

    I think all they wanted was for big business to open up and recognize that they were destroying the country with pollution and what-not. Hate America? I don't think so. Not when "This Land Is Your Land" was a popular folk classic.

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  3. magicdogJanuary 31, 2014

    Seeger admitted his communist leanings and thought Stalin was the greates thing since sliced bread. It wasn't until the early 90s when he admitted he was wrong and actually apologized for it.

    Woody Gutherie was also a communist and wrote "This Land..." as a rebuttal to "God Bless America". The lyrics give it away ("This land is your land, this land is my land" - community/government owned land as in the Soviet Union) but there were additional lyrics he wrote which didn't get into the song's final version:

    "One bright sunny morning in the shadow of the steeple,
    by the relief office I saw my people.
    As they stood hungry,
    I stood there wondering if God blessed America for me"

    Definitely anti - American.

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  4. hobbyfanFebruary 03, 2014

    Funny how this gets glossed over in those infomercials about folk records......

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